Precision injection molding in model making
Akulon® Ultraflow™ from DSM Engineering Plastics provides high cost savings potential

Sittard, The Netherlands, 22 October 2008 – Akulon® Ultraflow™ PA6 from DSM Engineering Plastics is characterized by excellent material properties in combination with optimized processability. Above all, the polymer offers superior, up to 80 % higher flow rates than conventional nylon resins, and can thus be molded more easily. As a result, the improved injection performance leads to cycle time reductions of up to 40 %, depending on the specific application. In addition, the material can be processed at lower temperatures, contributing to enhanced energy efficiency. Higher injection speed and faster crystallization allow molders to operate with lower clamp forces (smaller machines) or higher-cavity molds. This in turn reduces the cost per part or also the machine hour rates.

Altogether, these benefits provide molders with a high cost savings potential – a whole bundle of bottom line results that also convinced German rail car model maker Modelleisenbahn Schirmer from Borna near Leipzig (www.modelleisenbahn-schirmer.de). The bogie of a Deutsche Reichsbahn gondola car demonstrates the high demands in precision and detail to be met by these models from the Ore Mountains in southern East Germany.

In the past, job molder Auhagen GmbH, based in Marienberg near Chemnitz, had molded bogies for a Schirmer gondola car model in acrylonitrile butadiene resin (ABS). The parts showed sink marks and warpage, and the ABS gave the surfaces an undesirable glossy finish. Full-scale car bogies have surfaces matted from abrasion and weathering. For these reasons, Auhagen und Schirmer in collaboration with Ter Hell Plastic GmbH searched for an alternative that would permit greater attention to detail.

Enhanced Aesthetics and Processing Conditions

As ideal solution for this gondola car model application, Akulon Ultraflow from DSM did not only meet the requirements for greater detail, but also helped to improve the processing conditions, exhibiting its superior flow properties in the precision injection molding of train car models.

This permits small-scale reproductions to the finest detail and a lot more faithful to the original – an important requirement especially in the TT scale (1:120), where detailing is more difficult than in the H0 scale (1:87.5).

Furthermore, Akulon Ultraflow was also instrumental in optimizing the cycle time of the application, a key parameter for the responsible production managers. Customer Schirmer was particularly satisfied by the favorable material properties. The bogies have become inherently more rigid, and the former gloss is gone. Better resilience and great looks – side effects that play more than just secondary roles in model making.

Ter Hell Plastic GmbH

Founded in 1977 and a member of the TER Group, TER HELL PLASTIC GmbH (www.terhell.de) is a leading German plastics distributor and has been a distribution partner of DSM Engineering Plastics for years, serving customers with the supplier’s entire product range. In the more recent past, the company has particularly developed its international focus. The plastics markets in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine are addressed through the affiliated companies of the HSH Group. The fast growing market in China is served by a fully owned subsidiary in Suzhou. The activities in these countries provide significant support for the established sales offices in Austria, Switzerland and France.

With its existing production and distribution partners – including well-known suppliers such as Arkema, Azoty Tarnow, Borealis, Chevron Phillips, Clariant, DSM, Evonik, Franplast, Polimeri, SABIC, Samsung and TOTAL – TER HELL PLASTIC has agreed on further expanding the mutual business relations. This will ensure the company’s further above-average growth in the distribution market. In 2007, 92 employees generated sales of EUR 122 million. TER HELL PLASTIC operates in the market with four business units: Distribution, Compounding, Recycling and Handel (Trading). With currently 9 extrusion lines, it has a compounding capacity of 13,000 metric tons per year.

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