The RAMPF Group companies, RAMPF Giessharze and RAMPF Dosiertechnik, help protect sensible car parts through the use of polyurethanes, silicon and epoxies.
Numerous application possibilities for polyurethane: The European plug for electro cars from MENNEKES has been manufactured from RAMPF polyurethane.
Source: MENNEKES.
The automotive industry uses RAMPF board materials for the production of master models. Recently an eco board made using predominantly recycling polyol has been introduced.
Our solutions shape and lead , comments Michael Rampf, Chief Executive Officer, RAMPF Group, Grafenberg. The market outlook is positive. The percentage of plastics making up the weight of a car is currently 17% and the trend is rising , explains M. Rampf further. His company is amongst the leading specialists for reactive resin and machine systems and has 400 employees. RAMPF s market presence is secured by eight operational companies. Three of which are based abroad: in the USA, Japan and China. A comprehensive contract manufacturing service world-wide completes the product portfolio.
Eco board material and customized solutions for models
The close partnership between RAMPF and the automotive industry has a long history. It all began 30 years ago when company founder Rudolf Rampf developed the first modeling board material made from polyurethane. Meanwhile RAMPF Tooling is offering a comprehensive product range including board materials, Close Contour Pastes and various Tooling resin systems. Based in Grafenberg, the modeling spe-cialist has set up the largest board production world-wide. Innovative, customized solutions and the RAKU-TOOL modeling boards stand for high quality modeling and design. Especially for the production of tools, highest quality boards are manufactured individually. The boards are becoming more environmental friendly as only recently the modeling specialist has introduced a new product for styling, master and data control models. The board called RAKU-TOOL MB-0540 is manufactured by the partner RAMPF Ecosystems, Pirmasens using predominantly recycling polyol. With the development of its Close Contour Casting and Paste systems RAMPF Tooling has already taken a step towards sustainability in the modeling and tooling market. The close contour materials enable for newly developed products to be shown in their real shape within a short space of time. But that is not enough, through the close contour application of the special modeling pastes, less waste is generated when machining.
RAMPF Tooling also meets the market requirements for highly resilient, light weight parts, since for the composites industry the company has developed a special product range. Industry forecasts predict a 200 to 300 kg weight saving for a medium-sized passenger car through the consistent use of plastics, e.g. fiber reinforced composites. The fuel consumption and therefore the CO2 emissions will sink in ac-cordance. This scenario has urged RAMPF Tooling to intensify its activities in the composites market. The company s materials have already contributed to the production of many molds for the manufacture of composite parts, also for the carbon casing of a racing car. RAMPF Tooling does not only offer rigid and extremely temperature resistant high-tech thermosetting plastics made from polyurethane and epoxy but also offers customized solutions for various processes like wet lay-up, prepreg technology or resin transfer molding (RTM), just to name a few.
Material and equipment from one supplier
Solutions from RAMPF Giessharze can be found in various applications in the au-tomotive industry. A look at the customer list speaks for itself. Automotive companies like BMW, Daimler, Chrysler and Toyota as well as subcontractors like Brose, Bosch and IFM trust in the RAMPF materials. Engine fan controls, sensors, DC/DC converters, door modules, electro casings, headlamp casings, ventilation grids are all examples of where RAMPF solutions are applied. Foam gaskets are used to seal and protect whilst engineering casting resins are used for casting and bonding. The products are based on polyurethane, epoxy and silicon. Our materials are enormously flexible. They can seal, foam, bond, cast and mold. If customers request, we can also use recycling polyols based on renewable raw materials. These materials are supplied by RAMPF Ecosystems , comments Dr. Klaus Schamel, Managing Director of RAMPF Giessharze. At the symposium Innovative Suppliers the company recently introduced the European plug for recharging electro cars which was specially produced from polyurethane casting resin for the company MENNEKES.
Together with the sister company RAMPF Dosiertechnik based in Zimmern o.R. the material specialist is offering the corresponding equipment. RAMPF Dosiertechnik specializes in low pressure mixing and dispensing equipment. The machine producer has a wide product offering including machine systems for the processing of one, two or three component reactive resin systems like silicones, polyurethanes or epoxies. The product portfolio ranges from simple hand-feeding devices to completely automated production facilities.
Gear change levers made from recycling material
The RAMPF Group is also looking at the future of plastics. RAMPF Ecosystems is a sister company that is solely focused on recycling polyurethane and to research renewable raw materials, e.g. rapeseed oil. Polyurethane residual materials and post consumer PET from packaging are not waste materials but valuable raw material sources for Ecosystems. They are transformed into recycling polyols using special chemical processes like glycolysis, acidolysis and polyolysis. The so called Recypole and Petole are then used to produce polyurethane. Customers are the various companies within the RAMPF Group but also other companies. Besides the production of formed parts, the recycling specialist also offers plant engineering directly at the customer s premises. It is a complete cycle: PUR processing, utilization of residual material and renewed production using the newly generated polyols. Currently, the recycling experts are researching the recycling of composite materials, so that the residual materials no longer need to be homogeneous.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1411716.html
