Replacing traditional molds, which are expensive to purchase and energy-intensive, with composite tools heated by resistive heating elements inserted during manufacture is the specialty of the team at the Laboratory Manufacturing Composites (LMC) at the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers Lille, which is exhibiting at this year's Global Industrie trade show in Lyon.
Laboratory Manufacturing Composites, experts in self-heating composite molds for over ten years.
LMC already has numerous industrial applications to its credit, particularly in the aerospace industry, but also in the automotive, rail, robotics, and wind power sectors. According to Marc Legrand, head of the Laboratory Manufacturing Composites at the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers Lille , "These examples highlight the many advantages associated with self-heating composite mold technology, particularly extremely low energy consumption, lighter tools, and high heating dynamics, which means high production rates. " Secure temperature management makes it possible to divide the mold into independently regulated zones in order to optimally manage the curing cycle for parts with significant variations in thickness.
An example of an application presented at the Global Industrie trade show in Lyon
This innovative technology will be presented at the Global Industrie trade show in Lyon from March 5 to 8 by Marc Legrand and his team. "We will be presenting a gantry robot arm made of composite materials, which is used to handle heavy objects. " In this FUI project, carried out for the company SAPELEM, the objective was to make the load to be lifted transparent to the operator while ensuring the strength of the gantry robot arm at a competitive price. The LMC worked with these specifications to propose tools made of self-heating composite materials, as well as a lightweight and highly rigid arm structure.
The self-heating composite mold technology will be presented at the Global Industrie trade show from March 5 to 8 in Lyon.
SMART Area, Booth 4P123
https://global-industrie.com/fr
