Durable and lightweight: Tepex semi-finished composites
Tepex-brand fiber composites are predestined for lightweight applications. The core components of this high-tech material are state-of-the-art thermoplastics reinforced with continuous fibers, such as glass or carbon, depending on the field of application. The material and the associated processing technologies are now ready for use in full-scale production. Tepex therefore is ideally suited to mass production settings, such as automotive manufacturing. At the trade fair, Lanxess has a prominent example of Tepex on show: an all-plastic brake pedal installed in the Porsche Panamera NF and Bentley Continental GT. The component recently was awarded first place in the "Body Interior" category of the Automotive Award by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE).Tepex is also ideal for fabricating virtually indestructible engine compartment trim, fuel tank covers and center tunnel covers, like those already in use in several standard car models, such as the Bentley Bentayga SUV.
These continuous-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites likewise are suitable for manufacturing very stiff, strong, thin-walled components, such as device mounts with high functional integration, versions of which are already in use in several standard car models. Trade fair visitors can see just how such a prototype component is manufactured with an optimized cycle time in demonstrations at the KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH stand.
Leonhard Kurz Stiftung & Co. KG and Bond-Laminates GmbH have developed a new material combination and the associated mold technology for fabricating finished, decorated housing components with extremely thin walls in just one processing step. The process starts with a Tepex dynalite semi-finished thermoplastic composite. It is formed in an injection mold, back-injected, and then decorated inline using an in-mold decoration integration process specially developed for this purpose, an advancement over KURZ's existing in-mold process. It incorporates a transfer coating system. Engel Austria GmbH engineered a highly automated manufacturing cell for the new material combination that is suited to large-scale production. The new manufacturing process from KURZ and Bond-Laminates will be demonstrated live for the first time at Engel's stand; the demo part will be a housing component.
Products for athletic equipment, such as soccer shoes, ski boots, bicycle parts and golf club components, likewise benefit from the significant weight advantages of this modern lightweight material.
