Wickert Hydraulic Presses is assisting customers to move Out of Autoclave (OoA)
Wickert Hydraulic Presses is assisting customers to move Out of Autoclave (OoA)

Wickert Hydraulic Presses is assisting customers to move Out of Autoclave (OoA)

WICKERT HYDRAULIC PRESSES (Landau, Germany) - A global manufacturer of custom Hydraulic presses and Systems for the molding industry, has developed a line of precision High-Temperature Vacuum Heating (HTVH) Presses.

Aerospace and Automotive suppliers are embracing this system who are looking to meet the next production ramp cycle, offer price reduction suggestions with manufacturing processes that can deliver faster throughput cycles while providing improved process quality. Since autoclaves continue to be expensive to operate, lacking in consistent A/B part surfaces, tighter thickness tolerances and are slow in cycle turn times. Wickert Hydraulic Presses has developed another solution beyond the standard.

The HTVH press vacuum, heating, and parallelism, controls are designed to offer our customers superior OoA results with faster turn times. Our current offering has maximum product dimensions that can be processed 1,100 mm x 1,100 mm. With a heat output of 2 x 50 kW, the maximum temperature of 425°C can be ramped very quickly from room temperature due to a focused heating area. Both heating plates are equipped with 6-zone temperature control designed specifically for this purpose, making it quick and easy to make material-specific adjustments. The control accuracy of the heating element zone monitoring system is +1.0°C. The wide variety of operating modes offers maximum flexibility: the contact heating press can be time- or temperature-controlled, which results in extremely high product reproducibility. The system can use shop air for lower cost.

A HTVH press with its wide variety of operating modes offers maximum flexibility. Wickert’s single press control allows programing of multiple variables that can be locked, which results in extremely high product reproducibility. All process data is logged, such as the target/actual temperatures of the heating plates, mold, product temperatures, ramp/hold times, and the entire pressure cycle.

This new system is applicable for producers of High-performance fiber composites (HPFC) , TS or TP, HPFCs (such as PPS, PEI or PEEK) or conductive polymers including structures, made from TP pre-impregnated uni-directional fiber-reinforced tape, or specialized plastic or elastomeric components where high processing temperatures and improved A/B surfaces are crucial regulating factors for reliable properties.

Wickert Hydraulic Presses operates a North American facility in Hebron Kentucky that is dedicated to engineering, field service and customer support. Wickert can assist customers in overall system planning, including capacity calculations, feasibility studies as well as detailed production layouts.

For further question please contact Mr. Thomas Klimpl, Email: t.klimpl@wickert-presstech.de