JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #111 - March 2017 - Special JEC World - 68

JEC WORLD 2017

production process with reproducible high
yields.
Design of a mould technology combining
three process technologies and three materials.
Establishing a uniform mould temperature
over the whole surface of both sides of the
mould.
Achieving a rapid heating and cooling cycle with high consistency over the whole
mould surface and during the whole heating and cooling process.
Developing for the decorative foil a dry
paint chemistry compatible with the thermoplastic used in the composite sheet and
in over-injection moulding.
Using a very narrow temperature window
to bring the thermoplastic composite sheet
above the softening temperature for the
forming process but at the same time below a temperature that would destroy the
paint carrier, which is a polyester-based
foil.

Nine different process steps
In order to make composite solutions competitive and usable in mass production, the
process needs to involve a reduced number
of steps, be fully automated and intelligently
combine different processing steps. For example, the production of a notebook computer cover based on magnesium or thermoset
composites utilizes approximately nine different process steps, each with a process-typical
yield. Using the Hybrid Moulding plus IMD
process, only one process step is required. In
addition, this fully-automated process is safe
and absolutely clean, i.e. without a chemical reaction and without any solvents, no
by-products come up. The full automation
of the process enables highly reproducible
outputs with high yields and short processing
times. Thus, Hybrid Moulding plus IMD is
an environmentally- and economically-efficient process for the mass production of
innovative lightweight composite parts with
high-quality surface aesthetics.
Ten years of development
The Hybrid Moulding technology (combining continuous fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composite sheets with over-moulding of
short fibre-reinforced thermoplastics in one

Focus
Key benefits of the innovation

- Low weight and mechanical performance of composites combined with decorative
surface aesthetics and functional integration.
- Fully automated one-shot process that combines forming of the thermoplastic
composite, over-moulding and In-Mould Decoration in a single mould.
- Short cycle times and high yields suitable for mass production.
- Can be used in any country in the world due to high yields and reproducible output
quality.
- Highly competitive part price compared to other lightweight material solutions
such as aluminium, magnesium and thermoset composites, especially in the
consumer electronics industry.
- Very high design freedom due to customizable IMD foils.
- Safe and environment-friendly process, due to the absence of solvents, even for
paints applied in dry form on the composite part.
- Easy post-industrial and post-consumer recycling due to the use of a single
thermoplastic polymer system in the thermoplastic composite and in the injection
moulding polymer.
- Carbon/glass fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites with flame-retardant
polycarbonate (PC) are qualified for all consumer electronic applications due to a
V0 UL 94 starting from a material thickness of 0.5 mm.

process step) has been developed for approximately ten years, mainly for non-aesthetic
applications in the automotive industry. The
technology was presented for the first time at
the K-show in Düsseldorf in 2010 and 2013 by
various injection moulding machine suppliers.
From 2013 onward, series production started
with several applications in the automotive and
sporting goods industry, all for non-aesthetic
applications. Here, surface quality and design
were not targets of the application.
In 2014, a Hybrid Moulding technology using
rapid heating/cooling in the mould was developed to create an excellent surface finish on the
final part. The resulting part surface quality was
so good that the part could be directly painted after ejection from the tool without any
surface treatment. The logical next step was
to combine the painting process with Hybrid
Moulding.
In 2015 and 2016, Hybrid Moulding plus
IMD was developed. The result was first presented in a live demonstration at the K-show
(Düsseldorf) in October 2016. A live demonstration of the process is planned during the
JEC World 2017 in Paris.
At the moment, all three development partners are working on the ramp-up of multiple
commercial projects with industrial customers.

jec composites magazine / No111 March 2017

At least one mass production project will go
into production in 2017.
So far, the matrix material is a flame-retardant polycarbonate (PC) combined with carbon/glass fibre reinforcements. In future, the
development partners will work on further
material combinations using polypropylene
(PP), polyamide (PA 6, PA 66 and PA12) in
combination with the IMD foil in order to
offer a wider product portfolio for different
application areas.
Market potential
The Hybrid Moulding plus IMD technology
can be used for any types of housings that
require lightweight design, stiffness and/or
strength, thin walls as well as individual and
flexible decoration for high-volume applications at reasonable cost.
Potential applications include smartphones
(volumes typically above 10 million units a
year for a single model), notebooks (volumes
typically above 1 million units a year for a
single model), other consumer goods such
as TV sets, coffee machines, vacuum cleaners
and shavers, sporting goods, and parts for the
automotive industry.
More information:
www.bond-laminates.com
info@bond-laminates.de

http://www.bond-laminates.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #111 - March 2017 - Special JEC World