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BEYOND SURFACES
Fall
16
36
Passion
A
n exceptionally elegant appearance marks the new
Gigaset ‘Sculpture’. Its surfaces are resplendent in
immaculate white or black. The production facility
in Bocholt, Germany, expends a good deal of effort to
bring this about. The injection moulding tools for forming
the plastic parts mustn’t have even the slightest scratch.
“You would see that immediately on the finished compo-
nent – especially in the colour high-gloss black,” explains
Stefan Schlottbohm, Head of Toolmaking at Gigaset.
The risk of scratch formation was greatest during
retooling as well as during the regular polishing required
by the steel mould inserts (material: 1.2343 ESU). In
the worst-case scenario, this meant: remove the tool,
allow cooling, strip down, re-polish and then re-mount –
a process which can take up to a week, for example, if
Immaculately
smooth
Gigaset and BALITHERM PRIMEFORM
The sound of the name Gigaset is renowned in the communi
cations industry. Europe’s market leader for DECT telephones
stands out through top quality and design. Tools treated with
BALITHERM PRIMEFORM ensure perfect, high-gloss surfaces
on finished plastic parts and shorten production cycle durations
as well as the time required for maintenance.
process. Because this is not a deposited coating, but
rather a ‘depth treatment’ of the surface, the tool can
subsequently be polished to high-gloss with no difficulty.
This significantly reduces the maintenance effort required
because the moulds no longer have to be sent out either
for re-polishing or for stripping and re-coating.
The demouldability as well as the injection and flow
behaviour of the plastic material, in this case ABS,
are also improved. This facilitates the manufacture of
products which have nearly invisible weld lines and thus
solves a ubiquitous problem faced by high-end suppliers
in the industry.
Cycle duration reduced by
more than 10%
A further perpetual challenge is the reduction of
the production cycle duration. In an initial step,
BALITHERM PRIMEFORM delivered a reduction of
about 10% at the Gigaset facility in Bocholt. Further
improvements over the total product cycle of around
four years with a projected quantity of approximately
570’000 parts appear to be possible. Up to this point,
the single-cavity mould for manufacturing the charging
cradle of the ‘Sculpture’ telephone as well as the
two-cavity moulds for the charging cradle cover and
the upper shell of the handset have been treated – all
three are high-gloss components. Previously, moulds
for structured elements were protected by a TiN coating
which required additional maintenance work if damaged.
“With BALITHERM PRIMEFORM, this, too, is a thing
of the past. And if all goes as planned, the way will be
clear for further high-gloss products,” predicts Stefan
Schlottbohm, taking a look at future developments.
the mould needs to be sent out for reconditioning. That
is an unacceptable situation for the high-performance
production facility in Bocholt, because speed is essential.
“A good 90% of customer orders require delivery al-
ready within three days,” says Stefan Schlottbohm.
Immaculate results and speed – in light of these
challenges, the suggestion made by coating partner
Oerlikon Balzers to treat certain tools with the innovative
BALITHERM PRIMEFORM method was spot on.
Plasma-assisted process
The BALITHERM PRIMEFORM approach creates a wear
and scratch resistant diffusion layer with high surface
hardness in the base material using a plasma-assisted
Gigaset
Gigaset AG with headquarters in Munich is Europe’s
market leader for DECT telephones and has a market
presence worldwide in approximately 70 countries.
www.gigaset.com