press | release
ENGEL Symposium 2015: more than 3000 guests expected
Innovation showcase with numerous world premiers
Schwertberg/Austria – April 2015
Experience. Innovation. Passion – that is the motto at the ENGEL Symposium 2015 in St. Valentin and Linz, Austria, 16th – 18th June. Every three years, the injection moulding machine manufacturer and system expert invites its customers and partners to Austria for its in-house exhibition. The innovative strength of the ENGEL Symposium 2015 will once again surpass its previous editions with several world premiers, numerous challenging applications and pioneering solutions. More than 3000 visitors from all regions of the world are expected.
For three days, everything at ENGEL in St. Valentin and in the Design Center in Linz will revolve around the current and future challenges of the injection moulding industry. The ENGEL large-size machine production plant will practically be transformed into an injection moulding production facility for this event. Sophisticated components for the automotive, technical moulding, teletronics, packaging and medical industries will be produced at new levels of product quality and with previously unseen efficiency in a total of 15 highly integrated and automated production cells. In numerous Expert Corners, the focus will be on topics like new developments for intelligent process optimisation, controlled plastification and the broad spectrum of ENGEL service products, among other things. Beyond that, a top-class lecture programme, a partner exhibition, and the 2015 ENGEL HL-Awards ceremony make the ENGEL Symposium an important international event for the industry.
Machine innovations: presenting a triple pack
Liquidmetal: efficient injection moulding of metal alloys
With Liquidmetal, ENGEL opens the door to completely new classes of material and product characteristics; metal alloys can now be efficiently injection moulded. As the exclusive machine manufacturing partner of Liquidmetal Technologies from Rancho Santa Margarita, California, USA, ENGEL is the only provider worldwide to offer system solutions for the injection moulding of Liquidmetal materials. For the first time, showcased in the production of medical instruments at its 2015 symposium, ENGEL will be presenting the technological and market possibilities that its collaboration with Liquidmetal Technologies opens up for plastics processors and metal goods manufacturers.
Liquidmetal alloys – also called metallic glass – represent a completely new class of material with outstanding mechanical characteristics. The alloys are significantly stronger and at the same time significantly more elastic than the alloys and steels conventionally used, which makes it possible to produce components with a completely new profile of characteristics. Together with Liquidmetal Technologies Inc., ENGEL has developed an innovative solution for the processing of the Liquidmetal alloys on the basis of its all-electric ENGEL e-motion series of injection moulding machines. This solution prepares the way for economical large-scale production of high-precision metal components that previously could only be fabricated with MIM processing or machined individually with CNC systems.
ENGEL sees great potential for the new technique in the area of medical technology. Beyond that, possibilities present themselves in a number of other areas, such as in the sporting goods or the aviation and aerospace industries. The first Liquidmetal applications have already been realised in the electronics industry.
New O-ring machine: producing mass products competitively
O-rings and flat gaskets are central to the reliability and safety of many different applications. Moreover, standard mass-market products in particular are subject to exceptionally high pressure on pricing. These products can only be built competitively with highly precise, reliable and efficient manufacturing technology. In order to provide even better support for its customers in this area, ENGEL has developed a new hydraulic machine for all common rubber compounds. The horizontal machine with screw injection unit ensures very high precision for production with small and mid-sized shot volumes. It makes fully automatic processing possible with conventional brush modules. Additional features include the compact footprint and high energy efficiency thanks to the standard ecodrive drive unit. Because of the long heating phases, the ENGEL servo-hydraulics achieve particularly large savings in the production of O-rings and flat gaskets.
ENGEL e-speed: new machine size reduces cycle times with large shot volumes
ENGEL e-speed – that is the latest machine innovation from the ENGEL packaging business unit. ENGEL presented the 650-tonne hybrid machine with electrical clamping unit and hydraulic injection unit for the first time at the K 2013. At its 2015 symposium, ENGEL will be presenting a second variation of the large high-speed machine with a larger injection unit. The machine size 6 with a screw diameter of 120mm has added a larger dimension to what the system can offer. Until now, the ENGEL e-speed 650 was available with a 90 mm screw.
