Fill, Engel develop consolidation system for high-quality composite component production

2021-04-27

From left to right: Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Georg Steinbichler (LIT), DI in Eva Kobler (LIT), DI Paul Zwicklhuber (Engel), Norbert Danninger (Fill), Thomas Grasl (Fill) and Wilhelm Rupertsberger (Fill). Photo Credit: Fill GmbH In cooperation with development partner Engel Holding GmbH (Schwertberg, Austria) automation specialist Fill (Gurten, Austria) has developed a consolidation system for the production of high-quality composite components. Layers of continuous fiber-reinforced, recyclable plastic tapes are fused (consolidated) under temperature and high pressure to form a homogeneous semi-finished product. Even high-temperature plastics (up to 450°C), such as those used in aviation, Fill says, can be processed reliably, flexibly and in constant quality with this system. Above all, Fill says, the consolidation system boasts short cycle times, unlike other available systems on the market that reportedly require several minutes, sometimes even hours; Fill and Engel’s unit ejects fiber composites every 60 seconds. The consolidation system was handed over to the Linz Institute of Technology (LIT) Factory on April 15, 2021, a teaching, learning and research factory for smart plastics processing and digitization on the Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU, Linz, Austria) campus funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG, Wien, Austria) the State of Upper Austria and the City of Linz. Major scientific papers on this topic have been awarded and are already in full swing. The KC Kunststoff team from Fill would like to thank everyone involved in this project for their cooperation.

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