Practical and project-oriented technician training for the specialists of tomorrow
The SKZ Plastics Center supports budding plastics technicians at the Franz Oberthür School in Würzburg with realistic, practical project work. As part of a project, an extrusion die has now been completely conceived, designed and constructed by the students.
Mission accomplished! Michael Tillemann, Michael Heßdörfer, Wilhelm Fuchs und Nico Sciamarelli (von links) mit ihrem Betreuer Kersten Kurda (hinten). (Foto: SKZ)
The SKZ supports prospective technicians in the design of an extrusion tool
The design of extrusion tools is a demanding task. Four prospective technicians from the Franz Oberthür School have taken up this challenge and designed and constructed an extrusion die in collaboration with their supervisor Kersten Kurda, Technical Manager and consultant for industrial projects in the field of materials, compounding and extrusion at the SKZ.
Determination of strength properties
As part of the project, which lasted several months, an extrusion tool or die was designed and constructed to produce a flat strip measuring 35 x 4.0 mm. These tapes are required in particular for material development. Following extrusion, test specimens with a standard-compliant thickness of 4.0 + 0.2 mm can be taken from the strips to determine the strength properties in the tensile and impact bending test. The tensile and impact bending specimens are tested in the SKZ test laboratory and the strength properties of newly developed materials are determined on the basis of the results.
Rheological and structural viscous behavior of plastic melts
At the beginning of the project, the prospective technicians were given an insight into the rheological and structural-viscous behavior of plastic melts. After familiarizing themselves with the new subject area, the team successfully derived solutions for the design of the flow channel and the melt distribution in the mould. In addition, the design and construction of the multi-part mold housing, the clamping flange connection to the extruder and the mold heating were successfully developed. The tool parts were manufactured on the basis of the approved CAD design data by Beologic Austria in collaboration with Pesendorfer-CNC-Fertigungstechnik in Austria.
"All team members did a very good job," says Kersten Kurda. "Working with the young technicians was a great pleasure."
More information about the training program at SKZ
