Chinaplas: Arburg focuses on lightweight construction, digitalisation

The Chinese market, and thus the trade fair, is of great importance for Arburg. At Chinaplas, which takes place from 13 to 16 April 2021 in Shenzhen, China, Arburg is presenting its extensive portfolio for plastics processing in hall 10, stand J21. Although the show’s visitors are likely to be limited to interested locals this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, those who can attend get to see high-end machine technology and turnkey solutions, which are highly sought-after in the important Chinese market.

Arburg is focusing on the topics of digitalisation and resource conservation. Other highlights at the fair are the Freeformer for the industrial additive manufacturing and a smart Allrounder in the “Factory of the Future”.

“China is the world's largest market for injection moulding machines and the demand for high-end machines and turnkey systems is growing,” says Zhao Tong, Managing Director of the Arburg organisations in China. “With our product range, as well as our arburgXworld and arburgGREENworld programs for digitalisation and resource conservation, we are in a pole position,” according to Mr. Zhao. At Chinaplas, Arburg is presenting not only sophisticated exhibits used for LSR processing, lightweight construction and additive manufacturing, but also a turnkey solution for medical technology. 

Allrounder Golden Electric for LSR applications

Arburg is presenting a LSR version of an Allrounder from the Golden Electric series to the international trade fair scene for the first time. The economic electric machine is perfect for the demands of the Asian market. The exhibit manufactures demanding lenses for the automotive industry. These are used in the matrix headlights for passenger cars, for example.

The turnkey system built around an Allrounder 470 E Golden Electric with a clamping force of 1,000 kN is equipped with a Multilift Select of Arburg and a six-axis robot from the Chinese company AID, as well as a 2-cavity mould from local partner Concraft. With a laser, each component is marked with a DM code, which can be used to view the manufacturing data in the arburgXworld customer portal. This ensures 100 percent traceability of each individual component.

Demanding turnkey solution for medical technology

The coronavirus pandemic caused the market for in-vitro diagnostics to skyrocket. At Chinaplas 2021, Arburg is demonstrating the fully automated manufacturing of pipette tips. An Allrounder 470 H with 1,000 kN clamping force and a hot runner mould from the Chinese company Jestar can produce 48 tips per 6-second cycle. Arburg developed the turnkey system in cooperation with local automation partners, and it has been designed to produce several product variants. The automation consists of three modules for removal, camera inspection and order picking. The picking module is able to automatically fill gaps resulting from rejected parts with good parts.

FDC procedure for innovative lightweight construction

Using fibre-direct compounding (FDC), Arburg demonstrates a very economic and resource-saving lightweight construction application. A lateral feeder cuts glass fibre rovings into lengths before adding them directly into the liquid melt. The advantages of this innovative injection moulding process includes high material availability, a cost reduction of up to 40 percent and the option of actively tailoring component properties. In Shenzhen, a hydraulic Allrounder 820 S with 4,000 kN clamping force produces test plates made of 30 percent PP reinforced with long glass fibres. A linear Multilift Select robotic system is responsible for performing the handling tasks.

Industrial additive manufacturing with the Freeformer

The plastic granules processed in injection moulding can also be used in Arburg Plastic Freeforming (APF). At the trade fair, a Freeformer 300-3X combines two components and support material to create a functional component, using a hard/soft combination. The open system is also suitable for very soft and certified original materials, and is perfect for demanding applications, for example in medical technology and the automotive industry.

arburgXworld: News about the customer portal and digitalisation

Arburg is one of the industry's pioneers in the field of digitalisation. The “arburgXworld” program contains the entire range of digital products and services. With its numerous apps and configuration levels, the customer portal with the same name provides extensive digital support. At Chinaplas, all injection moulding exhibits are equipped with an IIoT gateway and networked via the Arburg host computer system (ALS).

In the “Factory of the Future” (hall 11, stand J41), Arburg additionally showcases real-life application examples that illustrate the advantages offered by digitalisation and automation in injection moulding. There an Allrounder 470 E Golden Electric with networked IT equipment manufactures plugs for the automotive industry – completely automatically and with full traceability.