Japanese automotive supplier invests in a new KraussMaffei system to clear coat luxury wood veneers.A Japanese automotive supplier is shortly due to begin coating wooden decor strips for high-end car interiors using Clear Coat Moulding (CCM). The metering machine, mixing heads, robot, moulds and tooling for the system were all supplied by KraussMaffei. This is the first CCM system to go into operation in Japan.
CCM applies a highly uniform, scratchproof, transparent coating to walnut or other wood veneers used as decor elements in luxury class vehicles. A very thin layer of glass-clear PUR is flow-moulded over the parts in the mould. The big advantage compared with conventional varnishing is that a CCM product takes only one work cycle to complete.
The mould is designed so that, once the parts are placed in the cavity and the mould closed, a gap equal to the desired coating thickness remains. This gap is filled with polyurethane in the high-pressure CCM process. Using this technique, premium quality clear coatings can be produced in a relatively short time. The precision temperature control and consistently stable processing of KraussMaffei systems makes certain that the optical quality of the finished parts meets the most exacting standards.
The CCM production system includes mould carrier and mould. The mixing head is mounted on a centrally positioned robot, so that it can be docked alternately on to the moulds and the CCM material discharged into the cavities.
The relatively short pauses between shots mean there are no problems with hardened material and the mixing head delivers a high yield of finished parts.
Since its market launch in 2001, CCM has become accepted technology, especially with European automotive component suppliers. The new system in Japan and a number of request for quotations from Asian companies indicate that the process is well on the way to becoming more widely used in Asia too.
