Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MouldTex (FRICTION OPTIMISATION OF SEALS THROUGH ADVANCED LASER SURFACE TEXTURING OF MOULDS)

Teaser

The vision of MOULDTEX is to develop and implement in real production lines, cost-effective surface modifying methods for friction reduction in dynamic contacts, in particular in those in which one of the components is an elastomeric or plastic part manufactured by injection...

Summary

The vision of MOULDTEX is to develop and implement in real production lines, cost-effective surface modifying methods for friction reduction in dynamic contacts, in particular in those in which one of the components is an elastomeric or plastic part manufactured by injection moulding or vulcanisation. This will be supported by advanced product and process design modelling tools as well as online inspection and correction tools to prevent defect generation and propagation. The core of this approach is constituted by texturing of the mould surface using lasers and texturing of the rubber component surface using mould texture transfer. Here direct surface texturing is used only once to create the inverted pattern on the mould surface; the costs of which are depreciated across the thousands of components manufactured using that mould. The innovative production process represents a step change in the manufacture of textured seals as it will allow for the first time the mass production of textured seals with improved friction and wear characteristics (>20% friction reduction and >50% extended life) and prices comparable to current mass production methods (<10% increase). This friction reduction and life enhancement will lead to dramatic energy consumption savings of 1-6% on average
The project will develop and demonstrate a novel process for the design and high volume manufacture of surface textured polymeric elastomeric components dynamic seal tailored to the friction environment within which the component operates, achieving a friction reduction of >20% at a cost premium of <10%. The technology will have the following key innovative features:
i. A holistic design software to enable ease of take-up and use by seal manufacturers to quickly and cheaply design high value products with tailored friction reduction customised to the specific needs of the target application
ii. Modelling tool to optimise the texture parameters for a given set of operating conditions enabling >20% reduction in friction and >50% improvement in wear of dynamic seals without impacting on sealing performance and at a <10% price premium
iii. Process simulation workflow for the fine-tuning of the process conditions and of the texture geometry to be applied on the mould surface.
iv. Combination of laser-matter modelling with advanced adaptive optics enabling the controlled formation of tailored hierarchical micro-/nano- surface textures on different material substrates
v. 5 axis machine laser systems for free form mould tool surface functionalization enabling cost efficiency and ease of take-up by mould manufacturers
vi. In-line optical inspection
vii. Surface texturing of mould using energy efficient laser processes with zero requirement for additional chemicals or materials thereby enabling minimal environmental impact

Work performed

During the first 18 months of the project the following work has been performed:
Within WP1 “Friction Modelling”, advanced models for the prediction of the friction variation produced by a texture pattern (with respect to the untextured case) have been developed, as well as Reduced Order Models that are able to instantaneously predict the friction variation as a function of the parameters of influence. An innovative experimental procedure has been developed to test samples for ROM building and validation.
Within WP3 “Laser Texturing”, the physical mechanisms underlying laser-matter interactions have been analysed, leading to the development of a multiscale computational code that is able to correlate the laser parameters with the surface pattern features. Test surfaces with dual-scale roughness have been produced in order to test their ability to control friction and an adaptive optical configuration to process curved surfaces has been developed.
Within WP4 “Mould Tool”, a methodology for the assessment of the influence of the surface texture on the injected rubber flow has been developed. This methodology combines the effects at micro level (flow over the pattern) and macro level (global effects on the injection process). In addition, a highly effective sol-gel coating that enhances the demoulding process has been developed.

Final results

Surface texturing for friction reduction is a known technology that has been analysed at theoretical and laboratory level, but its huge potential for mass production manufacturing of dynamic components remains untapped. The ambition of this project is to show the technical and economic viability of implementing this technological solution in an operational industrial environment.
The project will impact industry by improving the targeted functionalities by at least 20%, with a cost increase below 10% with respect to the cost of conventional products, thus strengthening the global position of the European manufacturing industry through the intensive implementation of innovative and unconventional technologies.
The market share for European plastic and rubber producers of commoditized products is getting steadily reduced in favour of lower manufacturing costs from emerging countries. Maintaining margins in highly commoditized rubber and plastic products is getting very difficult for European enterprises, given the increased cost of raw materials and the increased price sensitivity of the end users. The only way for EU manufacturers to significantly reduce their manufacturing costs is moving to higher added value products. MouldTex will increase the competitiveness of seals and industrial equipment manufacturers across the full value chain in highly competitive markets such as: seal manufacturers, manufacturers of products / systems using textured seals, mould tool manufacturers and laser engravers.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.mouldtex-project.eu/index.html.