FRIMO at the 2015 JEC
03 / 2015 - During the JEC in Paris (10-12 March 2015), the leading international trade fair for composites, the FRIMO Group is presenting itself once again as an equipment and tool supplier for all-round solutions in the field of composite applications. On the Composites Alliance booth Q54 in pavilion 7.2 cooperation Schuler also showcases new developments. FRIMO offers manufacturing solutions for composites of all common reinforcement fibers in conjunction with thermoplastic and duromeric matrices. Example applications range from over 5000 tools supplied for Airbus clips made from organic sheets to a CFK monocoque chassis for refrigerated transport vehicles all the way to innovative hybrid composites composed of metal sheets and CFK.
More than 5000 tools for Airbus clips
For the past several years, complete fuselage calottes for the Airbus A350XWB fuselage have been assembled using outer skin paneling (tape-laying process), frames and stringers, as well as thermoplastic clips made from organic sheets. As a long-standing partner of the aviation industry, FRIMO supplies fully-automated manufacturing equipment and tooling for the production of organic sheet clips from one source to customer Premium Aerotec. During this process, demanding materials such as CF-PPS and CF-PEEK present a particular challenge. For the different variants of the Airbus A350XWB, thousands of various clip geometries are required in more than ten different laminate structures. To this end, FRIMO delivered its 5000th tool in the first quarter of this year. Since the clips are predominantly produced in relatively small batches, FRIMO has seamlessly integrated robot-supported, completely automated tool changes into the customer’s BDE. In this way, thousands of clips with varying geometries can be produced free of folds and pores, in the shortest time cycles and at the highest level of quality and reproducibility.
Super-light refrigerated transport vehicles
A CFK refrigerated body enables a Volkswagen T5 transport truck with a permissible gross weight of 3.5 tons to bear a vehicle load capacity of two tons. Compared to usual refrigerated vehicle concepts, load can be increased up to 40%, resulting in a decrease of use, and thus CO2 emissions, with up to 30% fewer drives. For this innovative vehicle concept, northern German manufacture TTT The Team Composite AG was recently awarded the FUTURE PRIZE FOR LOGISTICS. This astounding load capacity was made possible in part by a CFK monocoque chassis which was developed in close collaboration with FRIMO. The monocoque chassis is manufactured using the RTM method.
OSI advances one step further
By combining forming and back-injection into one step several years ago, with the so-called organo sheet injection (OSI) method, FRIMO created an innovative possibility for accelerating the process and making design more economical. During this process, the edge areas of components present a particular challenge for which no suitable solution could previously be found.
Now FRIMO is presenting a new, patented solution for manufacturing hybrid components which expands OSI through a significant process step. With this method, components made from semi-formed fiber materials or organic sheets can be formed, trimmed, back-injected, and the trimmed trailing edge can be overmolded, all in one process step. This innovative step transforms the procedure into a one-shot process which allows more energy and costs to be conserved. Maintenance costs for reworking the trimmed edge are reduced; the resulting product is a component with a clean trailing edge. Furthermore, it is possible to integrate additional functionalities. For example, ribs can be inserted up to the trimmed edge. The trailing edge can be selectively thickened or overmolded.
This expanded method can be implemented for all types of semi-formed fiber materials with thermoplastic matrices (NF, GF, CF). At the JEC, FRIMO will present some example applications.
LEIKA – Efficient composite construction for easy bodywork
The LEIKA research and development project (funding code 02PJ2770 – 02PJ2781, supported by the BMBF and supervised by project manager Karlsruhe (PTKA), is entering its next phase – with FRIMO as a development partner. With the goal of enabling easy bodywork, the first phase of this project involves producing hybrid semi-finished products in sandwich construction out of steel or magnesium sheets with a core layer of CFK. In the steps to follow, the processes of reforming and back injection will be developed so that the first floor assemblies can be manufactured by the end of this year as demonstrator components. In this project, FRIMO is responsible for the tooling required during manufacture of semi-finished products and will construct an example process chain for manufacturing demonstrator components in the next several months.
Contact for further information and documentation
FRIMO Group GmbH
Martina Schierholt
Hansaring 1
49504 Lotte
Germany
Phone.: +49 (0) 54 04 / 8 86 - 1 57
Fax: +49 (0) 54 04 / 8 86 - 51 57
E-Mail: schierholt.m[at]frimo.com
