Objective
Rubber material has many and widespread uses, in engineering, and construction as well as in consumer goods. The properties of rubber e.g. damping, elastic properties, flexibility and chemical resistance have made it a vital material and it is found in almost every machine or construction. There are many rubber materials, natural and synthetic, with diverse and suitable properties but despite this there are many situations where the demand for special properties can not be met using a single material. For instance the surface should sometimes have properties that differ from the bulk of the material. Examples of this are chemical resistance, friction, mechanical properties, electrical properties, colour and price. The common solution is then to combine materials to achieve the desired properties. The methods available today to achieve a multimaterial object are either: - Chemical treatments: these methods involve chemical modifications usually thanks to reactive chemicals and could cause problems both to the health of the workforce and to the environment. - A process of several steps upon manufacture. These processes involve several steps usually including complicated moulds with retraction of moulds' parts and a two stage processes. Alternatively two materials can be glued together but it is hard to obtain a good quality with a long lifetime of parts . However, both methods are expensive. The aim of our approach is the development of a process, adapted to SME needs, which will lead to: - less expensive production costs (decreasing of production time from more than 4,5)- use of new materials - making of objects of complex shapes These solutions will be adapted to rubber product manufacturer in various fields such as: boots, hoses, soles, floor,... and every field where a material combination is processed. Instead of injection of the two different parts separately and gluing afterwards the whole object will be manufactured in one injection shot saving time and money. Consequently, this will lead to important gains: Environmental and social gains: The one shot injection will limit the use of glue and the solvents they contain. This will lead to improvements in environmental preoccupation and working conditions. Economical gain: The major improvement will be in the increase of productivity. Several steps manufacturing operation will be combined to reach a single stage production. Industrial gains: There will be a real decrease in the manufacturing time linked to the replacement of two steps process by one simultaneous injection. The targeted area of the Brite Euram programme are the following:
213s: Integration of traditional materials with new material system to produce structural materials with enhanced performance (e.g. better corrosion, wear or temperature resistance)
Fields of science
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Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CRS - Cooperative research contractsCoordinator
21050 Lonate Ceppino
Italy