ENGEL at JEC World 2020 in Paris Lightweight and sustainable: efficient production of thermoplastic composite parts Schwertberg/Austria – February 2020 JEC World 2020 from 3 to 5 March in Paris, France, showcases the entire valueadded chain of the composites industry. One important part of this chain is forming thermoplastic fibre-composite preforms. The ENGEL organomelt process takes this one step further. Organic sheets and unidirectional tapes are not just formed, but also functionalised in the same injection moulding step. This will be demonstrated live at the ENGEL Stand in Hall 5. The main component of the production cell, which is producing demonstration components made of continuous fibre-reinforced polyamide (PA), is a tie-bar-less ENGEL victory 200/50 injection moulding machine equipped with an ENGEL viper 12 linear robot for handling preforms and finished parts, and a double-sided, vertical ENGEL IR oven. It is provided by Brightlands Materials Center in Geleen, Netherlands, which is dedicated to the development of innovative and sustainable material solutions meeting tomorrow’s societal challenges. Lightweight Automotive is one of three major shared research programs the international R&D center is focusing on building on its partnership with ENGEL. Tie-bar-less machines reduce handling times The composite blanks are heated in the IR oven, placed in the mould, formed in the mould, and overmoulded with PA. Heating the prepregs is one of the process steps that drive the cycle time and quality in the processing of fibre reinforced preforms with a thermoplastic matrix. The thickness defines the heat-up and cool-down time. Heating the material quickly without damaging it is important, as are short paths for transporting the heated preforms to the mould (hot handling). ENGEL offers IR ovens from in-house development and production in various ENGEL AUSTRIA GmbH | A-4311 Schwertberg | tel: +43 (0)50 620 0 | fax: +43 (0)50 620 3009 [email protected] | www.engelglobal.com

press | release designs – both horizontal and vertical – and places them in the production cell in the immediate vicinity of the mould. The ovens and the robots are fully integrated with the IMM’s CC300 control unit and can be centrally controlled via the machine’s display. The production cell at JEC makes extensive use of the great efficiency potential of ENGEL's tie-bar-less technology for the organomelt process. The victory machine's biggest advantage in this application is its very fast hot handling. Barrier-free access to the mould area makes it possible to position the IR oven even closer...

precondition for developing recycling strategies for composite parts," says Christian Wolfsberger, Business Development Manager Composite Technologies at ENGEL's headquarters in Schwertberg, Austria. "Tapes make it possible to reinforce individual areas in the part in order to adapt them even more specifically to the load," Wolfsberger continues. "In the future, we will be able to combine organic sheets of different thicknesses, and also organic sheets and tapes, in order to leverage the potential for lightweight design in an even better way." All future-oriented technologies at a glance ENGEL's...

At its Center for Lightweight Composite Technologies in Austria, ENGEL develops particularly efficient production processes for composite parts in interdisciplinary teams. Pictures: ENGEL ENGEL AUSTRIA GmbH ENGEL is one of the global leaders in the manufacture of plastics processing machines. Today, the ENGEL Group offers a full range of technology modules for plastics processing as a single source supplier: injection moulding machines for thermoplastics and elastomers together with automation, with individual components also being competitive and successful in the market. With nine production...