CompositesWorld
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NEWS 31 CompositesWorld.com DeWAL's pressure-sensitive PTFE tapes and films are known for tightly sealing carbon-fiber composites and cleanly releasing parts from molds. Use them to separate epoxy resins from laminates or to seal vacuum bags up to 500°F. DeWAL PTFE tapes and films offer minimal elongation and temperature-resistant silicone-based adhesion. UL-recognized 204-HD films are both skived and tensilized for higher tensile strength, lower elongation and higher dielectric strength. 204-HD films range from 0.5 to 21.5 inches wide and are as long as 108 feet, with tensile strength up to 13,000 psi at 500°F. They are in stock in 2, 3 and 5 mil thicknesses, as are other 36" width DeWAL tapes and films for composites. Whether you are doing open or closed molding, whether your process is lay-up, compression molding, resin transfer or continuous lamination, DeWAL will share a solution with you. 15 Ray Trainor Drive Narragansett, RI 02882 www.dewal.com usa1@dewal.com 800-366-8356 (International: 001-401-789-9736) Quality of Product...First DeWAL PTFE Tapes & Films — for tighter vacuum seals and cleaner mold separation. Used as an alternative to sanding and painting Used as peel-ply on molds Used between a mold and a carbon-fiber composite DW 134 DW 204-HD DW 202 & DW 2000 for Hall 52, head of assembly at BMW Group Plant Dingolfing Robert Küssel. "ere is no other auto manufacturing center that has this much complexity." Stopping at one position in the line, an instrument panel is fed up from the ground floor through an elevator. is station's technician walks over and attaches a robot to the completed IP module. He then guides it to a car moving slowly through the line where he places it inside, but the robot does the installa- tion. e whole process is controlled and documented by the equipment. "Parts are sequenced in Logistics in what we call Lineside Supply," says Küssel, "this builds in a lot of flexibility to our assembly lines. We can easily adapt to new parts and new models." He notes the whole building is fed by 200 multi-car material supply train cars per hour. On the finishing line, cars are tested again for functionality of each subsystem. Transported to the ground floor, they are driven through a short test track to check noise, vibration and harshness (NVH). A certain number of cars per shift are selected for road testing on a longer test track adjacent to the assembly halls, and a subset of those go out on the highway next to the facility for a longer test. "It's all about quality," says Küssel. "Our customers expect a very high level of quality from us." CFRP-integrated industrial production And that is the real story of this plant: Efficiency in manufacturing, yet quality in every detail, despite myriad individually specified components. Carbon parts may be made in their own shop, but they are prepped, joined and painted with all of the other BIW parts into a coherent, well- designed and high-performance platform. CFRP is just another specialty, another complexity, another functionality rolled into what BMW already does so well. It has become standard procedure, but only because the company recognized and addressed challenges early on, in areas as diverse as the carbon fiber supply chain, part processing, isolation from galvanic corrosion, quality control and technician training. "We use CFRP not just here and there in a visual part to be flashy," says Küssel, "but in a way that adds functionality and performance to the car." Articles in the industry press suggest that BMW will extend CFRP use into new Motorrad motorcycle models and an all-electric i5 crossover SUV expected to be revealed next year and in production by 2019. Upon exiting Plant 2.4, and seeing several camouflaged, pre-production vehicles undergoing tests, CW's question is: "which Dingolfing model will be next?" CW senior editor Ginger Gardiner has an engineering/materials background and more than 20 years in the composites industry. ginger@compositesworld.com BMW 7 Series Plant