‘Future’ the focus of talk at ENGEL Mobility Days in Linz

The event welcomes more than 500 guests. Dr. Stefan Engleder, CEO, ENGEL AUSTRIA GmbH, remarked that the keynotes cover individual transport by car, motorbike, even aerospace and air cab mobility solutions. There is one thing whcih unites all these sectors of mobility, which is making mobility sustainable. 

He emphasized that ENGEL helps reduce energy consumption via stable injection molding processes as well as digitalization tools. ENGEL also facilitates processing of recycled materials. For automotive and other industries, the machine manufacturer provides sustainable solutions in an economical way.  

Talking about some topics that keep the automotive industry awake at night, Beatrix Frisch, Director Business Development & China Projects, CAR - Center of Automotive Research pinpointed that the industry has to adopt circular economy and needs new concepts for circular economy, e.g. blcokchain technology. 

She also talked about the developments of sustainable development in China, and advised that the Chinese and European industries to learn from eac other. 

With the production of “megacastings” – ultra large structural castings in aluminum, the body-in-white can be produced in a more sustainable and cost-effective way. It is revolutionizing body-in-white manufacturing. Since one large part can now replace what used to be 70 parts, the complexity of assembly is reduced significantly, explained Michael Cinelli, Product Manager Die Casting, Bühler AG.

Michael Cinelli believes that megacastings will continue to be a trend. The first German premium brands already started introducing structural aluminum die-cast components in the 90s, and the trend has been steadily developing. More than 10 OEMs decided to use megacastings since then, and 2/3 of megacastings production are installed in China.

AutoFlight is an Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) pioneer. Headquartered in Shanghai with a flight control system research center in Germany, the company leverages AI, autonomous driving, 5G, and materials technologies. It also runs a composite material manufacturing plant in Jining/Shandong province.

Mark R. Henning, Managing Director, AutoFlight Europe GmbH, introduced the sustainable benefits of eVTOL in his presentation. He highlighted that this future mobility solution saves 100% of greenhouse gas emissions, and is 10x quieter than a helicopter.

Why now?  Mark R. Henning said now is the right time for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) to revolutionize our mobility as there is shifting consumer perference to new and greener mobility. In addition, battery technology is rapid developoing, and there is a wider use of new materials and manufacturing technologies. 

Hans Lochner, Team Leader Material and Application, KTM Technologies GmbH introduced hybridization of materials in his presentation. KTM is Europe's largest manufacturer of motorsports vehicles. As a subsidiary of KTM Industries, KTM Technologies is a consultancy company delivering turn-key vehicle design and prototyping for the automotive industry.

Hans Lochner said that hybrid components made of different materials that are joined together, and hybridization is an enabler for sustainable material combinations. The key is using the right sustainable materials in the right place to facilitate recycling strategy.

In a project, ENGEL and KTM Technologies co-develop a motorcycle seat base using the new tape sandwich process. The development partners have made it possible to combine greater stiffness, despite a more compact part design and less weight, with low production costs.

In her presentation, Sandra Tostar, Technical Leader in Polymer and Biobased Materials Applications, Volvo Cars, emphasized the automaker’s sustainability ambition and progress.

Sandra Tostar also discussed the trends and challenges regarding sustainable plastics in the automotive industry. She highlighted five key trends: mono material solutions, lightweight solutions, design for circularity, recycled/bio-based content, and low CO2 emission.

Meanwhile, the five main challenges are traceability, support systems, balancing all attributes in the car, mass balance, and legislation and standards.

ENGEL helps reduce energy consumption through stable injection molding processes and digital tools, and actively supports the processing of recycled materials to provide sustainable solutions for the automotive and other industries.

ENGEL developed its clearmelt technology for these purposes. clearmelt is a two-component process that combines in-mold decoration (IMD) with polyurethane flood-coating.

BMW in Landshut uses this technological basis to produce the "kidney" panels for the BMW iX electric vehicle in a cleanroom setup. The kidney-shaped panels protect a series of sensors for assisted and, in the future, autonomous driving.

To make sure that the sensors also work reliably in the winter, BMW back-injects a heatable functional film with polycarbonate, which is then flood-coated with polyurethane.

Following several applications for the vehicle interior, this is the first time that BMW is using a combination of film back-injection and flood-coating in the series production of function parts on the exterior, where they are exposed to particularly high stress.

A mini exhibition where vehicles as well as interior and exterior components from partners is also organized. Among others, Borealis showcases the front bumper for concept study of Borcycle EE1217SY-9502. This bumper made from 25wt% recycled PCR is a produced in collaboration with Plasman.

The material supplier also displays a flame retardant battery module for electric vehicle made of Fibremod FF311SF, and a lightweight foamed airduct made with Daploy WB140HMS.

Daploy WB140HMS is long chain branched polypropylene with high melt strength, produced in collaboration with Kyoraku.

At the same time, SABIC showcases the Range Rover EV battery pack module end cap made of STAMAX (FR LGF-PP) resin, which is the first use of LGF-PP in this application. The FR technology delivers required thermal, structural and electrical insulation performance.

A thermoplastic-aluminum hybrid EV battery cooling system is also displayed. It is a adhesively bonded hybrid cooling system prototype made of STAMAX resin. It features thermal management integrated to plastic tray, offering protective thermal insulation for cells against extreme outside cold and hot temperatures.

At the exhibition, ElringKlinger AG showcased various components in which include the ReLei Demonstrator. The demonstrator represents a structural component located in the rear area of the vehicle body.

It is engineered as a thermoplastic sandwich structure from fiber-reinforced outer layers (made of recycled carbon fibers) and a foam-molded core (regenerated injection-molding granules), manufactured by one-shot processing with integral load application elements and continuous-fiber-reinforced organo sheets.

Also exhibited is the Lucid front-end carrier which combines the use of lightweight materials with modern processes. It features the properties of high strength and stiffness, focused on the main load paths, while selecting materials for lightweight construction. Functional integration of headlamps, radiator, vortex duct intake, ADAS camera + LIDAR, etc., are offered.