High-temperature press for aerospace and fuel cells

Wickert Maschinenbau unveils the world’s fastest heating-cooling press at JEC World in Paris. The composite press with a heating platen size of 600 x 600 mm and a pressing force of 25 t excels with heating and cooling rates of up to 50 K/min. Standard presses are available for temperatures up to 450 ºC.

Their main application is the processing of high-performance thermoplastics in the aerospace industry, but they are also used to manufacture membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) for fuel cells.

High-temperature presses are just one of the products offered by Wickert Maschinenbau. As a full-range supplier, the family-owned business provides manufacturing solutions from a single source for the entire composites value chain. The company will be exhibiting at JEC in Hall 5, Booth M64. The heating-cooling press presented there is a laboratory system for research.

A customer-specific version of the fast heating-cooling press with temperature control rates of 35 K/min, which Wickert is currently manufacturing for Chemnitz Technical University, is also designed for scientific applications. It features a pressing force of 3000 kN, built up in less than 1 s. The maximum heating plate temperature is 420 °C. The press is scheduled for installation at the customer's site in April and will be used for innovative research projects.

Temperature control at record speed thanks to inductive heating system

Wickert integrates a temperature control system with two separate circuits in the presses ensuring that the short heating and cooling rates are achieved. Inductor coils in the heating plates cause the mold halves to heat up quickly, while integrated channels with cooling water ensure that they cool down rapidly. The company guarantees a homogeneous temperature with a maximum deviation of ± 5 ºC over the entire temperature range up to 500 ºC and the entire plate surface.

Machining of thermally fast-acting particle foams

Thanks to the rapid temperature control of the molds, the presses play a tangible role in cutting cycle times in high-temperature processing while speeding up production. When working with thermally fast-acting particle foams, the rapid heating and cooling rates are a prerequisite for economically efficient processing.

Wickert Maschinenbau GmbH is a medium-sized, family-owned company based in Landau in der Pfalz. It develops and produces complex, fully automated systems that are then integrated in its hydraulic presses. All machines and systems have a modular structure and feature pressing forces of between 20 and 100,000 kN, with a customer-specific layout in each case. The provided systems are used to process elastomers, composites, plastics and powder materials. The presses are used in the production of pharmaceutical sealing plugs, as well as the production of safety parts in automotive brake systems and bi-polar plates for fuel cells. Other applications for Wickert presses include e-mobility, laboratories and research facilities.

Stephanie Wickert and Stefan Herzinger act as partners and managing directors of the family-owned company, founded in 1901, which is supported by an Advisory Board chaired by Hans-Joachim Wickert. Wickert manufactures exclusively in Germany's Landau/Pfalz region, from where it supplies customers in Europe, America and Asia. In 2022, 201 employees generated a turnover of around € 46 million.