The new machine size guarantees short cycle times even with large shot volumes. The ENGEL e-speed will provide an impressive demonstration of this during the symposium with the production of cartridges for the do-it-yourself market. The cartridges have a wall thickness of 1.4 mm and a weight of 50 g each. In a 16-fold mould from Otto Hofstetter (Uznach, Switzerland), this results in a total shot capacity of 800 g. A cycle time of under 10 seconds is achieved for this process.
The cartridge production makes optimal use of the benefits of the hybrid machine. The long hollow forms require a high injection force while the mould must also be able to be opened and closed very quickly. For such requirements, ENGEL has a particularly energy-efficient – with ecodrive as a standard – and also IML-capable solution in its programme: the ENGEL espeed. The ENGEL e-speed 650 in machine size 6 achieves the highest hydraulic force that ENGEL has realised in the area of packaging thus far, and with that it sets new standards in the industry.
Large-size machines: great sensitivity for the flexible integration of technology
Dimensionally stable components with little material
Together with Georg Kaufmann Formenbau (Busslingen, Switzerland), Daimler has developed a production process for the production of boot coverings based on the ENGEL coinmelt injection compression moulding technology. Before this process will go into series production after the ENGEL Symposium, the visitors at the Symposium can convince themselves of its high efficiency. An ENGEL duo 11050/1700 injection moulding machine with an integrated ENGEL viper 60 linear robot will be demonstrating the production of ready-to-install components.
What is special about this application is the three-dimensional very complex part geometry which is strongly ribbed and has several undercuts. Here, the injection compression process allows an excellent fine structure reproduction without warpage. Compared with compact injection moulding smaller wall thicknesses can be realized. This reduces the weight and saves raw material costs.
In the injection compression moulding process, the polymer melt is injected into the gap for the compression stroke which requires less injection pressure compared to conventional injection moulding processes. Just before the polymer melt flow stops, the clamping unit starts to close – with controlled parallelism and defined clamping force. The sealing pressure, which replaces the post-injection pressure of the conventional injection moulding process, is distributed homogeneously along the entire length of the part, therefore reducing material shrinkage, also when small wall thicknesses are produced. An important prerequisite for this is a very precise opening stroke of the moving mould mounting platen, which is assured by the individually controlled short stroke pressure pads of the ENGEL duo machine.
ENGEL coinmelt is a low-pressure injection moulding method. This means that machines with lower clamping forces can be used compared to standard injection moulding processes. Under the name of ENGEL coinmelt ENGEL offers system solutions for the different variations of the injection compression moulding.
Set targeted component properties
To control specific component properties with the injection moulding process and boost cost efficiency at the same time – this challenge is at the focus of the production of seat shells for office chairs. The Allgaier Kunststoffverarbeitung company in Nesselwang, Germany, specialises among others in 2K sandwich processes for this purpose. A current project employs a co-injection head, a new development from their machine construction partner ENGEL, that will be presented at the ENGEL Symposium. There an ENGEL 4400H/2500H/700 combi injection moulding machine with an integrated ENGEL viper 40 robot will be producing seat shells for the new IN office chair from Wilkhahn (Bad Münder, Germany). Because the backrest and the seat constitute one unit, diverse properties must be combined in the component. The backrest must achieve high rigidity, while the seat must be flexible in some areas. In addition, there are high demands placed on the quality of the surface finishing, because the visible areas are not processed any further after the injection moulding. Allgaier masters these challenges with the help of co-injection technology. Glass-fibre reinforced polyamide is processed for the core, and unreinforced polyamide for the outer layer.
Compact integration: an ENGEL easix multi-axis robot does a headstand
The Teletronics business unit also presents itself with a large-scale machine application, the most impressive aspect of which is its extremely space-saving robot integration. The ENGEL easix multi-axis robot hangs head-down into the production cell and therefore needs no separate floor space. An ENGEL duo 1800/400 is employed for the production of operating consoles. The ENGEL easix places two capacitive films in the mould per cycle, and removes a finished part at the same time.
