Source: LF Gmbh & Co. KG release
LEVERKUSEN, Germany – LIQFRIC® compounds are coming closer to serial use in the friction industry while being extensively tested with potential customers. As announced in December 2019, LF GmbH & Co. KG is currently building a demonstration line to provide the basis for future growth of the business.
This prototype line will provide business partners and our internal material development team the basis for trial opportunities and the collection of data based on serial manufacturing. This demonstration line, custom designed, passed its first step, a mechanical and operational fitness-test, March 11-13, 2020.
The company proved during the dry run that the design and the purpose-built equipment works according to plan. In a second step one of the LIQFRIC®-compounds was filled into the machine and during a reasonable length of process time several molds could be accurately filled with the compound.
During the test, the cooperation of the valves and the scale and any other support operations were aligned. Although all steps were manually triggered and controlled to see all critical elements of the process functioning, a smooth operational process was achieved at the end.
The next step will be the marriage of the microcontroller-driven components and the hardware. The integration will commence in the next six weeks to complete the operational build-up of the manufacturing equipment.
Roman Milczarek head of R&D commented: “We are sure, after these results of bringing our new LIQFRIC-technology together with an automatic feeding and molding system, that we can start making serial parts – small size 5000 – 50000 per annum – from July 2020 onwards. This offers a unique opportunity for us and our prospectus customers alike. You know it is awesome when you see your material functioning in that new dimension of a serial manufacturing equipment”
Based on the initial learning curve from this operational experience, larger manufacturing units can be planned, and serial parts can be provided to our business partners, as well as any scale-up can start from here soon. The scale-up can be implemented via additional lines or growing the size of the equipment.
The remainder of the release can be read by clicking HERE.