Arburg
Arburg's second bite of the EuroMold cherry has not left delegates disappointed, as the international industry juggernaut has brought two of its Freeformer additive manufacturing systems with it to Frankfurt.
Attendees from the mould-making, design, product development sectors and more have the chance to see these sophisticated machines at work in Hall 11, Stand D25.
The two Freeformers are equipped with a three-axis component carrier and two stationary discharge units. This is the version that has been enquired about by most potential customers to date. The exhibits will demonstrate how functional components can be additively manufactured from standard granulate based on 3D CAD data.
Two-component application with supporting structure
Freeformer
The second discharge unit can be used for an additional component in order to produce a part in different colours, for example, or build a part with special tactile qualities, or with a hard-soft combination.
Brand new for the Freeformer is the option of building up structures from a special supporting material. This makes it possible to achieve unusual or complex component geometries. An application of this type will be demonstrated by a Freeformer at Euromold 2014 based on the example of a spare part made from ABS – in this case a two-part sliding lock which is used in the Allrounder injection moulding machines.
The second Freeformer combines a standard elastic TPU material with reversible supporting structures – a first in additive manufacturing. Possible applications include, for example, gaiters, hoses, sleeves, or flexible components for robotic grippers. The supporting structures can subsequently be removed in a water bath.
As an alternative, a supporting structure can be built up in the same material as the component itself. A thinned out intermediate layer with specifically generated predetermined breaking points enables the supporting structure to simply be broken off mechanically at a later stage. This option is preferred for components with free-standing structures and clearly defined edges.
New AKF process for broad product range
Arburg Plastic Freeforming (AKF) will be explained based on various animations. With AKF, inexpensive, conventional plastic granulates are the base material – one of the advantages compared to other additive manufacturing processes. As with injection moulding, the granulate is first melted in a plasticising cylinder. A stationary discharge unit with a special nozzle then applies the plastic droplets layer-by-layer onto the component carrier using high-frequency piezo technology at a specified duty cycle of 60 to 200 Hertz. Depending on the nozzle used, the diameter of the plastic droplets generated under pressure is between 0.18 and 0.3 millimetres.
The moving component carrier is positioned so that each drop is deposited at the precise point calculated in advance. During cooling, the tiny droplets automatically fuse together. The desired three-dimensional component is thus created layer by layer. The construction chamber of the Freeformer offers space for parts with maximum dimensions of 190 x 135 x 250 millimetres. At the Euromold, a wide variety of products that can be produced with additive manufacturing using the Freeformer will be presented. This includes components with complex geometries, hard/soft combinations and fully functional spare parts. The experts from the Freeformer team will also be on hand to answer trade visitors’ individual questions.
Automatic data processing
The 3D CAD data for the parts being manufactured (STL files) are processed offline on a PC. A special software generates the necessary manufacturing data via slicing. Once the Freeformer control system has received this data, which determines, e.g. the axis movements, production can begin. Operation is extremely simple, no special programming or processing knowledge is required.
Environmentally and user friendly
One great advantage of working with the Freeformer is that no dust or emissions are produced and no additional infrastructure is therefore necessary. No extraction units or cooling water are required. The system is thus also perfectly suitable for use in an office environment. All that is required are a mains outlet, 3D CAD data and conventional plastic granulate.
Production efficiency for one-off parts and small, multiple-variant batches
With the Freeformer, Arburg has expanded its industrial production offering for plastics processing. While customers have long been able to rely on the company’s injection moulding expertise and therefore on the efficient mass production of plastic parts, the same now applies to the cost-effective additive manufacturing of one-off parts and multiple-variant small-volume batches.
