MANUFACTURING OF DASHBOARD THERMOFORMING: Thermoforming is a manufacturing process where a plastic sheet is heated to a pliable forming temperature, formed to a specific

shape in a mold, and trimmed to create a usable product. The sheet, or "film" when referring to thinner gauges and certain material types, is heated in an oven to a high-enough temperature that it can be stretched into or onto a mold and cooled to a finished shape.

TYPES OF THERMO FORMING: 1 .Vacuum Forming 2 .Plug assist forming 3 .Vacuum snapback 4 .Billow Forming 5 .Free Forming 6. Pressure Forming 7. Drape forming 8. Stretch Forming

9. Matched Die Forming 10. Inline thermoforming 11. Twin sheet forming 12. Thin and thick gauge thermoforming

The thermoforming process which we are using for dashboard manufacturing is vacuum forming. VACCUM FORMING:

Vacuum forming is a plastic thermoforming process that involves forming thermoplastic sheets into three-dimensional shapes through the application of heat and pressure. In general terms, vacuum forming refers to all sheet forming methods, including drape forming, which is one of the most popular. Basically during vacuum forming processes, plastic material is heated until it becomes pliable, and then it is placed over a mold and drawn in by a vacuum until it takes on the desired shape.

PROCESS IN DETAILS: 1)Clamping: Clamp frame ensures the plastic sheet is held firmly in place during the forming process

2)Heating: Heating Radiant heaters are normally used to heat the sheet which has been positioned over the aperture of the vacuum forming machine. For thicker sheet both surfaces may need to be heated and more sophisticated machines allow this. Heaters move into position both above and below the sheet 3)Pre stretch: Pre-stretch is used to achieve even wall thickness. Air is introduced to blow a small bubble and the mould is then raised into the pre-stretched sheet 4)Vacuum: A vacuum is applied, the sheet is drawn into intimate contact with the mould and the mould detail is picked up 5)Plug Assist: A deep draw is required a top & may be used to push material into the mould during the forming process. 6)Cooling and Release: The material is allowed to cool. The cooling process may be shortened with blown air or even a fine water spray. The molding may then be released from the mould by introducing a small air pressure 7)Finishing: After molding, any mould finishing may be performed, trimming, cutting, drilling, polishing, decorating etc.

MATERIALS FOR THE MOLD : Wood : Wood is the simplest type of material used in vacuum forming. The number one benefit is the cost. It is cheap! It can also be milled or fabricated into a shape pretty easily and it is very readily available. Most patterns to make a thermoforming tool are made from wood. Wood is an insulator and cooling the part on a wooden tool will dramatically lengthen the cooling cycle, The cooling will be uneven depending on the finished thickness throughout the part. This can cause stress in the part and in some serious cases, warping. Sometimes the grain in the wooden tool will transfer onto the plastic and if the material is thin and the grain in the tool is heavy, it will even transfer through to the cosmetic surface. wood has moisture in it. If you run these molds in production, they will need a good deal of maintenance because they will dry out and crack. There are a limited number of parts you can pull on a wooden tool . Polyester or fiberglass: This type of tooling is considered permanent tooling for lower volume projects. Whenever, you have a job that requires less than 2000 parts per year, you should consider it as a viable alternative. It too has limitations but it also has advantages. Again, the first advantage is price. Epoxy tooling : This is also a very popular way to make tooling and it also has some advantages and limitations. It too is considered permanent tooling but the volume of parts you could expect to form off of this type of tooling is quite high, that is, in the thousands Aluminum temperature controlled tooling : This type of tooling produces the best and most consistent part you will get in the thermoforming process. Because the temperature is totally controllable, you can take the part off of the tool each time at the same temperature and expect the shrinkage to be very similar from part to part. A second plus is the cycle time. This is the fastest way you can make a part in thermoforming. However its very costly.

PROCESSING Processing is the third major area that needs to be addressed to assure that acceptable and successful parts are made.

1.Platens - Platens are nothing more than a well-stabilized and securely built framework to move a mold up or down . 2. Clamp frames - As we indicated earlier, you have to have some method of holding the plastic sheet while you have it in the oven heating up. This is done with a clamping frame . 3. Forming Ovens - A forming oven is nothing more than a chamber with a heating source.

Typical Materials Used for Vacuum forming PMMA Acrylic PVC Polyvinyl Chloride PE Polyethylene (sheet and foamed sheet) PP Polypropylene PC Polycarbonate PS Polystyrene PETG Polyester Copolymer ABS Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Vacuum forming offers several processing advantages over other forming processes. Low forming pressures are used thus enabling comparatively low cost tooling. Since the process uses low pressures, the moulds can be made of inexpensive materials and mould fabrication time can be reasonably short. Prototype and low quantity requirements of large parts, as well as medium size runs therefore become economical. More sophisticated machines and moulds are used for continuous automated production of high volume items like yoghurt pots, disposable cups and sandwich packs. Unlike other thermoplastic forming processes, where powder or resin are the starting point, vacuum forming uses extruded plastic sheet . With vacuum forming a secondary process may be required to trim the formed sheet to arrive at the finished part. The trimmed waste can then be re-ground and recycled Nature of Use and Limitations

Applications of vacuum formed parts:

Typical Products Produced Exterior Shop Signs Parts of vehicle cabs Sandwich Boxes Refrigerator Liners Vehicle Door Liners Machinery Guards Boat Hulls Ski-Boxes Yoghurt Pots Baths & Shower Trays

Advantages: 1. Low tooling cost Less lead-time 2. Clean process as sheets are directly used different thermoplastic materials can be used. 3. Good for prototyping Pre-colored sheets can be used.

Limitations : 1. Design flexibility Thickness of the sheet Thickness variation within a part is not possible Difficult to control 2. A surface Small radii are problems 3. Difficult to maintain the grain structure 4. Only thermoplastic materials can be used

Instrument panel manufacturing by Thermoforming process

This picture shows the current method used for Instrument Panel Manufacturing, Lear Corporation, Sweden

The instrument panel is one of the factors which often determine the buyers impression of a car and consequently car manufacturers devote much attention to this detail. Some extra space, a smart coffee cup holder or the right colour can influence the buyers preferences. Durable TPO (Thermoplastic Elastomer Polyolefin) foil is used for the surface layer on the instrument panels. The disadvantage with TPO foil is that it is rather tough.

1) Vacuum Moulding: Production starts with vacuum-moulding of the foil which is delivered in rolls. The foil is heated to around 160 degrees Celsius and using vacuum, deep-drawn over a moulding tool. The foil is then cooled by air and the machine produces a finished vacuum-moulded piece of foil. 2) Ultrasonic cutting: The ultrasonic cutting used to die cut the moulded surface from other foil, but there was a problem with smearing foil and rough sections. There were some chips and small pieces of foil left. Since the foil and the moulding tools become static, small foil pieces stick to the moulding surfaces of the tools and when next piece of foil is fed through an ugly mark was easily the result and the foil had to be scrapped. Ultrasonic cutting works like this: a booster transmits a high frequency sound which puts the knife in motion. At the same time as the knife is in motion it follows, by the aid of the robot, a track in the laminated fiberglass. The ultrasonic technology allows us to achieve a very distinct and controlled cut. This technology is superior to laser, hot knives and suchlike. There is no smoke and the foil does not smear. Depending on complexity and type of material we can choose different types of knives and vary the motions which are generated by the booster. 3) Gluing: At the next production stage we join the two parts of foil together. Here it is important that the surfaces which are to be joined together, meet in the right way. We use robots to distribute the hot melt which seals the partition line between the two foil pieces. 4) Foaming: At the next stage the panel is foamed In this process a 20- year-old ASEA robot, equipped with a mixing head is used. When the foil has been positioned in the tool, the robot distributes the foam following a specific path which distributes the foam evenly across the entire foil. When the robot has run its programme the foaming tool is shut. Now the polyurethane foam begins to ferment and create the soft layer of the panel.. The foil has to be tightly sealed; otherwise there is a risk of leakage. Even if the foaming process might appear simple there is a lot of trimming work behind it.

5) Milling operation: At the next process stage two robots are used in parallel on a panel to drill holes and cut out undesirable surfaces. One problem in this context is that the milling is dirty and produces both dust particles and chips. Therefore the robots are places in a well sealed room. The panels are placed on a turn table and are turned to the robots. When the milling is finished the panels are rotated again and taken care of. 6) Inspection: The manufacturing process ends with assembly when the panel is equipped with amongst other things channels for air distribution, different consoles and knee protection for the driver. At the final production stage, the surface quality is also inspected. Operators make manual controls that the panel is intact, without any marks or traces of chips and dust. After this the panels are packed in containers or delivery to customers.

References Thermo Forming-Case study: Instrument panels, Lear Corporation, Sweden. www.abb.com/robotics Throne, J. L., Technology of thermoforming, Hanser Publishers, Munich, pp. 153, 1987. Throne JL (2008) Understanding thermoforming. Hanser, Munchen. ISBN-13: 978-3-446-40796-1

INSTRUMENT PANEL MANUFACTURING BY THEMOFORMING PROCESSS

ASSIGNMENT NO 2 SUBMITTED BY D.AJAIY(11MP02) S.PRATHEESH KUMAR(11MP32) S.RAJPRABAKARAN(11MP33)