(European Plastics ) -- Austrian injection machinery maker Engel has teamed up with mouldmaker Hummel-Formen and welding technology specialist KVT-Bielefeld to develop a new in-mould technique for production of hollow items such as automotive manifolds, pipes and ducting.
The JoinMelt process integrates moulding of the two shells of a component with heating of the weld surfaces and final positioning of the two shell parts within the injection moulding process.
In the JoinMelt process, the two half-shells are injected simultaneously in a single mould. Once the cooling phase is complete, the mould is opened. One half-shell stays in the moving half of the mould and the other in the fixed half of the mould.
"This removes the need for additional welding equipment. Part take-off and re-insertion are no longer needed, as the finished product can simply be taken off directly out of the mould, said Franz Fureder, who head's up Engel's automotive business unit.