An new approach to creating light-weight plastic parts with good surface finish using tap water to create structural foam mouldings - Streamould -

一种使用自来水制造结构泡沫成型件来制造具有良好表面光洁度的轻质塑料部件的新方法 - Streamould -

• 批准号: 710792
• 金额: $ 12.68万
• 依托单位: THE R & D FACTORY LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: GRD Proof of Concept
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=710792
• 关键词: new; approach; creating; light; weight

The global structural foam market is expected to reach $31.9 Billion by 2020, with annualizedgrowth of ~6% between 2015 & 2020. US & Asian markets dominate, while EU market shareis ~23% of this ($7.4bn by 2020). Demand & growth is driven by the automotive &construction sectors. The major materials used are polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene,and polyurethane. .Structural foam moulded parts have a cellular foamed core with a relatively solid skin outer,produced by a form of injection moulding using a chemical blowing agent or gas such asnitrogen, butane or carbon dioxide. The process usually employs low pressure. Structuralfoam is significantly lighter than solid plastics, with high strength-to-weight ratio and lowercost tooling. The automotive sector is the main driver to structural foam growth as lifetimeenergy & CO2 savings drive the need for light weight components. So there is growingdemand for thick & thin section foam mouldings with good surface finish.Problem – Chemical blowing agents cause ozone depletion & will be phased out under theMontreal Protocol. Gases such as butane & pentane are an inherent fire risk, while N2 & CO2are relatively expensive to use, require storage alongside the mould m/c. Structural foam partssuffer from relatively poor surface finish especially when low injection pressure is used. Partsurfaces have a characteristic swirl pattern caused when the blowing agent becomes trappedbetween the mold surface & skin of the part.Our Big Idea - Streamoulding is an innovative new process to make structural foam mouldedlight-weight parts. It uniquely uses tap water to foam polymer. Our patented process producesa foam structure by controlled expansion of water to steam. Water is introduced into the meltduring the injection phase of the moulding cycle through a specially designed retro-fitreplacement mixing nozzle. Streamoulding offers up to 40% weight saving, 40%+ cycle timereduction & 30%+ energy savings.

预计到2020年，全球结构泡沫塑料市场将达到319亿美元，2015年至2020年期间的年增长率约为6%。美国和亚洲市场占主导地位，而欧盟市场份额约为23%（到2020年为74亿美元）。需求和增长由汽车和建筑行业驱动。所用的主要材料是聚乙烯、聚丙烯、聚苯乙烯和聚氨酯。结构泡沫模制部件具有多孔泡沫芯，该泡沫芯具有相对坚固的外皮，通过使用化学发泡剂或气体（例如氮气、丁烷或二氧化碳）的注射模制形式来生产。该工艺通常采用低压。结构泡沫塑料比固体塑料轻得多，具有高强度重量比和低成本模具。汽车行业是结构泡沫塑料增长的主要驱动力，因为寿命能源和二氧化碳节约推动了对轻质部件的需求。因此，对具有良好表面光洁度的厚截面和薄截面泡沫塑料模制品的需求不断增长。问题-化学发泡剂会导致臭氧层消耗，根据蒙特利尔议定书将逐步淘汰。丁烷和戊烷等气体具有固有的火灾风险，而N2和CO2使用相对昂贵，需要在模具m/c旁边储存。结构泡沫部件遭受相对较差的表面光洁度，特别是当使用低注射压力时。当发泡剂被困在模具表面和零件表皮之间时，零件表面会产生特有的漩涡图案。我们的大创意-流线成型是一种创新的新工艺，用于制造结构泡沫塑料成型轻质零件。它独特地使用自来水来发泡聚合物。我们的专利工艺通过控制水向蒸汽的膨胀来生产泡沫结构。在成型周期的注射阶段，通过一个专门设计的改装更换混合喷嘴将水引入熔体中。流线型成型可节省高达40%的重量，40%以上的循环时间和30%以上的能源节省。