Customized Soft-Touch
3Pages

Inline thermoformed and embossed TPO film, PU foam and the base part of PC/ABS compound form the three layers of the part Customized Soft-Touch thanks to Threefold Process Integration Vehicle Interior. Progress in the so-called “Varysoft” process gives manufacturers and users of soft-touch components new horizons thanks to the swivel-plate tool that is employed. As a flexible and economic manufacturing process, the revamped process now allows softer parts with relatively thick foam layers and both tactilely and optically high-quality surfaces to be produced. MICHAEL FISCHER ROGER KAUFMANN t is over five years since Georg Kaufmann Formenbau AG, Busslingen, Switzerland, presented the Varysoft process they had developed themselves. It was based on a special slide-table mold for manufacturing moldings built up in three layers, consisting of an injection molded base part, a foam zone with variable thickness regions and a decorative layer preformed in the mold. The process Translated from Kunststoffe 3/2014, pp. 64–67 Article as PDF-File at www.kunststoffeinternational.com; Document Number: PE111608 was recommended for the manufacture of “particularly comfortable interior parts for personal vehicles,” as it was called in a press release at the time.Although the importance of innovative soft-touch technologies for car interiors has been very positively assessed, potential customers showed a somewhat subdued response. That could change after the successful presentation of the enhanced Varysoft process at K2013. The Trigger for an Improved Process Concept In 2012, the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, Seoul, South Korea, started a de- velopment project to investigate whether the Varysoft process is ready for series production under practical conditions. For the project, an already available dashboard was modified together with Kaufmann, and the process technology was adapted for production with a slide-table mold. When Engel Austria GmbH, Schwertberg, Austria, examined samples from the mold, a new idea was triggered. The joint assessment was that, for the process potential to be completely exploited, it would only have to be technically “modernized.”The idea was to transfer the process concept to a swivel platen mold to be able to manufacture softtouch components faster, more efficient- © Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich Internet-PDF-Datei. Diese PDF Datei enthält das Recht zur unbeschränkten Intranet- und Internetnutzung, sowie zur Verbreitung über elektronische Verteiler. Eine Verbreitung in gedruckter Form ist mit dieser PDF-Datei nicht gestattet.

ly and at higher quality. Individually, the part (dashboard) is made of a decorative film (TPO laminated with PP foam), a base part (PC/ABS compound) and a PU foam layer between them. The Mold Concept – an Absolute Innovation After several feasibility studies, the concept was established. The next challenge was to bring together the machine and process technology as well as handling, at the system side, to produce a process that is fully automated throughout. To this end, the process steps of vacuum thermoforming, including embossing, foam injection molding and PU foams had to be integrated...

CC 300 generation of control systems. As a result, users can perform both the operation and the parameterization of all system components via the CC 300. the Kia dashboard is 115 s with a shot weight of 420 g. An important aspect regarding repeatability concerns the base part. Until its removal, the injection molded part – now as a finished part – remains interlocked on its core. This ensures that it is precisely positioned in the mold when it is transferred to the foam cavity. The resulting advantage with respect to the conventional manual, or also automated insertion of a (possibly...