Caronno Pertusella (Milan) Italy
Flexible turnkey process for serial production of complex exterior parts for automotive, mass transportation and industrial applications.
“Interwet-LFI technology offers a one-stop shop solution for GFR-PU serial parts production. At its core is our innovative, proprietary and specially adapted self-cleaning Free Pouring Laminar SR L-shaped high-pressure mixing head. A vacuum pulls continuous dry roving from creels through a fiberglass chopper positioned above the head while a second vacuum draws the chopped long, or short glass fibers into the mixing chamber. Inside it is wetted with a two-component polyurethane formulation, creating a homogenous blend which is sprayed into a heated mold, then closed until polymerization is complete. For OEMs and Tier suppliers Interwet-LFI is a timesaving, attractive alternative to production processes based on glass mats or chopped glass fiber pre-blended with polyol.”
Dario Pigliafreddo, Key Account Manager at Cannon Afros
At CAMX 2023, Cannon will showcase its Interwet-Long Fiber Injection (LFI) technology to produce glass fiber reinforced polyurethane (GFR-PU) parts.
Cannon’s Interwet-LFI technology is an automatic and highly flexible process allowing for a wide range of fillers with a fiber volume fraction (FVF) up to 50 percent. For optimum tensile strength, fiber loading and reinforcement length, ranging from 12.5 to 100mm, can be adjusted during the spraying cycle. Furthermore, deflectors near the spray head’s nozzles control fiber orientation. This allows a more uniform lay-down when manufacturing shallow and/or deep ribbed thin-walled parts as well as thicker load-bearing components.
Structural and semi-structural GFR-PU parts and components for a wide range of applications — not requiring high surface aesthetics — can be produced utilizing the Interwet-LFI process alone. It is ideal for civil engineering applications: manhole covers, frames, and chambers, all made much lighter than their steel counterparts. This reduces the need for heavy installation equipment, saving time, labor and costs.
The Interwet-LFI process can also be used for enhancing the structure of previously thermoformed, highly aesthetic polymer components. Spraying a GFR-PU layer onto the reverse side of external body panels for roofs, side and rear panels for buses, trucks, and agricultural vehicles, adds stiffness, strength, and durability.
Combining in-mold barrier coating (IMC) and Interwet-LFI technology makes it possible to obtain multi-colored parts with high surface aesthetics, excellent chemical and mechanical performance, while bonding to the PU substrate — all in a single process. A self-releasing primer, which eliminates the need for mold release agents, is sprayed onto the open mold, followed by a barrier coating. Next, the GFR-PU formulation is injected and the mold closed. After curing the part is de-molded, displaying a superior surface aesthetic which can be painted.
Cannon provides customers a complete turnkey Interwet-LFI mass production line including: raw material storage, the latest generation of dosing units and patented mixing heads, robotics, in-mold coating spraying equipment, molds, presses and thermoforming machines, post-curing jigs, and eco-cleaner to filter, recirculate and re-use cleaning agents.
Cannon Group is exhibiting at Booth GG18 at CAMX 2023 held in Atlanta GA, USA (Oct. 30 – Nov. 2).
About Cannon Afros
Cannon Afros, part of the Cannon Group, is the world’s leading supplier of dosing units, mixing equipment and processing technologies for polyurethanes and multi-component resins. Today Cannon Afros offers an extensive range of processing technologies for molding, pouring, injection, spraying, pultrusion and manufacturing abilities dedicated to a comprehensive range of reactive polymers. Cannon Afros designs, manufactures and sells a vast assortment of equipment from single mixing heads and stand-alone units to complex turnkey and customizable production plants that serve the following industries: Automotive & Transportation, Building, Refrigerators and home appliances, Furniture, Sport, Aeronautics, Renewable energy and Sealing.
About Cannon Group
Founded in 1962, Cannon Group comprises 30 companies, with a global presence in more than 40 countries and is recognized as a market leader in technologies, processing and molds for polyurethanes and urethane elastomers for the plastics and composites industries. The Group designs and manufactures high- and low-pressure dosing machines and mixing equipment, for continuous slab and discontinuous molded polyurethane foams. Dedication to continuous innovation now positions Cannon Group as a driving force offering the design, manufacture, servicing, and maintenance of equipment also in other key technology areas including: Energy – industrial boilers for standard and special applications, comprising steam boilers, hot water heaters, heat recovery boilers, and thermal oil heaters, with in-house engineering and fabrication services; Water & Wastewater Treatment – deareators, condensate treatment and recovery, effluent treatment plants, sanitary water treatment and sewage treatment, injection water treatment, demineralization, produced water; and Automation, where Cannon Group offers process digitization and condition monitoring, connect-IT and emissions monitoring. Cannon Group is committed to reducing the ecological footprint of all the Group’s technologies and industrial processes offered to the market through energy efficiency, resource consumption reduction and emissions reduction. Cannon Group delivered net sales of €230 million in 2021. To learn more, visit www.cannon.com
Media Contact
Alberta Stella
Head of Corporate Marketing Communications
+39 347 63 76 787
astella@cannon.com
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