YIZUMI: Putting More Effort into Innovation and Competing in the Automatic Industry

In recent years, the new energy vehicles (NEV) market is the fastest growing area in the entire automotive industry. In the future, the NEVs will be considered as an intelligent mobile space which will gradually change our driving experience. There is a series of changes taking place from design to manufacture, including car interiors and internal electronic systems, etc., which will bring plenty new demands to the molding technology of parts.

The ReactPro Technology by YIZUMI offers a competitive integrated solution for combining the advantages of polyurethane coating and injection molding. In terms of products and processes, it answers the needs of the future automotive industry for new functions.

In addition, in terms of lightweight, which is the new spotlight in the automotive industry, YIZUMI has laid out solutions for physical and chemical foam molding processes. They will assist the NEV industry manufacturers with production of lightweight systems and support them in accelerating their trajectory in automotive lightweight industry.

UN260C-BTP ReactPro Multi-component Machine

The Polyurethane Market is growing at a very fast pace Various automakers are waiting in the wings

Over more than a century, the top automakers of traditional fuel cars have been using their unique radiator grill designs to distinguish their cars from those of their competitors. That's why we can recognize the car is a BMW or a Mercedes from 100 meters away.

But with BEV, the traditional front grill is no longer necessary. Therefore, this space in front of the car offers new opportunities for design, integrated functionality and can increase recognition value with a unique design. One widely shown example is the BMW iX front grill with the characteristic kidney shape. With the same product, sensitive electronic inlays can be protected from environmental influences by using polyurethane coating.

Polyurethane (PU) is an organic polymer material, which is superior to plastic, rubber and metal in regard of good flexibility in low temperatures, great shock absorption, radiation resistance and elasticity. These properties allow PU to be used in a wide field of applications, e.g. car interior, glass edging of sunroof, and the sealing and flame retardant of battery, etc.

In order to be the trend leader and satisfy new demands from customers, YIZUMI has cooperated with our customers and jointly launched the ReactPro Solution to integrate the injection molding and the polyurethane molding. To increase productivity, it can produce high quality thermoplastic parts and coat functional surfaces with polyurethane in the same production cell, which will better fulfill the requirements of visuality, tactility and functionality.

ReactPro solution realizes one-step production with two processes (injection + PUR), which can greatly reduce the cost. Yuxiao Zhang, the product manager of Injection Molding Special Processes from YIZUMI Germany, indicated that both the global top automakers and material suppliers increase their R&D investment in material substitutions for more environmentally friendly and safer production in a one-step process. It allows higher functionality. Polyurethane is becoming a 'rising star' among non-metallic materials for automobiles, and the market demand for polyurethane, used as car interior materials, will invariably rise.

Focusing on lightweight technology To promote technical innovation in the automobile industry

According to relevant industry insiders, lightweight is one of the best ways to increase car mileage if there is no essential breakthrough in battery technology for NEV development. Microcellular plastic parts offer considerable advantages in cost reduction, weight reduction and quality improvement, thus it has received increasing attention from auto component manufacturers.

As the first technical solution launched by YIZUMI New Materials and Processes Test Center, FoamPro is developed based on the detailed research of MuCell technology. It can reduce the part weight by 20% and the clamping force by 50%, shorten the cycle time by 30%, and eliminate warpage and shrinkage.

Zhang Yuxiao introduced: "When it comes to NEV, sound is an important aspect that should not be neglected. With no ICE (internal combustion engine), the ambient sound inside the cockpit changes drastically, as the rolling noise now becomes discernable. Sound isolation is therefore necessary."

In this case, a car engine cover with aluminum foil decoration through FoamPro+DecoPro technology can solve the problem. The aluminum foil not only upgrades metallic luster and tactility to the car hood, reflect infrared rays, but also plays a role in lowering engine sounds. YIZUMI has already combined the technologies, and it can also be adapted to NEV readily.

YIZUMI FoamPro technical solution (chemical foaming, physical foaming) could be applied to NEV industry, such as used in the manufacture of the trim panel of automobile tail door, dashboard, center console, automobile air conditioning casing, fan casing, etc. The solution can produce lightweight parts, offer better precision and surface quality, and help customers increase ROI.

Furthermore, YIZUMI also offers Thixomolding machines, which allow the production of Magnesium parts with an injection-based process. Magnesium alloys have the advantages of light weight, high strength, high mechanical strength and quick heat dissipation, etc., making them the preferred material for lightweight vehicles.

Thixomolding machine

"Given the trend towards bigger panels and monitors in cars or even pillar to pillar concepts, Thixomolding offers a safe, environmentally friendly, stable and highly productive solution." Yuxiao Zhang added, "Thixomolding uses chipped magnesium alloy as raw material, which will be directly delivered to the machine via hopper to the barrel. This needs no furnace, ladler, and SF6 shielding gas. It is an environmentally friendly, safe, and effective manufacturing process for magnesium alloy products."