Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
News
August 07, 1995 02:00 AM

NEW COMPOSITE PROCESS AIMED AT AUTO PARTS

Michael C. Gabriele
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    Composite Products Inc. of Winona, Minn., later this year will commercially launch a novel, high-volume, closed-mold thermoplastic composite process that will be used to fabricate structural automotive components. The technology, known as injection transfer molding, was developed by Composite Products during the last two years, and builds upon a previously unveiled open-mold processing technique. Company officials claim injection transfer offers both technical and economic advantages over glass-mat/thermoplastic compression molding and long-fiber injection molding.

    The firm is ramping up an automated injection transfer production cell at its Winona manufacturing plant, and expects to mold first-run trial parts in August. Full commercial production is slated to begin in December, with an annual yield of 400,000 parts.

    The process will employ multi-cavity molding; 100,000 sets and four parts per set, President Tom Prussia said.

    Company officials declined to identify the automaker purchasing the parts, other than to say it is one of the Big Three. The parts will be used on a 19961/2 vehicle platform - a model to be sold in the United States and Europe. The parts will be structural in nature, but also must conform to external appearance surface requirements, and will incorporate localized areas of molded-in surface texture.

    Prussia said his injection compression technology was chosen over competing bids from nylon injection molding and polypropylene compression molding systems.

    In a separate program, Composite Products is licensing the injection transfer technology to another automotive parts supplier, with production scheduled to begin in 1997. That project will involve molding structural seat components for a 1998 vehicle platform.

    Prussia said the company's thermoplastic composite molding technology mainly is targeted at automotive weight-bearing structural members and body pillars. The technology is not considered a candidate for large body panels or exterior effects such as spoilers or bumper shrouds, due to limitations on surface properties that results from high glass loadings. Parts being molded in the December project will have a glass loading of 40 percent, with fibers one-half-inch to 1 inch long. PP is the matrix resin.

    Ron Hawley, vice president of research and engineering, said the injection transfer technology was designed to mold complex-shape structural parts in an automated, closed-mold operation. The system involves a hot, compounded billet, which is injected directly into a closed mold, and requires no further compression. The company has patented the tooling and processing aspects of the technology and is seeking licensees.

    Tools can be designed to accommodate parts with a wall thickness from 2.5-6 millimeters, Hawley said. Functional part sites, such as bosses and fasteners, can be incorporated into the mold design. Unlike glass-mat, the process can support part designs with complex geometries and rounded edges.

    Composite Products is evaluating nylon and thermoplastic polyester for future programs. Injection transfer represents the next generation of a thermoplastic composite molding technique unveiled last year by Composite Products. The company licensed two systems in 1994 to MAD Products of Cleveland, and Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Auto Style Plastics Inc., a unit of Marco Inc. Both licensees are producing automotive parts in a compression molding operation.

    Earlier this year Composite Products installed a similar open-mold system in Sweden for Volvo ABA, which now is being used for captive production of under-hood structural parts.

    The front end of the process, for either the open- or closed-molding version, incorporates the compounding of dried resin pellets, long-glass fibers, and various chemical additives. The materials are metered via separate gravimetric feeders into a single-screw extruder.

    HPM Corp. of Mount Gilead, Ohio, builds the extruder to Composite Products' specification. The system compounds materials and moves them into a separate preform accumulator vessel which produces a hot billet of compounded material, ready for molding.

    Hawley pointed out this stage represents the most proprietary aspect of the system, as the compounding technology is designed to maintain the integrity of the long-glass fiber reinforcements. Hawley said that conventional injection molding techniques typically chew up the longer fiber lengths, while also experiencing flow difficulties and weak knit lines in molded parts.

    Prussia said his compounding technology virtually eliminates the unreinforced, resin-rich areas often found in glass-mat parts, while substantially reducing the part scrap and post-mold trimming typically associated with glass-mat. Injection transfer offers a cost structure of about 31/2 cents per cubic inch, which is comparable with existing thermoset methods such as sheet molding compound.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Tennessee-based insulation maker adding equipment, jobs
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    National bottle bill ‘could make sense,' senator says
    2
    An 8,000-ton dream for Milacron, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics
    3
    PS resin prices continue their climb
    4
    Play Mart expanding in Kentucky, adding jobs
    5
    Resin Prices - North America
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified