Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Injection molded polyamide hydraulic tank

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

BASF and Bemis win SPE Automotive Composites Conference & Expo for the largest known injection molded polyamide hydraulic tank on compact excavators

BASF and Bemis Manufacturing Company received honorable mention at the Altair Enlighten Awards in the enabling technology category for their collaboration on large hydraulic tanks for compact excavators. By leveraging a combination of injection molding and vibration welding techniques, the team was able to lower costs by approximately 20% and reduce mass by approximately 5% compared to the traditional roto-molding process while providing a more eco-efficient solution delivering both environmental savings (reductions in life cycle CO2 emissions) and reducing life cycle cost.

“We needed a way to produce large, complex parts with shorter cycle times, while reducing secondary processing waste,” said Jeff Lallensack, Senior Project Engineer, Bemis Manufacturing. “The BASF team understands our business and their engineering expertise in vibration welding improved the functional performance of the hydraulic tank by successfully containing vibration weld flash during processing.”

The hydraulic tank, which was injection molded and then vibration welded by Bemis Manufacturing, uses a BASF polyamide 6 (PA6) grade, Ultramid® B3WG6 GPX BK23238, reinforced with 30% short glass-fiber. This specific grade of Ultramid provides exceptional vibration weld joint strength and high temperature fatigue strength. Using BASF’s Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) expertise, via ULTRASIM® and Burst Failure Index (BFI)-for-weld methodology, the stringent structural part performance requirements were successfully met.

“At BASF, collaborative innovation with our customers, mutual trust and respect and customer-led engineering is crucial to their

success as well as ours. “BASF’s technical expertise via ULTRAJOIN®, and simulation expertise via ULTRASIM and Burst Failure Index (BFI)-for-weld methodology were the key differentiators that were extensively leveraged to surpass stringent performance requirements. As a team, we made the impossible possible by delivering approximately 20% cost savings to our customer partners while delivering an eco-efficient solution. It’s a true demonstrator of the power of co-creation.”

Ultramid, ULTRAJOIN and ULTRASIM are registered trademarks of BASF SE

 

Source: BEMIS & BASF