Battice, Belgium – 3B and Lati have combined to deliver a breakthrough in engineering thermoplastics for high aesthetic structural components. This breakthrough will open many doors to engineers and designers who can now achieve both goals of high structural performance and high gloss finishes directly from the forming tools.
Vertical door hinge system made from Latigloss™, an application based on 3B glass fiber reinforcement solution (Photography – Courtesy of Lati SpA)
Replacing metal has long been the challenge of glass fiber reinforced composites in order to reduce cost, complexity and weight. With the objective to deliver superior performance on these attributes as well as enabling opportunities on the aesthetic front, Lati together with 3B has developed a 50% and 60% glass fiber reinforced Polyamide 66 called Latigloss™ 66 H2 G50 & 60.
Structural analyses by finite elements simulation of the hinge system (Photography – Courtesy of Lati SpA)
In order to meet the Latigloss™ product needs, 3B has developed a product that not only delivers outstanding mechanical performance in the form of stiffness in PA66, but also has excellent wet-ability which allows a very homogeneous dispersion at high glass fiber loadings of up to 60%. The result is a 3B chopped strand solution made from Advantex® glass with a unique, optimum fiber/matrix interaction.
Newly designed glass fibre reinforced PA solution in replacement of metal part (Photography – Courtesy of Lati SpA)
This innovative formulation has been successfully used to replace cast metal in many different structural applications, e.g. the vertical opening door hinges for high-end kitchen furniture. To meet the demanding challenges of this very sophisticated system, Lati worked closely with the design group Effegi Brevetti, in order to optimize the geometry of the individual components that are tailored to the capabilities and benefits of reinforced PA. This resulted in a complete re-engineering of the hinge system based on finite element analysis, leading to an overall improvement of the geometry of the different parts. The influence of processing parameters on the molded parts has been carried out as well, leading to satisfactory results from both the structural and aesthetic points of view.
Examples of Latigloss™ applications based on 3B glass fiber reinforcement solutions can be seen at the 3B-the fibreglass company stand at K2010, Hall 8b Stand C79.
3B, The Fibreglass Company
www.3b-fibreglass.com
Lati Industria
www.lati.com
::Design World::
