Plastics News Europe - June 2019 - 16

processing

partnership on equal terms
PPS is a challenging material to
process, says Ensinger, an injection
moulder specialised in the processing
of high-performance plastics, including
PPS components for automotive
applications. It requires knowhow -
and the right partner -to succeed

eadquartered in Nufringen,
Germany, Ensinger GmbH decided some ten years ago that
it needed more space if it were to
continue to grow. Completed in
2009, its second production site is located in Rottenburg am Neckar. The
focus is on the processing of high-performance thermoplastics, such as
PEEK, PI, PPS, PPSU and PTFE for the
automotive industry, as well as the
medical technology, aerospace, construction and the furniture industry,
said Markus Killinger, Head of Technology/Process Development of the
Injection Moulding division at Ensinger. Ensinger has chosen to work with
three injection moulding machine
brands, among which KraussMaffei.
The company bought its first KraussMaffei press in 2014, according to
Manuel von Varchmin, head of the
KraussMaffei Sales and Service Centre for southern Germany. Today, 15
of the company's 65 machines are
Krauss Maffei machines.

Two-component PPS
rotary slide valve: a
collaborative project
One of the first applications produced
by Ensinger on a KraussMaffei machine was a rotary slide valve for a
thermal management module for
motor vehicles. The stepless regulation shortens the engine warm-up
phase, which reduces fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.
The rotary slide valve consists of
two different material components
and is produced using 2-component
technology. The base material is a

Piggyback arrangement for 2-component moulding

fiberglass reinforced PPS, which
means that operating temperature,
stability and friction were important
factors to take into account.
Ensinger moulds this component
on a machine from the GXZ series, on
which the second injection unit is
mounted in a piggyback arrangement. The 2-component mould has
multiple cavities and uses an installed
rotary table.
At the beginning of the injection
moulding cycle, a robot positions metal inlays in each cavity, which are then
encapsulated in plastic. To ensure the
metal inlays are precisely and correctly
positioned in the mould, a sophisticated process reliable automation solution was devised in cooperation with
KraussMaffei. For Ensinger, the target
requirement was to develop a process
that would yield a finished component
that needed no finishing or further
processing steps. Accomplishing this
required solving complex automation
tasks for parts removal and deflashing.
A number of pragmatic solutions
were therefore devised, which included integrating the robot control system into the machine control system,
reducing the number of interfaces
and significantly simplifying the operation of the system.
Another important aspect was the
flexibility of the manufacturing cells.
"During series production it can also
happen that customer specifications
require slight changes to the component," Killinger says. "In such cases,
adaptation of the automation components to the new specifications
flows quickly and smoothly."

PPS housing with
complex geometry
The production hall in Rottenburg am Neckar

This first project was almost immediately followed by another joint
manufacturing project, namely the

housing of the thermal management
module. This component was also
made of PPS and had an exceptionally complex geometry, in part because
it was equipped with multiple connections for coolant to enter and
exit.
An injection mould with several
core-pulling units and splitters for
the respective demoulding directions
is used to produce the housing. "The
technical challenges hidden in this
component, which weighs 380 g,
can be seen just from the mould
weight of over 4 metric tons," said.
Killinger. Furthermore, the ejector
side of the mould weighs considerably more than the nozzle side.
Again, a machine from the GX series was chosen. "The mould is large,
but thanks to the 2-platen technology, the machine needs only a relatively small installation area," von
Varchmin pointed out.

Field testing of the allelectric PX 320
The collaboration continues in other
areas, too: for example, a new
all-electric PX320 press was installed
at Rottenburg as part of a field test.
This machine was tested in continuous operation and, said von Varchmin, demonstrated its 'real-world
suitability and market maturity'.
Moreover: "Ensinger has been
deeply involved in energy savings,"
said Killinger.
"Currently we have machines
with a standard hydraulics concept,
machines with a servohydraulic drive
unit and hybrid machines. In comparison tests, we have manufactured
the same component on machines
with various drive concepts. Now we
can draw on the results of these investigations for future investments
in new machines," he said.

june 2019

Plastics News Europe - June 2019

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