Questions concerning modern injection moulding processes are gaining in complexity and diversifying in various subareas. The nearly twenty working groups within the IKV's Injection Moulding/PU department at RWTH Aachen University carry out research into all the major injection moulding processes as well as the related technologies and production resources. The department's activities cover the entire process chain from the original idea to the finished product. In addition to thermoplastics and thermoplastic elastomers, the research teams also study the wide range of thermosets, elastomers and polyurethanes. (Read more in the PDF)

The economic environment for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in the field of plastics processing has changed considerably in the last few decades through globalisation and ever faster technological progress. The mounting complexity of organisations and processes is also leading to increasing complexity of the management tasks. Companies are forced to adapt their structure in terms of flexibility and velocity. Amongst others, the operational structure as well as the strategic planning of the production processes is to be modified.

Therefore, the interface between technological and organisational tasks gains in importance. The group Industrial Engineering at IKV is doing research in these topics. (Read more in a PDF)

Multi-component technology offers considerable potential to develop and produce technically sophisticated, highly integrated parts. IKV deals comprehensively with the development and optimization of multi-component injection moulding processes. The focuses are set on the fields of overmoulding and combination of various special injection moulding processes. A new topic is the combination of the primary forming processes injection moulding of plastics and metal die casting to a new hybrid multi-component process. Based on this technology, plastic parts with integrated electrically conductive tracks can be produced using a single machine and a single mould. (Read more in the PDF)

Optical systems made of transparent polymers are one of the key-technologies of the 21^st century. Technological advantages in polymer processing allow increasing substitution of glass optics. Injection moulding and injection-compression moulding allow a comparatively cheap one-step-manufacturing of high precision optical polymer lenses.

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The specific functionalisation of surfaces by means of micro and nano structures provides high potential for the development and production of sophisticated, highly integrated plastics parts. The research group “Injection moulding/Micro structures” at the IKV is intensely engaged in the development and optimisation of processes for the precise replication of these structures. Main aspect is the production of plastics parts with functional surfaces. These surfaces find applications in medical and biomedical engineering, micro fluidics, metrology, information technology, in optical systems and fluid mechanics.  (Read more in a PDF)

Polymer micro parts with shot weights in the range of some milligrams up to one gram can be found nowadays in the field of medical engineering, as well as in electronic and consumer products.

The research team “Micro injection moulding / Process technology” at IKV works on subjects concerning both the machine and the process technology for micro injection moulding as well as the process integrated assembly of hybrid micro structures. (Read more in the PDF)

The IKV is intensely engaged in the development and optimisation of special injection moulding processes. The fluid injection technique (FIT) represents one of the central research topics of the injection moulding department. By injection of gas (gas-assisted injection moulding; GAIM) or water (water injection technique; WIT), the FIT makes the highefficient production of hollow and thick-walled parts possible. (Read more in a PDF)

Foam Injection Moulding (FIM) is, at the same time, one of the oldest and most actual special injection moulding processes in plastics processing. Due to research activities in the fields of chemical- and physical blowing agents at the IKV for many years, the workgroup Foam Injection Moulding offers an extensive know-know in this field of work. (Read more in the PDF.)

The in-mould decoration technique (or back moulding technique) provides a surface decoration or application of a functional surface onto a thermoplastic carrier in the injection mould. The melt is injected directly onto the surface material. This surface can consist of plastic foils, textiles or of wooden veneers, genuine leather or metal sheets. The IKV works on a suitable injection moulding process, which is gentle to the decorative surface, to emphasize the characteristics of the particular decorative material. (Read more in PDF)

Already in the 1970’s the heat balance of injection moulds was analysed at IKV, and design rules for thermal mould design were derived from analytical considerations. Since then, the geometrical complexity of injection moulds has been strongly increased. At the same time, the demands for accuracy of injection moulded are steadily growing. For this reason, todays injection moulds have to meet ambitious demands - especially with view to their cooling system. (Read more in the PDF)

The qualities of parts produced through injection moulding process are significantly affected by the course of the melt pressure in the cavity (cavity pressure).

Therefore, this course of the cavity pressure can be used on the one hand to observe the process constancy and the moulded part quality like provisions for quality assurance. On the other hand the cavity pressure can be controlled directly using capable controlling concepts to increase the stability of the process against process fluctuations. (Read more in the PDF)

Process simulation is an important support for the dimensioning of thermoplastic injection moulding parts and tools. The IKV focuses in this context on the development and application of injection moulding simulation software till several years. In early 80s the software tool Cadmould was developed, that is being distributed commercially by Simcon since 1988.

This expertise is used in cooperation with the industry to optimize the injection moulding process and parts and to decrease the costs early during the product development. (Read more in the PDF).

The integrative examination of complete process chains – beginning from the choice of raw materials over the compounding step and the further processing by injection moulding to the final composition part and its characterisation – is one of the major strengths of IKV. Here the major task of the research group “Injection moulding/Special materials” is the development and processing of customised filled polymer materials – always working closely together with the IKV workgroup “Extrusion/Compounding”. (Read more in the PDF)

Medical engineering is a multidisciplinary and thematically widely spread field of research and application. In Germany it is characterised through a high innovative potential and developments of high quality. Considerable improvements for patients ave been made through progresses in medical engineering which have revolutionized diagnosis and therapy of diseases. At IKV, we deal with the development of medical products as well as new therapies for years. Our goal is to eliminate eficits of existing products and therapies. (Read more in the PDF)

Injection moulding has been established for the production of complex and technically demanding form parts in elastomer processing. The general process flow is very similar to thermoplastics processing, the main difference is the temperature profile of the moulding compound. Unlike thermoplastic materials, elastomers get their form stability by supplying energy in the vulcanisation step and not by energy dissipation through cooling. This circumstance requires a dedicated analysis of the injection moulding of elastomers. Up to now The IKV has been working on the optimisation and the development of relevant special procedures of the injection moulding process of elastomers for several years. (Read more in the PDF)