This means that extensive freedom of design can be combined with low weight and excellent mechanical properties. Sports equipment such as tennis racquets and golf clubs, bicycle frames and, indeed, aircraft structures and lightweight car bodies are just some examples.
In addition to fibre-reinforcement, the incorporation of a variety of ceramic materials with different geometries on extreme length scales in the plastic matrix is becoming increasingly important. While a few years ago enormous sums were still being spent in researching and developing nanocomposites, the potential is currently perceived to be in the combination of reinforcing materials on different length scales (i.e. in the case of so-called hybrid materials). Using these materials, components with a delicate design and locally diverse levels of filling and orientation (i.e. ultimately locally targeted property generation) can be created through intelligent manufacturing processes.
Manufacturing costs are governed heavily by the geometric arrangement of the disperse components in the plastic matrix. Thermoplastic materials filled with spherical substances and with discontinuous fibre reinforcement can be transferred with exceptional ease to the component shape in familiar plastic manufacturing processes. Conversely, the processing of continuous long fibre-reinforced materials does present a challenge in terms of costs. Combinations of highly efficient plastics manufacturing processes with screw plasticising at their core offer promising solutions here. In joint projects involving industry, universities and research institutes (and significant support through research funding provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)), the sector is currently developing intelligent process chains with the aim of achieving a significant reduction in cycle times and costs. Development of Industry 4.0 is also helpful in this context. In addition, new momentum is provided through dynamic development in 3D printing. Initial systems permit the targeted deposition of fibre/matrix filament in the direction of loads acting within the component. This enables the manufacture of macroscopic anisotropic components and exploitation of reinforcement structure potential at the highest level. However, the cycle time in contemporary engineering solutions depends heavily on the transfer of heat. For example, in fused deposition modeling, where the filament is first melted through contact heating, throughput is 100 times lower than in a modern industrial plastics processing system. Screw plasticising can also be benificial.
While material development has for many years focused heavily on the property profile demanded by the user, the manufacturing process is also becoming an issue of equal and increasing interest in development. This perspective has ensured the success story of plastic in recent decades. Excellent solutions for the engineering of plastics can only be created through a collaboration of material, process and design. K2019 will also demonstrate this in an impressive manner for hybrid plastic-based materials in lightweight construction applications.