The way to a simple and environment-friendly production design of complex foam parts – innovative solutions for the polyurethane manufacturing industry

Abstract

The production of foam parts is an essential part of the automobile production process. Whether for the production of seats, bumpers or pillar foams, polyurethane-based foams combine high strength with ideal damping properties at the same time. In particular, the development of a sustainable production of complex foam parts with additional insert elements is a challenging test for the industry. In the recent years, the research effort has been focused on the development of novel coating systems for automated production systems. For this reason, the leading aim of this work was to optimize the manual foaming process for complex foam parts. Particular attention is paid to the reduction of release agent as well as the improvement of the production steps to reorganize the production efficiency in line with the lean production philosophy. According to the TRIZ methodology, three concepts were developed to solve this issue. To achieve a release agent reduction, an innovative system design for a laser optical release agent system was designed in addition to a cooperatively and fully automatic operating coating robot. This automation solution can be fitted flexibly into the system landscape. However, the main topic of this work was the examination of the PP-based moulds as preferred manufacturing concept. The PP-based mould describes the release agent-free production of precision foam parts. The scope contains the combination of polypropylene plastic films with a special CRP heating system which presents a new approach for the polyurethane processing industry.