Mechanical Technology February 2016

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Mechanical Technology — February 2016 27
⎪ Local manufacturing and beneficiation ⎪
As the importance of light-
weight construction methods
continues to rise, the automo-
tive industry is increasingly
considering fibre-reinforced plastics
(composites), due to their high strength
combined with low weight, which offer
lightweighting potential that has not yet
been fully exploited. Currently, however,
high component costs, among other
things, are preventing the widespread
use of composite parts.
In response, the beginning of 2016
saw the launch of iComposite 4.0, a
group project led by Schuler aimed at
achieving economical serial production
of components made of fibre-reinforced
plastics through increased resource
efficiency.
Due to the high material cost, re-
source efficiency opens up enormous
potential for cost savings. One approach
to decreasing the component cost is
to drastically reduce material use and
processing times in production. Current
technologies are associated with signifi-
cant production-related scrap. The mate-
rial cut-off from semi-finished products
during manufacturing can be up to 50%
of the input resource, for example.
The iComposite 4.0 project aims to
address these cost inefficiencies. Cost
savings can be achieved by adopting
near net shape processing and additive
production processes (3D printing),
in combination with a resin-injection
method established in the industry. In
addition, by networking production sys-
tems to regulate system intelligence, also
known as the ‘Internet of Things’, better
control and ‘just-in-time’ production can
be achieved.
The starting point of the networked
production system is additive fibre spray-
ing, which is a highly productive process
to generate the basic structure of the
component. After this, fibre strands are
applied very precisely and in accordance
with the load profile in order to absorb
Schuler is leading a project group to improve resource efficiencies for
the serial production of fibre-reinforced plastic components. Called
iComposite 4.0 to reflect its use of industry 4.0 and the Internet
of Things, the project is developing near net shape and additive
production processes to drastically reduce the costs of manufacturing
composite components.
Schuler: a market leader in forming equipment
With energy efficiency driving the devel-
opment of new lightweight materials,
Schuler is at the forefront of solutions for
the future.
The company delivers systems, tooling,
process expertise and services for the entire
automotive industry and is the technological
and global market leader in forming equip-
ment, offering cutting edge presses, automa-
tion, dies, process know-how and services for
the entire metal forming industry.
Its clients include car manufacturers and
their suppliers, as well as companies in the
forging, household equipment, packaging,
energy and electrical industries.
Schuler is the also a market leader in
coin minting presses and supplies solutions
for the aerospace, railway and large pipe
industries. In 2014, Schuler posted sales
of €1.18-billion. The company has around
5 400 employees and is a member of the
Austrian ANDRITZ Group. q
A self-regulating production line makes it possible to maintain defined characteristics of composite parts.
The group project is aimed at the resource-efficient serial
production of fibre-reinforced plastic parts.
Photo courtesy of IKV, AZL.
Exploiting the potential of composites
peak loads in the part and to compensate
for part variations in the fibre spraying
process. Then, during the injection of
resin and shaping in the press, the die’s
deflection is deliberately influenced in
order to obtain the desired wall thick-
nesses of the part.
During the subsequent process steps,
regulating system intelligence compen-
sates for any fluctuations in the part’s
properties in order to minimise scrap. The
production history is stored on an RFID
chip integrated into the part. This unin-
terrupted quality monitoring and linking
of individual systems along the produc-
tion line in accordance with Internet of
Things methods is ultimately aimed at
achieving a zero scrap rate.
In addition to Schuler, partners of the
group project sponsored by the German
Federal Ministry of Education and
Research (BMBF) are: the Aachen Centre
for Integrative Lightweight Production
(AZL) at RWTH Aachen; Apodius GmbH;
Broetje Automation Composites GmbH;
Frimo Sontra GmbH; ID-Systec GmbH;
the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV)
in Industry; the Skilled Crafts at RWTH
Aachen; Siemens AG; and Toho Tenax
Europe GmbH. q