Wittmann Battenfeld Deploys iMFLUX Low Constant Pressure Molding at Plastec West

Wittmann Battenfeld (U.S. headquarters in Torrington, Conn.), a maker of injection molding machines, robotics and auxiliary equipment, is the latest machine maker to partner with iMFLUX on that company’s constant low-pressure injection molding technology. Wittmann Battenfeld told Plastics Technology that it has been working with iMFLUX for more than three years, “delivering significant savings to our joint customers.”

In Anaheim, a Wittmann Battenfeld SmartPower 110 machine will mold a 4-cavity dosing cup, applying iMFLUX. The manufacturing cell will also feature a Wittmann robot and auxiliary equipment. The Vicks Nyquil dosing cup weighs 4.2 g and has a wall thickness of 0.61 mm. The cycle time will come in at less than 9 seconds (at press time Wittmann Battenfeld was still integrating the robotics into the cell and it hadn’t yet determined the precise cycle).

The company said no changes to its press were required to utilize iMFLUX and no additional equipment was added to the mold. For this demonstration, no cavity pressure sensors will be utilized. The cell will be utilizing a four-drop Gammaflux hot runner. Wittmann Battenfeld said the iMFLUX system acts independently of the hot runner controller, which will simply act to maintain the heating of the hot manifold in the tool in this instance.

To support the iMFLUX process, Wittmann Battenfeld developed a special interface to allow the iMFLUX user screens to be directly accessible on the Battenfeld B8 Molding Machine Controller. This allows operators to easily enter all processing parameters for the molding process at the machine.

In addition to a Wittmann Battenfeld press and robot, the integrated Wittmann 4.0 work cell will feature a Tempro temperature control unit, Drymax ATON dryer, Feedmax integral loader, Dosimax color feeder, Coolmax air-cooled chiller, and the aforementioned Gammaflux hot runner system. The robots will utilize 3D-printed end-of-arm tooling.

At Fakuma 2018, Milacron announced an agreement with iMFLUX to integrate its proprietary process-control software into Milacron’s injection machines with native user interface and screens on its Mosaic controller. Gene Altonen, chief technology officer of iMFLUX told Plastics Technology that his company has worked with numerous injection molding machine suppliers to bring iMFLUX technology to their machines. “iMFLUX currently has commercially available integration solutions with many of the top machine makers,” Altonen said, “and we continue to expand our network to address customer requests. We appreciate the many strong relationships we’ve developed, and allow our partners to decide when and how to communicate publicly.”