EM LIVE: PREVIEW
composites, wires, resins,
consulting, tests and
services for the
electrotechnical
industry. Focusing
on composites
and ballistics, Von
Roll provides a
comprehensive
spectrum of semifinished
and machined
laminated products,
from mica, glass, synthetic
fibres, natural reinforcement
materials, polyester to high
temperature-resistant resin systems,
many combinations are possible.
■ PRECISION MICRO is a specialist
in etching both titanium and
aluminium, metals with favourable
properties but which are challenging
to machine with traditional sheet
metalworking - such as stamping and
laser cutting - and indeed etching.
For designers looking to
manufacture burr- and stressfree
metal parts with complex
geometries, maintain the flexibility to
make last-minute design changes and
mass-produce prototypes quickly,
photo chemical etching is the answer.
But there is another key advantage
of etching, and that is the fact that
through constant investment in R&D,
leading practitioners like Precision
Micro can apply the process to almost
any metal – even those notoriously
difficult to machine.
Its propriety processes are
offered with all of the existing
benefits of chemical etching, and at
lead times measured in days, not
months.
■ K.D.
• STEP INTO A WORLD OF •
FASTENING SOLUTIONS
FEDDERSEN
will also be exhibiting.
The company recently
made a significant contribution to the
development of a composite C-Pillar
reinforcement component, designed by
Engenuity Ltd (ENG) and manufactured
by Surface Generation Ltd (SG). This
exploits the principle of thermoplastic
overmoulding to achieve a step change
in structural performance of the vehicle
body-in-white (BIW). That is, to make
judicious use of high performance,
aligned, continuous fibre reinforced
material only in localised areas where
load paths demand their use, thus
minimising the overall part cost.
Elsewhere, more affordable short fibre
reinforced material is used to realise
complex features that add part stiffness
through geometry and enable assembly.
The component possesses complex
geometry and variable thickness (2mm
to 8mm). It comprises four inserts of
continuous fibre (CF) reinforced PA6
(SGL Group, Sigrafil C T50) overmoulded
with a short fibre (SF) reinforced PA6
compound (K.D. Feddersen, AKROLOY
PA ICF 40). The component is adhesively
bonded to the BIW after its
e-coat process. The CF inserts
are stamp formed from a preconsolidated
organosheet produced with
a highly orthotropic laminate stacking
sequence to suit the in-service loading of
the component.
The moulding surfaces of the forming
tools are adjusted, using output from
analytical studies conducted by SG,
to compensate for process induced
distortion. The CF inserts are positioned
in the overmoulding tool. The tooling
is designed and manufactured by SG
and incorporates their patented “PtFS”
thermal control technology. The tooling
is closed and each of the 96 heater/
cooler channels are zoned and their
thermal cycle optimised. The component
is cooled partly in mould and partly
within an external fixture. SG and
ENG worked together to develop test
methods that would enable the optimum
process conditions to be established in
relation to the bond strength between
the overmoulding material and the
continuous fibre reinforced inserts. PtFS
technology was exploited to achieve the
necessary thermal conditions prior to
overmoulding. !
36 www.materialsforengineering.co.uk Autumn 2019
/www.materialsforengineering.co.uk