Krauss-Maffei adapts for injection moulding

Krauss-Maffei experts developed the SP 3000, a larger plasticizing unit for freeflowing thermosets, and adapted the unit to operate on an all-hydraulic CX injection moulding machine.

Baumgarten Automotive Technics, located in the Siegerland region of central Germany, is a specialist in high-precision thermoset products, mainly for the automotive industry Thermoset resins are the material of choice for many engine compartment components.

Among their properties are dimensional stability, chemical resistance (e.g., to brake fluid, gear oil and fuel) and temperature stability.

In addition, the components can be produced at relatively low cost.

Baumgarten has relied on thermoset machines and systems from Krauss-Maffei Technologies for several years.

Krauss-Maffei’s DuroSet solutions are the best basis for stable processes and cost-competitive production using free-flowing thermoset materials.

Processes and machines for manufacturing brake pistons from thermosets reached market maturity several years ago.

They gained swift acceptance and today competition is exerting marked pressure on prices.

Baumgarten decided to counter this development by increasing the cavity count to maximise productivity and reduce unit manufacturing costs.

Krauss-Maffei experts developed the SP 3000, a larger plasticizing unit for freeflowing thermosets and adapted the unit to operate on an all-hydraulic CX injection moulding machine.

Baumgarten can now operate with shot weights up to 1,400g.

Manufacturing high-quality brake pistons from thermosets with a high mineral filler content is a challenge.

Baumgarten Automotive Technics uses a 350 tonne KM 350-3000 CX DUR for the job.

The machine is fitted with the newly developed 80mm diameter screw enabling it to plasticize larger volumes and deliver higher shot weights.

In combination with the machine’s precision closed loop control system, the special screw design plays a role in keeping shot weights constant and compensates for batch variations inherent in the manufacturing process.

The screw specialists in the Krauss-Maffei engineering team worked closely with Baumgarten experts to fully exploit the advantages of the screw for the company’s brake piston production.

The screw’s outstanding wear resistance is achieved through a powder metallurgy (PM) process.

This type of PM screw has around three times the wear resistance and hardness of conventional steel screws.

It ensures that processing conditions remain constant for long periods of time and guarantees extremely stable processes and consistent product quality.

Krauss-Maffei’s CX series machines offer all the features necessary for reliable, cost-competitive thermoset processing.

The construction of the two-platen clamp unit with precision guides for the moving platen guarantees 100 per cent platen parallelism and optimal support.

The precision-controlled hydraulic system ensures repeatable processing over long production runs.

This is of great importance in the production of components such as brake pistons where highest precision and consistent quality are of the utmost importance.

Easy, unimpeded access to the mould zone of a CX machine cuts set-up and adjustment times, resulting in a noticeable improvement to machine uptime.

Precise and responsive mould locking protects against damage to the mould.

CX machines can be rapidly converted to other processing techniques, e.g., for processing polyester BMC, SMC and TMC by attaching a Polyload AZ 100 automatic stuffer unit.

related catagory Die & Mould