HC Plastics News: These three companies believe that thermoplastic composite materials (TPC is the next generation of lightweight materials, applications from electronics to automotive to aerospace and other fields are increasing . Professional experience in their respective fields is the key. Siemens digitalization The capabilities further enhance Airborne's experience in composite component development and process industrialization, covering complete composite CAD-CAE-CAM chains, digital factory solutions and digital dual platforms. SABIC Innovative Plastics offers its UDMAX thermoplastics Composite unidirectional tape, as well as extensive material knowledge and its own research and development in composite processing and product design. Objective: Low-cost mass production of thermoplastic composites.
Saudi Basic Industries' FRT business uses its "proprietary HPFIT" technology to produce UDMAX thermoplastic tape, a technology that is fast, precise, and can spread thousands of glass or carbon fibers and combine them with polymer matrices. The resulting tape is reported to have a high fiber content, high quality fiber impregnation and minimal void content and less broken fibers. (Note: UDMAX and HPFIT are trade names of SABIC and its affiliates.)
Cooperation background
Airborne has become a leading manufacturer of thermoplastic composite pipes for oil and gas. It has developed and built a fully automated production process, commissioned a new plant in 2012, and established Airborne Oil & Gas Company two years later, attracting shareholders from SHELL, Chevron, Saudi Aramco and Evonik.
“We encountered SABIC in the process of developing oil and gas,†vanMourik said. “For these continuous composite coiled tubes, we have developed software and industrial processes that can now produce 40-50 tons of products at once, without the need for extra labor.â€
John O'Connor of Siemens said: "This is a typical example of the complete industrialization of composite materials. The most advanced technology is reaching the point where composite materials are processed like any other industrial material. The competitiveness of composite materials has always been a limitation of productivity. So this is where we think Siemens has unique capabilities. Our focus is on digital. We can use CAD-CAE-CAM products to provide design and simulation before going to the manufacturing floor. We can also use digital factory solutions such as controllers. And production system drivers, as well as our digital twin technology."
Materials and parts
The material is where the SABIC application begins. “We have a lot of thermoplastic resins,†says Francato. “At SABIC Innovative Plastics, we believe that thermoplastics can take composites to a new level due to shorter cycle times. Compared to thermosets, There are fewer reproducibility issues. Years ago, we started looking at thermoplastic composites, which we believe are the best form of materials based on UD tape. “He pointed out that thermoset composites have also begun to be placed automatically for applications that require final performance. One-way tape. “We use our UDMAX tape to make laminates and sheets, then shape them according to customer requirements and mold them into complex components.†Francato said: “This can't be low cycle time, low cost and additional features integrated into the part. Finished in the thermoset material."
He continued: "We believe this will enable mass production, enabling the automotive industry to make more extensive use of the benefits of thermoplastic composites." Therefore, the car is one of the goals. “We believe that the low cycle times and inter-part consistency types required for high volume automotive applications may occur,†Francato said. Other target markets include aerospace, business electronics, commercial vehicles (trucks) and pipelines. “The available space for parts is very wide,†he says. “The material space is also very wide. We started looking for glass and carbon fiber, nylon (polyamide or PA, polypropylene (PP) and polycarbonate (PC), too Willing to add high performance polymers such as PE EK (polyether ether ketone), PEKK (polyether ketone ketone), PEI, (polyetherimide), etc."
automation
Francato said automation through Airborne and Siemens is key. “We started to automate the materials and bought the FRT in 2016, so we made high-quality, perfect tapes at the right speed, which is not easy to achieve. But now we need to make different layers in different directions at high speed. Laminates. "He said that although many systems are in pilot projects, there are actually few productions. “The automation with the overmolding technology of Engel and KraussMaffei has been done more,†Francato said. But he thinks that the speed is very fast, and the equipment for mass production is still lacking. “That's why we want to find the right company to work with. Airborne and Siemens have the ability to automate laminates for specific end-use products. We are working on a component machine that will achieve the goal of producing hundreds of thousands to millions of parts per year. "
The onboard method is flexible to meet the needs. “We buy equipment, but we also build our own and combined technology. We try not to reinvent, but to integrate the machine from other industries that bring innovation. For example, we have studied the paper industry, cable winding industry, etc. To meet our demand for product manufacturing, we are also developing ATL (automatic tape laying) equipment, ready to enter a market that has not yet been developed.
O'Connor said: "We see the company's productivity is high, but not advanced material systems, and vice versa." "Industry leaders must achieve the intersection of machine capabilities, material capabilities and process capabilities." He said that Siemens belt A large number of digital umbrellas can cover all of these areas, combining their data to achieve higher levels of performance throughout the supply chain and process chain.
Zero defect manufacturing
O'Connor said that the Siemens authorized digital production sounds very similar to a zero defect manufacturing called ZAero. VanMourik pointed out that this type of optimized material and process chain is what people want to see. He also said: "The two methods are the same, and in the oil and gas pipeline, we have done this. When you build When you are a 3km long, 50ton high value product, you can't give it up during the production process. But you have to deal with changes in materials and the environment, and still produce qualified products. In order to do this, we A technique has been developed that can be modeled and embedded according to advanced manufacturing processes.
