At trade exhibition Fakuma 2014, which takes place from 14 to 18 October in Friedrichshafen, Germany, Arburg will present 11 exhibits featuring innovative applications, industrial and automation solutions and examples regarding the future topics of Industry 4.0, functional integration and lightweight construction.
“The Fakuma will provide us with an opportunity to demonstrate that we offer our customers a truly comprehensive portfolio for efficient plastics processing,” states Michael Hehl, managing partner and Spokesperson for the Arburg Management Team.
“The 11 exhibits will give visitors a practical insight into how such product-oriented solutions can look.”
“Key areas of industry will be represented, such as the automotive, medical technology and packaging sectors, as well as complex processes such as Arburg Plastic Freeforming (AKF), injection molding solutions such as three-component, long-fiber direct, micro and particle-foam composite, as well as liquid silicone processing,” says Hehl.
Additive manufacturing solutions
The two Freeformers will demonstrate how plastic parts can be produced economically as one-off parts or in small-volume batches directly from computer-aided design data, without requiring a mold.
These machines use the standard granulate, building up the parts in a drop-by-drop process, which can be used to produce fully functional parts, not just demo samples and prototypes, and also enables new geometries to be achieved.
These exhibits will have a three-axis component carrier and two discharge units, in order to produce plastic parts from two different materials.
The focus will be on two-component parts and products with supporting structures that can be subsequently removed in a water bath or by mechanical means.
Furthermore, they will be integrated in the “Industry 4.0” project, which will involve the production of customized molded parts.
Producing 31,500 disposable articles, ready-to-ship every hour
An electric Allrounder 820 A with a clamping force of 4,000 kN and a size 2100 electric injection unit will demonstrate the cost-effective production of mass-produced articles.
This exhibit will show the potential of the high-performance Alldrive electric series in a high-speed application.
A 24+24-cavity mold from Fratelli Bianchi will be used to produce 24 knives and forks in about 5.5 seconds, including demolding, set-down and immediate packaging.
This corresponds to an output of around 31,500 ready-to-ship parts per hour.
The other hydraulic, hybrid and electric Allrounder injection molding machines will also demonstrate capabilities from individual plastic parts to mass-produced articles.
Micro-injection unit
Following the micro-injection module, the Arburg range now includes a complete micro-injection unit in Euromap size 5, which will be unveiled for the first time at the Fakuma.
The exhibit, which will be built around an electric Allrounder 270 A is designed as a production unit for micro parts and produces four 0.03 gram micro counter wheel.
A clean room enclosure ensures a clean environment and the micro-injection unit enables very precise plasticizing.
It combines a 15 mm screw for melting the material with an 8 mm injection screw.
This means that standard granulate can be used to achieve very small shot weights and tolerances measured in microns.
In addition, there is the specially configured Multilift H 3+1 horizontal robotic system, which removes the sprue and the delicate micro parts and gently sets them down, segregated according to cavity.
Industry 4.0
The company will show applications pertaining to Industry 4.0, functional integration and lightweight construction.
Industry 4.0 is a future project involving the vision of a smart factory, which requires the networking of machines, order information and process data.
Arburg will demonstrate at Fakuma with the optional production of left and right-handed scissors on an electric Allrounder 370 E.
A quick response code will then be applied by laser, so that all of the most important process parameters of the relevant item can be retrieved online.
The Arburg host computer system is of central importance here, networking various independent stations, recording all the parameters and transmitting them to a web server.
The scissors can then be customized to requirements using the Freeformer.
A hybrid Allrounder 520 H in “Packaging” version will show the production of a SKET cup, a recent development of Uniplast, a company belonging to the Knauer group.
The mold and the flexible Multiflex IML robot are made by H. Müller-Fabrique de Moules SA.
The special geometry of the cup, with spiral-shaped flow aids, enable extremely thin walls to be produced with a thickness of less than 0.3 mm in conjunction with a relatively thick sealing edge, so that the cups can be reliably sealed in production.
The cup is produced with innovative peel-off cardboard labels which can be easily removed to reveal printed product information on the inside.
The cycle time of this application is less than five seconds.
