REDESIGN OF METALIC PARTS WITH THERMOPLASTIC MATERIALS: APPLICATION EXAMPLE

Abstract

This work presents a redesign process of a high responsibility part, made of metal, which is wanted to be produced with thermoplastic material. At fi rst point, the factors to be considered in this kind of processes in order to realize an optimized functional design taking into account thermoplastics properties and processing characteristics are analyzed, injection molding in this case. This analysis is the result of the authors experience over the last twenty years in plastic redesign processes in many industrial sectors. The second part of this document explains the design process carried out and the experimental validation. In the experimental process, it was compared the behavior of the metal and the fi nal plastic part, and also, a prototype plastic part was tested and compared with the metal part before the fi nal plastic part fabrication. This prototype was generated to validate one of the functions of this part, and it was designed without and optimized design using the advantages of the thermoplastic injection process over the shapes possibilities. Analyzing this work, conclusions can be made over the difference of a substitution process of metal to plastic with a methodic process, taking into account the complex thermoplastic materials behavior and optimizing or not the shapes of the part. Finally, the results of the experimental tests are presented in order to validate the calculations made over the parts in different working conditions and the results obtained by means of the fi nite element method.