Faster to the automotive plastic component

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3D printing specialists from Fraunhofer IPA are researching how laser sintering can be used to produce plastic components for automotive manufacturing more efficiently and in high quality ...

At the research campus Arena2036 in Stuttgart (Germany), a team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA) recently commissioned a new 3D printer that uses two fiber lasers. Initially, the additive manufacturing system appears quite conventional. But through two small windows, one can see how a laser beam solidifies surface-applied plastic powder at precisely defined spots by sintering (image). The process is then repeated layer by layer, as is well-known, until the desired component is finished. On a second look, it becomes clearer how the new 3D printer differs from others. More precisely, there are three innovations that make the difference.

First, there is the fiber laser that melts the plastic powder. It operates with a higher power than others and can be focused more precisely than the CO2 lasers currently in use. This allows the new system to print components with exact dimensions particularly quickly.

The plastic powder is different as well. The researchers use a polypropylene powder (PP) mixed with small glass particles, which reportedly makes the finished plastic component comparatively stiff. It is also a material that is not yet commercially available. The printing process must also be gradually adapted to the new material and its properties to ensure that everything runs process-safe and the desired geometries are achieved.

Finally, the specialists in additive manufacturing also point to a sensor. It is supposed to allow the printing process to be observed in real-time. It captures the signals that are reflected when the laser beam hits the polymer powder with the glass particles. At IPA, they hope to deduce whether the process is proceeding correctly or if errors occur.

The fiber laser, polypropylene powder with glass particles, and the sensor are intended to help shorten the product development process of plastic parts for the automotive industry, thereby reducing costs. So far, the industry has only produced sample components and prototypes using 3D printing. Functional plastic components made of polypropylene for pre-series vehicles are manufactured using injection molding, as there is currently no alternative to produce parts in the desired series quality. However, for everything to be produced with the injection molding machine, a complex and relatively expensive tool is needed first. It can take up to six months before the first parts are finished and tested. But with the aforementioned method of additive manufacturing, this time can be reduced to two to three weeks. Developers could then use the saved time to either further optimize the component or bring it to market faster. For series production, typical injection molding tools would then be used economically in larger quantities.