Industrial Automation Magazine India

LANXESS launches hollow-profile hybrid technology

Published on : Saturday 09-10-2021

Innovative tolerance management for profiles with varying dimensions - No internal support required for the hollow profiles in the production process.

Cologne, October 07, 2021 – LANXESS is currently in the process of launching its hollow-profile hybrid technology on the market. With this new lightweight design technology, metallic hollow profiles can be functionalised on conventional injection moulding machines with plastic compounds. The result is plastic-metal composite components that boast far greater torsional stiffness and strength than could previously be achieved with other technologies for functionalizing hollow profiles. “Hollow-profile hybrid technology has now progressed to such an advanced level that we have embarked on a variety of development projects with customers and have already reached the prototype stage with some of them,” says Dr Matthias Theunissen, an expert in lightweight design at LANXESS. The potential applications in the automotive industry include cross car beams, coupling rods, stabilizers and seat elements. In addition, the new lightweight technology could be used to produce skiing and hiking poles and components for furniture and the construction industry, for example.

 
The hollow-profile hybrid technology is a further development of the “traditional” plastic-metal composite technology (hybrid technology) using sheet metal. The general strength of the new technology is that processors can manufacture with short cycle times, as is typical for injection moulding in high-volume production. As a result, the manufacturing process is efficient and economical. There is no need for auxiliary units or tooling technology, which keeps investment costs low. The fact that reasonably priced hollow profiles with relatively large dimensional variations can be used helps to make the process cost-effective, too. As Theunissen explains, “With the aid of innovative tolerance management, we can prevent profiles of that type from damaging the mould or stop leaks occurring in the injection moulding cavity.” When the thin-walled hollow profiles are overmoulded with the molten plastic, high pressures often exceeding 400 to 500 bar occur in the cavity. As a result, there is a high risk of the profiles deforming or collapsing. “We have optimised the process such that the profiles withstand the pressures that occur and do not need to be supported from inside,” says Theunissen.

For the hollow-profile hybrid technology, LANXESS offers highly reinforced polyamide 6 types such as the easy-flowing Durethan BKV60H2.0EF DUS060, which has a short glass fiber content of 60 percent by weight. With their high strength and stiffness, these compounds further enhance the performance of the corresponding components. In a simulation study, LANXESS examined how using the compounds pays off in the design of an automotive cross car beam. “The component can be designed with around 30 percent less weight than an all-steel structure while offering better mechanical performance in some respects,” says Theunissen. Typical load cases and component properties were calculated, such as vibration behaviour and the stiffness of the steering wheel in the direction of gravitational forces. “The component also underlines the huge potential of the technology in implementing cost-saving functional integration. For example, connections for the A-pillar as well as mountings for the steering column, dashboard, climate control units and airbags were directly injected.