For the foam injection molding of thermoplastics and thermoplastic elastomers, a chemical or physical blowing agent is added into the polymer melt, which leads to a foaming of the polymer melt during the injection into the mold cavity. The so produced structural foamed parts can be designed very thin-walled which allows weight and material savings as well as high specific flexural stiffness and dimensional stability. Moreover, this processing technique requires lower clamping forces and shorter cycle times than compact injection molding.

For the manufacturing of components with integral foam structure and good surface quality, we offer two MuCell®-Injection molding machines with clamping forces of 150 t and 450 t and adapted mold technology. Depending on the part that should be produced, “breathing” molds, variotherm heating of the mold cavities and gas counter pressure procedures can be applied. For trails, two injection molds with rectangular cavity geometries and integrated planar heating system, close to the mold cavities, are available.

Our process equipment

With the help of variotherm injection molds, we can produce components with high quality surfaces, to be used for high gloss frames for LCD monitors or car radios. The principle of variotherm mold tempering is based on a pre-heated mold that prevents the solidification of the injected polymer mass. This enables a precise reproduction of cavity surface details and a part surface free of streaks. Due to the optimized heating system in close vinicity to the mold cavity, the variotherm process needs negligible longer cooling time than the conventional process. Further advantages are non–visible joining lines and significantly less warpage. We have two different heating systems for variotherm processes available. One is a dynamic tempering system with water up to 200 °C whereas the second one is steam controlled that can produce steam up to 250 °C for mould heating.

Our process equipment

During 2-component injection molding or multi component injection molding, several melts are injected sequentially into the mold. In this way, polymer materials with quite different properties can be efficiently joined into complex geometries. For instance, it is possible to join highly stiff reinforced thermoplastics with soft thermoplastic elastomers into so-called 2-component-softtouch components used for the automotive interiors. For this special process different variants exist, e.g. sandwich, co-injection, 2-component- or overmolding.

Three 2-component injection molding machines with clamping forces between 65 t and 450 t and different molds for hard-soft-softtouch combinations are at our disposal.

Our process equipment

In addition to the classical injection phase, the partially opened mold performs a closing motion during injection-compression molding. This compression builds up an additional homogeneous pressure on the polymer melt, which reduces warpage and enables the manufacturing of thin-walled components with long flow paths. Typical applications are polymer glazing, long fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT) structural components and back injection of textiles. We offer four injection molding machines with a modern compression control and clamping forces in the range of 65 t to 2500 t with suitable molds.

Our process equipment