Overview of services
Range of services offered by the Thermoplastic Semi-Finished Fiber Composites group
- application specific material development for fiber-reinforced semi-finished products and molded parts in short, long and continuous fiber reinforcement
- use of various types of fibers (organic and non-organic fibers as well as natural fibers)
- process development and optimization in the continuous thermoplastic processing procedure
- UD tape development with continuous and long fibers
- extrusion of semi-finished products like hollow chamber profiles
- compounding of fiber-reinforced thermoplastics
- scale-up of processing procedures
- optimization of compounding processes on twin screw extruders such as considering screw profiles and addition of fibers
- development and production of prototypical components for a market launch
- determination and evaluation of the influence of the material systems and the technological conditions on the characteristics of the material in thermoplastic composites (TPC)
- destructive and non-destructive test procedures
Range of services offered by the Thermoplastic Composite Parts group
Research topics & competences
- Process and component development for thermoplastic lightweight structures (based on tape & sandwich semi-finished products)
- Process simulation (compounding, injection molding, and thermoforming simulation)
- Development of tools and process technology
- Prototype development and small series
- Sustainable lightweight construction
Process and component development
- Process technology (IR heating systems, controlling)
- Automation (robots, gripper systems, WZG)
- Tool development and design (especially for hot forming)
- Component design suitable for plastics and fiber composites
- Prototype development and small series production
- Direct compounding in the IMC process
Process simulation
- Compounding simulation (Polyflow)
- Heating simulation & thermoforming simulation (LS-Dyna)
- Injection molding simulation (Moldex-3D)
- Homogenization (Digimat)
Range of services offered by the Sustainable Materials and Processes group
- Material development of biopolymers (biobased and/or biodegradable) with the focus on setting specific processing and usage properties
- Recycling biopolymers (biobased and/or biodegradable) and improving recyclability
- Analytical and numerical material and process modeling as a base for digital product development
- Resource-efficient production of 3D printed components from sustainable polymer materials using additive processing methods
- Environmental accounting of polymer materials and their processing according to DIN EN ISO 14040 and DIN EN ISO 14044
Range of services offered by the Polymeric Material Design group
- Tandem mixer line as a base for technology development and scale-up
- Rubber extrusion to evaluate the processability of new rubber compounds
- Incorporation of rubber recyclates into high value applications
- Development of digitization concepts for rubber processing
- Comprehensive characterization and mechanism-based optimization of rubber compounds in terms of reinforcement and dissipation
- Multiscale characterization of the filler dispersion
- Conceptual contributions to the development of sustainable rubber compounds (low abrasion and rolling resistance, high strain crystallization, etc.)
- Mechanism-based optimization of rubber composites with regard to reinforcement and dissipation
- Validation of the performance of novel components for rubber composites using laboratory methods
- Multiscale characterization of the filler dispersion
- Conception of sustainable rubber systems (low abrasion and rolling resistance, high strain crystallization)