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열정과 기술이 만나면 어떤 일이 가능해질까요? 고객 매거진 두 번째 호에서 알아보십시오!
BEYOND SURFACES의 이번 호에서는 ‘기술과 혁신’에 대해 집중 조명합니다. 올리콘발저스와 올리콘메트코의 직원들은 고객의 니즈를 충족시킬 수 있는 신기술과 새로운 솔루션 개발을 위해 끊임없이 노력하고 있습니다. 이러한 열정과 노력이 어디서 비롯되고, 시장 지향적 혁신에 어떻게 적용되고 있는지 살펴 보겠습니다.
미래의 코팅 기술을 개발하기 위한 학계와 산업계의 협력, 레이싱 카 속도를 높이기 위한 지능형 코팅 솔루션의 역할, 세계에서 가장 큰 단조 프레스용 열 처리 솔루션 개발을 위한 노력 등 표면 솔루션 개발을 위해 당사와 당사의 고객들이 이루어낸 놀라운 사례들을 확인해 보십시오!
The sound of the name Gigaset is renowned in the communications 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.
An 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 component – 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 remount – a process which can take up to a week, for example, if 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 already 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.
The BALITHERM PRIMEFORM approach creates a wear and scratch resistant diffusion layer with high surface hardness in the base material using a plasma-assisted 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.
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.
Gigaset AG with headquarters in Munich is Europe’s market leader for DECT telephones and has a market presence worldwide in approximately 70 countries.
© Copyright 2024 OC Oerlikon Management AG
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