ENGEL will be demonstrating the potential of its ENGEL organomelt process technology during JEC 2019.
In the ENGEL organomelt process, thermoplastic fibre composite prepregs such as organic sheets and unidirectional tapes are formed and functionalised.
For example, reinforcing ribs or assembly elements can be over-moulded immediately after thermoforming using a thermoplastic from the matrix material group.
This enables a highly efficient and fully automated manufacturing process and contributes to the circular economy.
CRP rear panels of the Audi A8 will be displayed at the ENGEL stand at JEC. With a complex carbon fibre structure and local reinforcements, these large-scale components are produced by Voith in Garching, Germany, on an ENGEL v-duo 1700 machine using the fully automated HP-RTM process.
ENGEL
The tape stacking unit developed by ENGEL uses high-resolution camera technology to produce precise stacks from tape blanks.
ENGEL will also be presenting gear carriers based on SMC (Sheet Moulding Compounds).
In a development project, ENGEL, together with the Institute for Polymer Product Engineering IPPE at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, as well as Hexcel (Stamford, CT, USA) and Alpex (Mils, Austria), have developed a new production process based on flow moulding for these dynamically highly stressed vehicle components.
"Tapes make it possible to reinforce the individual areas in the component in order to adapt them even more specifically to the load," said Christian Wolfsberger, Business Development Manager Composite Technologies at ENGEL's headquarters in Schwertberg, Austria.
"In the future, we will be able to combine tapes of different thicknesses and also organic sheets and tapes in order to optimally leverage the potential for lightweight design."
