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Using Gas-assisted injection moulding to rationalize
plastic pipe production
The manufacture of complex bent and highly integrated pipes can be
highly rationalized by employing gas-assisted injection moulding (GAIM). This
applies especially to highly integrated conduits with complex shapes, which
can be completely moulded in one shot, being ready for installation and
including all components.
GAIM is capable of producing functional hollow articles by a controlled injection
of inert gas into areas of a moulded part, which is still in the molten stage.
The great advantage of GAIM is that it is suitable not only for the production of
tubular conduits (pipes) but that it also possible to integrate conduits themselfes
into complex parts, as for example air conditioning conduits within door modules or
dash boards.
Some advantages are:
- reduction of assembly costs, functional components, such as fastening
elements and connections are moulded at the same time within the part or the
conduits are integrated themselves within a part
- cutting and heat-bending of semi-finished products is not necessary, because the conduits are moulded
directly in the desired shape
- there is no process chain, only a "process from
one hand"
- a large number of polymers, which are not extrudable, for example,
can be used
- new and greater design freedom for functional components (e.g.
connectors)
- "closed" fluid systems can be realised
At IKV, the plastics processing institute in Aachen Germany, we develope
different process variants of GAIM to fullfill the requirements for different
types of fluid conduits.
Who is interested in this topic and is a manufacturer of automotive
(or other)pipes using 3D-blow molding or extrusion and wants to discuss
if his products can be produced cheaper by injection molding
(if the product is suited for GAIM, thats what has to be prooved) ?
Information: this is not advertising, just an attempt
to start a discussion concerning "injection moulded pipes",
which will become an hot issue in the next years, since
the first GAIM pipes are now manufactured e.g. for BMW.
Dipl.-Ing. André Brunswick Researcher, Gas-assisted injection Moulding
See: Plaste Europe, European Plastics, Modern Plastics Jan. - Feb. 1998
for bent pipe manufacture using GAIM
Further Information:
Institute for Plastics Processing, IKV-Aachen
André Brunswick, Dipl.-Ing., Researcher
Tel. ++49-241-803829
Fax. ++49-241-8888262
Email.
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