Additive manufacturing is no longer just for prototyping. More and more, the technology is being used to make production-ready parts. That's forcing engineers to begin thinking about joint designs and assembly processes.
In January 2017, students from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands unveiled the world’s first car made almost entirely from bio-based materials.
Ultrasonic welding can handle most plastics assembly applications. Other friction-based processes, such as vibration welding and spin welding, can usually tackle the rest. However, that necessitates investing in three separate machines at considerable cost.
When the average person opens up a refrigerator and grabs a too-warm soda can or bottle, his initial reaction is one of disappointment. But, if that person is an assembler of harnesses for this type of appliance, his initial thought is: Check the evaporator fan wiring harness.
On construction jobsites throughout the world, contractors rely on the spirit level to make sure surfaces are truly flat (horizontal) or plumb (vertical). This type of level—so named because it contains a vial of alcohol (spirit) with a bubble in it—has been used for centuries and remains very popular.
Plastics and polymer composites are essential to a wide range of safety and performance parts in cars today. In fact, the use of plastic and polymer composites in light vehicles has increased from less than 20 pounds per vehicle in 1960 to 334 pounds per car in 2015.
More than a dozen suppliers of plastics assembly technology were on hand at The ASSEMBLY Show last fall. Here are just a few examples of what you could have seen on the show floor.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium responsible for many hard-to-treat and life-threatening infections, including pneumonia and blood poisoning. MRSA is especially troublesome in hospitals, prisons and nursing homes, where patients with open wounds, invasive devices and weakened immune systems are at greater risk of infection.