More than 5,900 guests attended last month’s Arburg Technology Days 2015 event, held at Lossburg, Germany.
The company — a manufacturer of injection moulding machines for plastics processing, with a UK subsidiary in Warwick (
www.arburg.co.uk) — focused on production-efficient processing technology, from one-off parts made using additive manufacturing via the company’s Freeformer machines to volume manufacture on its Allrounder injection moulding machines.
This year, around 45% of visitors travelled from abroad, with the largest numbers from Europe: Switzerland with some 280, France with 210, the Czech Republic with 160 and Poland with 130. There were also some 140 visitors from the USA and about 100 from China.
A total of five Freeformers demonstrated the progress Arburg has made in additive manufacturing. One unit showed functional samples of scissor handles being produced in the shortest possible time and how parts could be optimally designed for additive manufacturing.
Other systems made bellows using TPU (thermoplastic poly-urethane) and key chains with an articulated joint from ABS.
Also being demonstrated was a ‘micro production cell’ based on an electric Allrounder 270 A with a linear robotic unloader; this was producing microscopic gears weighing just 0.004gm.
Visitors were also able to witness some of the results of Arburg’s Profoam collaboration with the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Aachen; Profoam sees “plastic granulate mixed with liquid propellant in a granulate lock upstream of the injection unit”.
An electric Allrounder 820 A was used to demonstrate how this method could be used to produce strong yet lightweight low-distortion parts with a homogeneous foam structure — in this case, an airbag housing made from fibre-reinforced polypropylene.
With a focus on medical technology, Arburg used a stainless-steel version of an electric Allrounder 370 A in a class 7 clean-room to produce ampoule holders in a four-cavity mould. Particle contamination in the production environment was also measured and analysed as part of the exhibit.