Surface Generation, a provider of advanced carbon fibre processing technologies, has unveiled new compression moulding technology for high-volume automotive and consumer electronics manufacturers that dramatically improves throughput.
Surface Generation’s Multiplexing system has been developed to form fibre-reinforced plastic components in high-volume manufacturing environments with greater speed and precision. It uses a unique transfer process with a pressure containment cassette that allows mould faces and laminates to be held at predefined loads, even outside the press.
Mould faces are loaded into cassettes and passed through a series of material loading, preheating, moulding, cooling and demoulding stations, which precisely control the temperature and pressure applied. The use of multiple cassettes, preheating and cooling stations minimises time within the press and makes it possible to achieve Takt times of as low as one minute.
Surface Generation’s PtFS technology is central to the system, allowing temperatures to be dynamically controlled to the exact local requirements of each part. By adapting heating and cooling levels in real-time, quality is assured and throughput maximised. Parts taking more than six minutes using traditional compression moulding tools can be produced in two minutes using the new system.
YouTube video for embedding: Introduction to Surface Generation and its PtFS