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2 6 | H I G H - P E R F O R M A N C E C O M P O S I T E S NEWS facility is dedicated exclusively to sup- plying BMW, and it produces 50K tow on two production lines with a current total nameplate capacity of 3,000-met- ric tonnes/6.613 million lb (see related news story on p. 21). From Moses Lake, carbon fber roving is sent to a second SGL ACF facility in Wackersdorf, Germa- ny, for conversion into fabrics that are cut, kitted and stacked in preparation for molding. Parts for the i3 Life Mod- D E F I N I N G H I G H P E R F O R M A N C E M I L L I N G D R I L L I N G R O U T I N G www.sgstool.com 330-686-5700 Manufactured in the USA SGS has designed specic cutting tool technologies that combine substrate, geometry, edge preparation and coating to withstand the complex conditions of Composite applications requiring minimal ber breakout and delamination. Greater Effciency Booth W-2217 ule are molded at two sites in Germany: Leipzig and Landshut (northwest of Munich). BMW Leipzig, which opened in 2005, is the principal i3 manufactur- ing hub. It molds all part numbers for the i3 and also houses assembly op- erations for the Life Modules and the subsequent integration of Life Modules and Drive Modules. The Landshut plant provides supplementary production of certain components, using identical processes and equipment. When kitted stacks arrive from Wack- ersdorf, they are delivered to the CFRP Building. There, plies in the stacks are stapled together and then placed in a heated preforming mold in one of three Fill Gesellschaft mbH (Gurten, Austria) Preformliner presses, where a thermo- plastic binder is applied to the fabric. The presses then preform the stacks to the shape of the mold. Preforms are transferred to an ultrasonic cutting sta- tion, where they are trimmed to near-net shape. (BMW minimizes touch labor, re- lying instead on robotics wherever pos- sible.) After they are cut, preforms are high-pressure resin transfer molded (HP- RTM). The Leipzig plant is equipped with seven 3,000-ton hydraulic presses from Schuler Pressen GmbH (Waghäusel, Ger- many). Each is serviced by two Krauss- Maffei (Munich, Germany) injection units. The resin matrix, Huntsman Ad- vanced Materials' (The Woodlands, Texas and Basel, Switzerland) Araldite LY 3585 epoxy with Hardener XB 3458, is injected at pressures greater than 40 bar/580 psi. Parts cure in less than 10 minutes. In another building, the Body Shop, the Life Module's 16 RTM'd parts are bonded in a fastener-free process, us- ing BETAFORCE polyurethane-based adhesive supplied by Dow Automotive (Auburn Hills, Mich., and Schwalbach, Germany). Adhesive application and part manipulation are automated — the Body Shop is equipped with 173 ro- bots, supplied by ABB Robotics (Zurich, Switzerland). The Life Module is subse- quently outftted with metallic hardware, roof panels, glass and other components and then joined to the i3's Drive Module, which comprises the car's battery pack and drive train. Read a much expanded version of this story in HPC's sister publication Com- posites Technology ( CT June 2014, p. 24, or visit short.compositesworld.com/BM- WLeipzig.) Source: BMW AG (continued from page 25) 0714HPC New&Briefs-OK.indd; 26 6/17/2014 10:30:01 AM