Smart Molding International 1-2022

26 molding technologies smart_molding international 1/2022 "I f you can think of it, you can do it", is the slogan of Bernd Krebs, founder of Toolcraft. Since 1989, widely disparate areas have developed in which the company is active. Among them are metal cut - ting, additive manufacturing, and ro - botics as well as injection molding and moldmaking. The team uses the wide variety of available methods to present solutions – occasionally unusual ones – to customers. Toolcraft has often ad - opted new technologies from scratch, so introducing silicone certainly does not faze them. SKZ, in turn, is number one in edu - cation, research, testing and certifica - tion in the plastics field. In addition to SKZ's many other industry-relevant events, the renowned industry con - ference on silicone elastomers takes place every two years. To date, how - ever, SKZ had not had an LSR process - ing machine on its own premises. The topic was increasingly under discus - sion as a result of increasing elec - tromobility with its high underhood temperatures and the increasing importance of elastomers in medical technology. Win-win situation for all three partners When KraussMaffei received the in - quiries from Toolcraft and SKZ for LSR machines at around the same time, it soon became clear that a "triple-win" situation was within reach. All those involved sat down to confer: SKZ In - stitute head Prof. Martin Bastian and Georg Schwalme, Head of the Injec - tion Molding area at SKZ, Thomas Lender (Head of Injection Molding) and Markus Scheuerlein (Moldmak - ing Project Manager) of Toolcraft as well as Frank Burkhardt (Local Sales) and Cordula Wieland, Expert Sales TEC and Silicone Processing Expert at KraussMaffei. Valuable support was also provided by Nexus, a company that brought its For many years, liquid silicone (LSR) had a reputation as being a difficult material that was only for specialists and incompatible with conventional thermoplastic processing. Despite this, more and more companies are discovering this interesting material. SKZ (The Plastics Center, Würzburg, Germany) and Toolcraft (Georgensgmünd, near Nuremberg), an innovative expert in the field of precision components, are collaborating to explore the possibilities and limits. KraussMaffei is playing a large part in this endeavor as a machine partner. SKZ and Toolcraft join KraussMaffei in LSR technology All photos: KraussMaffei