The premiere of the webinar “AdEx Home - Advanced Pipe Extrusion Technology” organised by VM Verlag took place on 14 April. Numerous interested participants followed the presentations held in English by Dr Jiri Vlcek (Compuplast), Timo Gebauer (SIGMASOFT) and Martina Bönig (Ingenieurbüro für Extrusionstechnik M. Bönig), who was also the moderator. Martina Bönig has been active in the extrusion industry for more than 25 years and currently works as an independent consultant and expert in all aspects of extrusion all over the world. At the beginning of the event, she emphasised the importance of computer simulation for the entire extrusion process, above all for saving money and time. This applies to all areas of plastics extrusion. And so the lectures revolved around precisely this topic: computer simulation.
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The fi rst lecture was given by Dr. Jiri Vlcek under the title “Simulation of the infl uence of stretching and material properties on the deformation of round products outside a die.” The conclusion of his scientifi c presentation was that in the case of tube stretching, it could be shown that the dimensions of the product depended not only on the process conditions and shear viscosity, but also on the viscoelasticity of the material. In addition, with the help of the simulation, it can be shown that a more strain hardening material tends to deform less in diameter. The results of the simulation can be used for an inverse approximation, according to Dr. Vlcek.
The second lecture, “Extrusion and simulation: How big is the step from the Excel fi le to the fi nite volume simulation?” was given by Timo Gebauer. He emphasised the great benefi ts of computer simulation, above all in terms of cost and time savings, under the premise: Prevent problems – Solve problems – Understand the process better.
The basic message of his presentation was that simulation does not have to be complicated. According to Gebauer, processors or toolmakers often shy away from tackling the topic of simulation because of the fear that they will have to hire a FEM specialist with a PhD who can perform this type of calculation. SIGMASOFT offers a product which, with pure process knowledge and some affi nity for CAD programs, makes it possible to sample processes virtually and not to test them hour by hour in production. Real prototyping blocks expensive machines and provides only a fraction of the information.
According to Gebauer, these times are coming to an end. If you want to remain competitive in the medium term, you have to deal with the topic of simulation. Gebauer: “We live in a time when development times are getting shorter and shorter and mistakes are no longer forgiven. At the same time, demands on tolerances and the complexity of processes are growing.
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Simple estimates and design from the gut will continue to decline, especially in view of the increasing shortage of skilled workers. I think the benefi ts of simulation on slide 12 speak for themselves.”
Finally, the moderator Martina Bönig herself gave her presentation “Requirements and possibilities for sustainable process optimisation – analysis, implementation & economic effi ciency.”
She questioned the concept of process optimisation. This means fi nding and eliminating the actual cause of a process problem, not fi ghting the problem, and described which requirements are necessary for sustainable process optimisation and which possibilities are generally available at present.
The organiser, VM Verlag GmbH, would like to pursue this forward-looking topic of simulation further and offer a follow-up event in due course.
