JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #111 - March 2017 - Special JEC World - o - 42

MANUFACTURlNG integrated process
within the part as no special screw is
needed to incorporate a physical blowing agent. All the relevant parameters
and order information are accessible
after production through the individual part signature (8). Depending on the
configuration, the cycle time varies between 55 and 63 seconds. The informational integration of the customer requirements and the production system
was demonstrated holistically (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Interconnection of the sub-systems into a cyber-physical production system (IKV)

for a lightweight bicycle saddle with
several partners. The part manufacturing process incorporates individual tailoring of the stiffness and strength by
combining two types of laminates manufactured from unidirectional thermoplastic tapes with a basic structure using foam injection moulding with long
reinforcement fibres (approximately 3
mm within the part) (Fig. 3).
As shown in Figure 3, the user can
choose his individual configuration via
decentralised order terminals (1). The
order is then automatically processed
and sorted into the manufacturing list
(7). For part manufacturing, the system chooses the individual parameters
to control the handling operations (3,

4), the injection and embossing parameters (shot volume, part thickness) as
well as the optical and gravimetrical
quality inspection parameters (2). To
achieve a sufficient laminate temperature for overmoulding, heating takes
place directly above the mould (4). As
the laminates are located on both sides
of the substrate, a combination of vacuum fixation and mechanical clamping
with cascaded sliders is used within
the mould (5). High weight-specific
mechanical properties of the substrate
are achieved using IKV's ProFoam
technology (6). Long-fibre granules
with an initial fibre length of 12 mm
are loaded inline with high-pressure
nitrogen within an airlock chamber -
the technology facilitates long fibres

Fig. 5: Cyber-physical production system for hybrid long/continuous fibre-reinforced thermosets

jec composites magazine / No111 March 2017

The user chooses his individual configuration from eight order terminals distributed over the trade fair. The order
is transferred into the production list,
which generates and transfers the specific parameters to the system control
to adjust the injection parameters, the
mould kinematics, the handling and
heating operations as well as the quality inspection parameters. The user
gets direct feedback about production
times, while the part is manufactured.
All the data is monitored and traceable
for every manufactured product.
Individualised hybridisation to
shift paradigms from tolerance- to
performance-controlled manufacturing
In the case above, hybridisation is used
for the manufacture of products with
defined, varying properties. The same
concept of integrating a small amount
of unidirectional fibres into a superior intermediate product is also used
to control part properties in terms of
compensating the fluctuations of upstream processes to always achieve the
same properties. Within the iComposite 4.0 project, this principle is used to
calibrate inline the mechanical properties of fibre-sprayed preforms by individual placement of a small amount of
unidirectional tapes (Fig. 5).
The principle can be compared to
counterbalancing rotating wheels,
where the tolerances of the mass distribution of the rim and tyre are compensated by adding small weights to
minimize vibration during rotation.
Within iComposite 4.0, the fibre

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