Micro moulding machine melts with ultrasound

Ultrasound is being used to melt plastics in a micro moulding machine developed by Spanish ultrasonics technology company Ultrasion. Ultrasion has grown out of research at the Ascamm Foundation in Barcelona, and more specifically the Microplast project of 2005 which led to a patent in 2007 on micromoulding with ultrasonic energy.     European Commission funding of a two-year project called Sonoplast followed in 2008, aiming to develop a micromoulding machine using ultrasonic energy. A patent emerged which was licensed to established Spanish injection machine builder Mateu i Solé in 2009, with a machine later shown at the NPE exhibition in the USA.     Ultrasion was set up in 2010 to research applications of ultrasound in pultrusion and thermoplastic nano-addition. As well as the Sonorus moulding machine which has now been built by Ultrasion, there are projects underway to produce an additive manufacturing machine and a micro pultrusion machine “soon” and in the longer term to use ultrasound to disperse nano particles in composites.     The claim for the Sonorus 1G injection moulding machine is that using ultrasound instead of conventional heaters enhances the melt flow, improving mould detail at lower moulding pressures. It also reduces material degradation. The machine is fully electric, making it suitable for white rooms and laboratories, and Ultrasion says its energy consumption is 1 per cent of that of conventional machines.     The machine has a 3 tonnes clamp and can inject shot weights of from 0·05 to 2 grammes. The layout is said to give rapid mould change and rapid material change. The machine can also process conventional as well as micro pellets..

Source : britishplastics.co.uk