One film provides a single-touch and the other a multi-touch functionality. They are situated at the back of the component, while the front side is decorated via IMD. The decoration film has blank areas that will later be backlit in the completely assembled console. Transparent ABS is injected between the decoration film and the functional films. In so doing, the ENGEL duo machine demonstrates its sensitivity. In order to avoid displacing the films or damaging the capacitive electronics, the flow of the melt must be controlled very precisely.
Together with Leonhard Kurz and the functional film manufacturer PolyIC (both located in Fürth, Germany), ENGEL presents the immediate future of functional surfaces with ready-for-connection capacitive film technology with this application. The exhibit shows a complete process chain for the production of sensitive functional components in a clean-room environment. After take-out, the multi-axis robot transfers the component to a cleaning station provided by the Kist Maschinenbau company (Dresden, Germany) for the ENGEL Symposium. The laminar flow unit is provided by Max Petek Reinraumtechnik of Radolfzell, Germany.
Technology Centre for Lightweight Composites: interdisciplinary expertise
Composite technologies from a single source
Lightweight design in automobile construction is currently one of the strongest motors for innovation. Aircraft construction leads the way, although the processes for producing lightweight components that have become established there cannot be transferred to the automobile industry that is characterised by large batch numbers. It is therefore necessary to develop new processes as well as new materials that achieve the productivity and cost-efficiency required for automobile manufacturing. Important keys for this include injection moulding, which offers much potential for process integration and automation, and also thermoplastic matrix systems that allow for short cycle times. As an injection moulding machine manufacturer with a great amount of expertise and experience in automation, ENGEL makes significant contributions in this area. At its Center for Lightweight Composite Technologies in St. Valentin, ENGEL promotes the intensive interdisciplinary development of fibre composite technology together with partner companies and universities. During its symposium, ENGEL provides visitors insights into the work being done at the technology centre and calls attention to the opportunities that collaborative research make possible.
Together with its partners Fill (Gurten, Austria) and Hennecke (St. Augustin, Germany), ENGEL will be giving a step by step demonstration of an HP-RTM process with a generic test component on an ENGEL v-duo 3550/1100 machine during the symposium. Hennecke is its partner for polyurethane processing; Fill specialises in the production and processing of fibre-reinforced composite preform elements. Thanks to the close cooperation with its partners, ENGEL can also provide highly integrated system solutions – including the production of preforms – for the production of FRP components from a single source.
ENGEL v-duo keeps production cells compact
The ENGEL v-duo was developed specifically for fibre-reinforced composite applications, but is also flexible enough to be used for processes involving high cavity pressures such as those employed in conventional injection moulding. The large-size vertical machine is characterised by a very high degree of rigidity and excellent platen parallelism, and platen-parallelism control for injection compression moulding is included in the standard version of the machine.
The ENGEL v-duo enables very compact production cells to be used at low costs. In comparison with conventional presses, the ENGEL v-duo machine has only about half the height and is about 60 percent lighter. This reduces the work and costs involved in laying a base for the machine. In many cases, existing hall structures can be used. The clamping unit can be accessed from all four sides instead of just two, which speeds up maintenance work and also simplifies automation. In addition, handling devices can be integrated to save space, and move straight into the mould area. Using sliding tables, insertion tasks, for example, can be carried out outside the clamping unit, which slashes the cycle time even further for many applications. The standard version of the ENGEL v-duo also comes with the ecodrive servo-hydraulic system. The usual hydraulic accumulator has been done away with completely here, allowing the ENGEL v-duo to set new standards in energy efficiency as well.
Visitors at the ENGEL Symposium will also be given exciting insights into the assembly of the ENGEL v-duo machines during the tour of the exhibits. Among the things that can be seen will be an ENGEL v-duo 3600 – the largest model in the series.
All-electric: efficient implementation of high performance
LSR: take advantage of the full potential
High-precision, burr-free, no reworking required, automated – these are the demands placed on elastomer processing. ENGEL demonstrates just how the full potential can be optimally exploited in this area with the production of earplugs made of liquid silicone rubber on an all-electric ENGEL e-mac 170/50 injection moulding machine. For this, a four-cavity mould is used provided by ENGEL partner awetis engineering+manufacturing from Laudenbach, Germany.