Smart Molding International 3-2022

6 newsfeed smart_molding international 3/2022 To be able to move forward with the circular economy, it is essential to use pretreated plastic waste in a far wider range of applications. Visible components with premium surfaces have posed a particularly great chal- lenge here thus far. To achieve premi- um surfaces directly from the mould surface using injection moulding without secondary operations, a high proportion of virgin material is usually required, if recycled material can be added at all. At the K show 2022, ENGEL is collab- orating with technology firm Roctool (Le Bourget du Lac, France) to dem- onstrate that there is a different ap- proach from now on. Unique electron- ic boxes in black are being produced on an e-mac 465/160 injection mould- ing machine. They are made from rABS sourced from post-consumer recycled plastics. The surface is high- gloss. The cavity is laser engraved to create innovative patterns on the top side of the box, and there are fixtures for installing fans and connectors on the side surfaces. The part is also ultra-thin – 1.2 mm – in order to save material. Conventional moulding would require thicker wall sections. Smart assistants compensate for fluctuations The key to the premium surface qual- ity of this recycled component is the interaction between forward-looking machine and mould technologies. The all-electric ENGEL e-mac in- jection moulding machine relies on mould temperature control, based on Roctool induction technology, to en- able outstanding moulding precision and the highest surface quality. The latest energy-efficient, compact air- cooled Roctool generators are being used at the K show. The smart assistance systems from ENGEL's inject 4.0 portfolio used in the e-mac machine make a further contri- bution to high quality in the process- ing of recycled materials. The smart assistance systems include iQ weight control, which de- tects fluctua- tions in the raw ma- terial and automatically adjusts the injection profile, the switchover point and the holding pressure to reflect the current conditions in the same cycle. In general, recycled materials are sub- ject to greater batch fluctuations than virgin material, iQ weight control has a particularly positive impact in terms of achieving consistently high product quality in this application. At the same time, iQ melt control improves the ho- mogeneity of the molten plastics by automatically adjusting the plasticis- ing time to the optimum value for the application. The application presented at the K show demonstrates the huge po- tential for the circular economy. The proportion of virgin material can be significantly reduced, to zero in the best case. Already today, many man- ufacturers are taking back end-of-life equipment for recycling and returning it to production. Thanks to this com- bination of Roctool technology and ENGEL smart digital assistance, even demanding housing parts with a super thin, complicated geometry can now be produced from post-consumer re- cycled material in a cost effective and sustainable way. Partnerships are the key to success Other system partners involved in the project's success include Moldeti- po (Marinha Grande, Portugal), who built the mould, Lavergne (Mon- tréal, Canada), who provides the recycled plastic, INCOE (Rödermark, Germany) for the hot runner systems and Stan- dex En g r av i n g Mold-Tech (Tre- viso, Italy) for the tool laser texture design. Close collabora - tion along the value chain is essential for establishing a circular econo- my. This is why ENGEL is strongly com- mitted to networking these companies on multilateral, horizontal platforms. ENGEL www.engelglobal.com ENGEL creating high-end visible parts from recycled material at the K 2022 The rABS used to produce the electronic boxes is sourced from post-consumer recycled plastic (picture: ENGEL)