Biography

Age:             28 years old

Education:     Studied plastics engineering at University of Applied Science in                     Würzburg (Germany)

Since 2005:    Employee at Manfred Jacob Kunststofftechnik GmbH (Germany) in
                     the R&D Department,
                       
Area of work:

• Process Development Insert Molding
• Project Coordinator of “PlugIn” Project
  
  

Abstract of presentation

EU co-financed Research Project:

“Plug Materials Influence on Final Part Quality in Thermoforming Process”

This presentation will present the project as to its objectives, expected outcomes and progress so far.
PlugIn is a research project for the European Thermoforming Industry. Five European Companies and two Universities are investigating the influence of plug materials on the part quality.
The Project started in October 2006 and will last until September 2008. The European Commission is founding the Project with 50 % of the budget under the Sixth Framework Programme. 

Project Partners:

• Accuform (CZ), Developer of Simulation Software T-Sim and B-Sim
• CGP (F), (Consortium General des Plastiques), Supplier of products for the thermoforming Industry
• CIFRA (F), Developer and Producer of several PVC films
• Manfred Jacob Kunststofftechnik GmbH (D), Thermoforming Company, Project Leader
• Holfed Plastics Ltd. (IRL), Thermoforming Company
• University of Stuttgart (D), Research & Development
• Queens University of Belfast (IRL), Research & Development

The main aspects in this project are:

Improving the productivity and competitiveness of the European Thermoforming Industry through a better understanding of the process and a better use of simulation tools.

• Creating a knowledge Base for easy plug material selection
• Investigation of friction behaviour between plug and sheet
• Investigation of heat transfer between plug and sheet during thermoforming process
• Implementation of test results into simulation software
• Validation of the simulation through industrial trials
• Creating a web based interface to disseminate the results

Project progress:

• A plug selection guide has been built and will be available at the end of the project. In this software tool a selection algorithm helps the user to find the right plug material for a specific case. Material, thickness, quantity, price, etc. has been taken into account for the algorithm.

• Measuring setups has been built at the Universities to investigate the complex correlations between sheet and plug during the thermoforming process.

• Test plugs have been machined to run trials at a completely instrumented machine.

Next steps in the project:

• Test series of friction and heat transfer tests will be completed
• Simulation Software will be upgraded with the new gained know-how
• Industrial Trials with a standard tool will be carried out to validate the simulation test
• Web-based expert system will be programmed to disseminate knowledge