KURIMOTO,LTD.

Carbon-LFTD system

Technical Classification:
[ Molding ]
Products:
[ Equipment / Facilities ]
Keyword:
[ CFRP ] [ discontinuous fiber ] [ high-cycle molding ] [ large parts ] [ mass production ] [ Thermoplastic resin ] [ trial production ]

Point of the Proposed Technology

〇 A molded CFRTP part can be manufactured directly from resin pellets and Roving (fiber) without using an intermediate base material. This is a new CFRTP molding process that achieves substantial reduction of the material cost. It has various dispersing and kneading capabilities, and can also be used for large tows, which are difficult to disperse.
〇 We provide a self-cleaning type kneading machine (KRC kneader) with a low L/D structure, and a high-accuracy, high-cycle hydraulic press (manufactured by WICKERT) which adapts to thermoplastic composite molding. We propose devices and a process that are compact and excel in maintainability.

Effect(s)

(1) Substantial reduction of the material cost
(2) Mass-production molding
(3) Improvement of molding quality
(4) Reduction of the die cost

Conventional Technology

(1) An injection molding process that uses an intermediate base material (long-fiber pellets, etc.) as the raw material to be molded. ⇒ material cost
(2) The average length of the remaining fiber in the molded part is approx. 0.3 mm to 3 mm.
(3) For vacuum molding to manufacture a void-less part, a vented or share-edge die structure is applied.

New Technology

● Process
(1) An on-site kneading and molding process that does not require an intermediate base material A press molding process for molding a part directly from resin pellets and Roving fiber (large tow), which are inexpensive in material cost. A press molding process that substantially reduces the material cost and also allows mass-production molding.
(2) Capable of molding at low pressure (approx. 5 MPa). Substantially reduces the equipment cost for molding large-shape parts.

● Kneading (KRC kneader)
(1) By adopting a low L/D biaxial continuous kneading machine (KRC kneader),which has a high dispersion capacity, a system configuration that excels in space saving and maintainability is achieved.
(2) Capable of manufacturing a kneaded product having a fiber length according to the purpose by using various paddle patterns.

● Hydraulic press
A high-accuracy hydraulic press that performs molding while maintaining a micron-order (<25 μm/m) parallelism.
 ⇒  sustantial improvement of dimensional accuracy.

Technology Deployment and Cooperation

Development Stage Development Stage (to be completed in 0/0; progress: 0%)
Intellectual Property Right Yes
Joint Researchers (their role) None
Example of Application Mass production of molded thermoplastic composite parts for automotive parts
Technical Problems 〇 Development that integrates materials (resin, fiber, etc.), process and FRP molding technology
〇 Providing a series of molding systems from material supply to molded products
Collaborator needed to Improve Resin manufacturers, fiber manufacturers, die manufacturers, molding manufacturers, end users who consider mass production
Technical WEB pagehttps://www.kurimoto.co.jp/composite/solution/clftd.html

Inquiries

Personnel / DepartmentComposite Project Division, Business Planning Department / Manager, Hiroomi Kamano
Address 12-19 Kitahorie, 1-chome, Nishi-ku, Osaka-city, Osaka, 550-8580 Japan
Contact TEL: +81-6-6686-3234

Outline of Company and Organization

Location 12-19 Kitahorie, 1-chome, Nishi-ku, Osaka-city, Osaka, 550-8580 Japan
Contact TEL: +81-6-6538-7731
Capital / No. of Employees31,100,000,000 yen・2137 employees(group)
Product LineSocial infrastructures (pipes and valves), industrial machinery, construction materials, etc.
Major CustomersMany
Overseas Base(s)Europe, Asia
Certification
Company/Organization WEB pagehttp://www.kurimoto.co.jp/

Update date: 2020/2/18