Francato believes that process modeling will make a difference in this regard. He said: "What effect does the defect in the material or joint have? We want to be able to adjust the material during the flight. However, convincing the OEM that it requires a lot of data. If there is no fully automated supply chain and process chain, it can't be done. At this point,†Francato pointed out that a large number of simulations were used in the injection molding process, but not much in continuous fiber composites. However, SABIC did a lot of work in this area two years ago, using a UDMAX tape to create a universal composite beam at selected locations. “It took me less than a minute to complete this part and use this part to test and validate our simulation model. We need to know how a tape is converted to the final part, and also understand the integration and shaping of the part. process."
O'Connor said the entire process can be digitized by Siemens. “We have in-house developed products and partners to help us with some additional features that may be used.â€
Flexible production lines are first used in production cars
VanMourik also believes that production lines must become so flexible that they can run small series between large series. “The concept of digital manufacturing reconfigures the production line to an accurate, optimized setup for each product.†Ideally, a small number of very flexible production lines work together. He added: "The integration station will be the least flexible, and the construction module of the joint will be more popular."
“For automotive and consumer electronics, the production line is not as long as aerospace, so from one component to another, we can ensure a very robust system,†says Francato. He admits that TPC can of course play a very important role in autonomous driving and sensors, "but TPC plays a big role in the interior of the car, because it requires a lot of functions. Compared with traditional materials, we Here you can reduce costs and SABIC is an expert in automotive interiors. We believe that the cooperation with Airborne and Siemens can help SABIC customers manufacture parts in a very reliable and consistent way."
Cost Control
This model of cooperation is in stark contrast to Van Mourik's past decentralized portfolio value chain. “In the 1990s, you could spend a lot of money on carbon fiber cloth (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) for use on airplanes because of the savings in weight and the performance value offered. But the cost and lead time for converting carbon fiber into aircraft parts. They are all very high. Therefore, it is imperative to significantly reduce costs and time."
For Airborne, this means that chemical companies like SABIC must be involved. “Because in the past, formulations were not necessarily optimized for cost-effective production of specific components. Because we are working with SABIC, we can disclose to material suppliers the goal of material performance improvement or cost reduction, which is unprecedented. "Francato also agrees with the view that "lightweight production at the right cost."
VanMourik said: “Now, we are optimizing materials and production processes to fundamentally reduce costs and production cycles. In consumer electronics, it is unacceptable to develop components in two or three years, and the actual situation in the market is even more Nearly 6-9 months."
Machine learning accelerates the development of production lines
VanMourik admits that there is still a lot of work to do to connect all the factors on this digital production line. He explained: "We will try to digitize this process first, and machine learning can also be applied locally, for example only on compression molding, but then we will connect this partial process to each part of the entire process. He pointed out that this is also the place to work with Siemens and SABIC, for example, "If the machine tells us to change the process settings, the material parameters will also be changed. In the future, we hope to be able to automatically connect to the production of tape. But we will step by step."
O'Connor said: "This is the beginning of our Industry 4.0 program. We have the ability to integrate various factors throughout the process chain. People make millions of dollars every day, but usually without data and view support, this is very Unreasonable phenomenon."
Francto said: "The potential of thermoplastic composites is enormous, and this collaboration will accelerate the development and application of thermoplastic composites." He added that the digital production line itself will help shorten the development cycle. “We don’t need to do all the analysis by hand. These digital systems will fill most of the data and details.â€
VanMourik gave an example. “In order to make the composite manufacturing process error-free, you have to monitor dozens of parameters. Our engineers are usually aware of some of the parts that are the easiest to understand and control. In a production line, we have determined that we can accept 2 - 3 windows of key parameters. However, using advanced data analysis throughout the process, we were surprised to find that alternative combinations of parameters outside this window are less logical, but in fact they provide better results. He pointed out that it took some time for the two chemists to understand the reasons. "But now we have a very deep understanding and understanding of this process, and also bring new improvements in performance and efficiency."
O'Connor said: “Simply, for example, Siemens controllers have hundreds of optimization facilities in the factory to make production faster, more flexible and smarter. The composites industry is at the cutting edge of this level of automation and control. .
Van Mourik said: "If we can combine the knowledge of Siemens and SABIC with what we have proven to be possible in the development of composite parts and processes, then we can succeed in composites and process development, and also Accelerating in a way we can't do in the past. Our starting point is small, but the potential is huge."
Stimulating the entire industry
“We want to enable our customers to take full advantage of these continuous fiber thermoplastics and bring new solutions faster than ever before,†Francato said. He believes that due to reduced carbon emissions and energy use. As demand increases, the opportunities for composite materials are growing. “Consider the size and experience of these three partners. We can motivate other players in this market to get more people involved. So far, this market is still too small.â€
Editor in charge: Li Meihui
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