Tractor engine covers made of fibre-reinforced PUR in a LFI process, are being given a high-gloss surface finish in the mould in series production in India, said Krauss-Maffei.
Krauss-Maffei announced that a new inmould painting process to produce tractor engine covers recently went into operation at Harita TVS Technologies in Bangalore, India The covers are made of fibre-reinforced PUR in a LFI process and are given a high-gloss surface finish in the mould.
Krauss-Maffei told manufacturingtalk that Harita is the world’s first PUR processor to use this technique in series production.
The company produces around 500 engine covers/month for the Tiger 10 tractor made by Same Deutz.
The tractors are currently made for the Indian market, but there are plans to export them to China and Europe.
The LFI process differs from other PUR processes in that the long glass reinforcing fibres are wetted with the PUR in the mixing head.
In recent years, this technique has proved a resounding success.
What makes the Harita system strikingly innovative is that the high-gloss surface to the LFI parts is achieved by spraying the paint directly onto the surface of the mould.
A barrier coat is applied between the paint layer and the LFI substrate to prevent the glass fibres spoiling the smoothness of the paint surface.
* Successful endurance test – some 12,000h in agricultural operation have shown that the engine covers are rugged and long-lasting.
They can withstand temperatures up to 100 deg C and have outstanding mechanical properties.
The new production process has other advantages, for example as follows.
* Exact colour matching of the engine covers and the injection moulded frontend.
* The possibility of integrating metal inserts in the production process.
The commercial and utility vehicle industry has shown huge interest in this innovative process from KraussMaffei.
Applications for inmould painting for LFI include parts for buses, construction machinery, agricultural vehicles and boat building.
* About KraussMaffei – in terms of sales, KraussMaffei is world market leader in machines and systems for plastics and rubber processing.
With its three divisions – Injection Moulding Technology, Extrusion Technology and Reaction Process Machinery – KraussMaffei is a premium partner for the plastics and rubber processing industries worldwide.
In the 2006/2007 business year (year ending September 30), the KraussMaffei Group posted sales of EUR 950 million and booked orders of over EUR 1bn.
The group markets its products under the KraussMaffei, KraussMaffei Berstorff and Netstal brands.
The KraussMaffei brand covers the whole spectrum of injection and reaction moulding technology, while the KraussMaffei Berstorff brand stands for successful extrusion solutions.
The Swiss subsidiary Netstal is firmly established as a premium supplier of high-precision injection moulding machinery.
With over 100 years’ of expertise and know-how in machinery for plastics and rubber processing, KraussMaffei is today a major technology and process partner for industry.
The group offers a wide range of solutions that includes specialized and fully integrated turnkey systems.
Headquartered in Munich, the company employs around 4000 people worldwide.
Worldwide KraussMaffei operates a network of 140 subsidiaries and sales agencies, and deploys over 570 service technicians, ensuring fast response and closeness to customers everywhere.
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