OREANDA-NEWS. Starting in October 2013, BASF will offer its customers a product and service package under the name Ultracom™ that includes, in addition to composites, i.e. thermoplastic laminates and tapes, and the compounds for overmolding, a comprehensive service component as the third part. The basic idea is to provide an integrated development platform that starts at the concept phase, continues through design, simulation, processing and part testing, and ends in efficient volume production at the customer. The service component of the Ultracom package encompasses design assistance in the form of the Ultrasim® simulation tool, use of the new manufacturing cell for composite part production as well as extensive and expanded capabilities for part testing at BASF.

To gain expertise and provide optimum support for customers when it comes to part development, BASF has installed a high-capacity composite production system in its technical center for thermoplastics processing. Since March 2013, this equipment has been used to produce multifunctional composite test specimens by means of the in-mold forming/overmolding process.

This process represents the most promising approach for production of structural components from laminates and injection molding compounds:  forming of the laminate (draping or in-mold forming) takes place in the mold, and is followed by overmolding. If the laminate is heated outside the mold, the cycle time is considerably shorter as the result of parallel process steps. This, however, requires a reliable handling and positioning of the heated laminate insert, which is no longer rigid.

In order to explore all aspects of composite part design with this new production cell, the company has also developed its own test part: the so-called CIFO part (derived from “combination of in-mold forming and overmolding”) is a multifunctional test specimen for investigating and jointly developing continuous-fiber reinforced composite parts for volume production. It measures about 40 cm x 40 cm, has a height of 4.5 cm and consists of 1.5-mm-thick formed laminates as well as up to 3-mm-thick molded-on functional elements such as ribs and edges. With its approximately 20 individual functions, it allows the characteristic properties and problems associated with actual composite manufacturing to be replicated. Special features of the part include among others overmolded edges, long flow paths to fill the edge and punched or formed holes for use as mounting elements. Additional elements are a rib array for special crash investigations, a variety of different ribs/wall thickness transitions between the laminate and overmolded material, "stitch elements", i.e. locations in the laminate through which material is injected, and a carrier with ribbed U-profile. The CIFO parts produced require no further processing, they are completely overmolded and no post-molding finishing operations are needed.

The mold (from Georg Kaufmann Formenbau AG) for CIFO part production is highly flexible through use of interchangeable inserts, e.g. to investigate the limits of forming a laminate. The mold is further designed to allow simple and precise handling of the laminate by means of a clamping frame: These clamping frames release the laminate in a controlled manner as the mold closes.