Up front with front ends
Front end frames produced using direct process
The world of polymers is constantly evolving and developing especially where the automotive industry is concerned. Take front ends for example. Prestige cars such as the Golf and Polo now feature front ends made from a polypropylene blend, reinforced with 38% (by weight) long glass fibres at a single temperature level. Using the direct compounding process and compression technology meant that the semi-finishing stage could be bypassed.
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| D-LFT equipment with a ZSK 70 MEGAcompounder for preparing and compounding polypropylene with long glass fibre reinforcement for direct production of mountings for the VW Polo A04 and VW Golf A4. |
The story starts back in 1999 at the RKT Kunststoffe GmbH (Köngen/Germany)
facility in Peine. Since the middle of 2001 development work continued at
plants in Puebla/Mexico, Curutiba/Brazil and Bilbao/Spain. Early in 2002,
production of frontends for various models of VW Golf and VW Polo commenced
in a new location in Curutiba, Brazil. This technology of directly processing
thermoplastics (D-LFT) reinforced with long glass fibres has been jointly
developed by RKT Kunststoffe and Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer GmbH &
Co KG (Stuttgart/Germany). Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer have delivered
a total of 8 D-LFT plants for the production of fitting frames and other structural
car components for all of RKT’s worldwide production locations. The working
principle of a D-LFT plant is that – starting from the raw materials,
additives and glass fibres – the melt is compounded and extruded in the
form of a continuous sheet. The sheet is cut into individual blanks which
are stockpiled for feeding into the press. The core component of the system
is a ZSK 70 MEGAcompounder with a maximum plastification capacity of 650kg/n.
Its screws have been optimised specially for compounding the melt and to ensure
the long glass fibres are incorporated gently. In the first process zone of
the compounding extruder, the gravimetrically fed raw materials and additives
are melted and a homogenous melt is produced. Endless glass fibres are then
pulled in from rovings by the rotation of the screws, impregnated with melt,
cut to length and dispersed. The compound thus produced is continuously discharged
as a flat strand into a heated confectioning unit and cut into individual
blanks which are stacked and then picked up by a robot with gripping needles
and placed in a press mould.
A finished fitting frame for the VW Golf A4 weighs 3.8 kg; around 1.2 million
are produced worldwide every year.
www.coperion.com
www.aksys-gmbh.de
RKT Kunststoffe GmbH was hived off from Rütgers Kunststofftechnik in
2001 and is now part of the AKsys group, based in Worms/Germany. For the automotive
industry, the company focusses on structural components and underbody systems,
including the relevant acoustic systems.
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| For the installation of prefabricated plastic mountings for the VW Golf A4. |