Enhancing Plastic Components Used in the Mobility Industry Through Foaming Processes
摘要
Plastic injection molding process can be enhanced to provide superior part performance by means of physical and/or chemical foaming. Such improvements relate to weight reduction, improved dimensional stability, usage of a smaller size, more energy-efficient equipment [2]. After several years of experimenting with the technology Alseca Group of Companies was able to validate solutions that are currently in serial production for plastic parts used by the Mobility Industry. The parts in discussion are functional parts used under the hood and on the exterior and are physical foamed parts, based on using the MuCell process developed by Trexel. Part overall improvements pertain to 5–30% weight reduction; 25–40% lower deflection from nominal; 40–50% clamp force reduction. Further developments are now under testing, where Coreback technology is used as an enhanced process to generate a lighter structure and increased stiffness based on mold opening and part wall thickness increase.