Method for producing a plastic component, and plastic component

Abstract

Method for producing plastic components (4) for a vehicle, wherein the plastic components (4) are at least partially painted in a painting step (S1) and are then connected to further components on the unpainted surfaces, wherein an area (6) which serves for connection to the further components is freed of impurities by an ablation process using laser light and that after the painting step (S1) a processing step (S2) takes place in which punching and / or drilling is combined with laser ablation, wherein the plastic component (4) is held upright.

Description

The invention is based on a method for producing plastic components for a vehicle, wherein the plastic components are at least partially painted in a painting step and are subsequently connected to further components on the un-painted surfaces.The invention extends to a plastic component which is produced by the method.Prior ArtIn automobile construction, large-format plastic components or plastic assemblies have been used for a long time. For the vehicle body, front or rear modules are made of plastic, as well as doors or rear flaps or also trim parts for sills or vehicle pillars.Depending on the task of the large-format plastic components or plastic assemblies, the plastic components are connected to further components for reinforcement or for cladding or for receiving functional components.EP 2384917 B1 discloses such a vehicle body group in which regions are provided for fastening, and wherein the component is composed of a plurality of individual structures.When the plastic components are used for the vehicle body, they are generally painted in the car color. The painting takes place directly after the production of the component from plastic injection molding. When painting the components, which are often large-format components, painting lines are used in which robot arms hold the plastic components with or without frames and expose them to a paint mist.It cannot be avoided that not only the visible surfaces which are actually to be painted are provided with paint, but also rear sides or concealed surfaces are contaminated by the so-called "overspray". This is the precipitation of the paint mist on the entire component.Since the plastic components have to be installed and processed further after painting, this contamination is harmful due to painting. Especially when processing the plastic components with the aid of joining methods such as welding or adhesive bonds, the paint residue is disruptive for reliable processing. In order to keep regions on the synthetic components free from contaminants after painting, adhesive strips, the so-called masking aids, are bonded during production to the regions which are ultimately required for further processing of the synthetic component.This masking process usually has to be carried out manually; the adhesive strips are also removed manually after painting.For machining components, the laser as a machining device has long occupied a fixed space in many industrial fields. It has been used industrially over a large area, for example in the field of surface processing on fiber composites in the last 10 years.Laser processing has very generally particular advantages that it can be carried out dry and without the use of chemical substances. In addition, it generally relates to a clean, dust-free process for processing, in which, in addition, no material damage takes place. Laser processing has low operating costs and is thus associated with high economic efficiency as a result.EP 0 233 755 A1 discloses a method with which mold release agent is removed from plastic components with laser light. The aim is to improve the adhesion of paint.DE 10 2012 204 715 A1 describes a method for a painted plastic component, wherein the plastic component is first painted and is removed on the inside of the component using a laser.DE 10 2009 012 858 A1 discloses a CO 2- laser machining in which the application radius of a machining device is increased with the aid of the robot by connecting a robot to linear axes. The laser beam is guided via mirrors in the working head. A light source, in particular a laser light source, is arranged on this platform, and a robot unit is connected to the platform. The robot unit has a beam evaluation unit at the spatially movable end. Also included is a beam guidance system for guiding the light from the light source to the beam evaluation unit, in particular to the working head. The beam guidance system contains at least one light beam transmitter connected fixedly or movably to the platform and at least one beam receiver connected fixedly or movably to the beam evaluation unit. In addition, the beam transmitter and the beam receiver are arranged at a variable distance from each other.With such an arrangement, surface treatments are carried out.Proceeding from this prior art, it is the object of the invention to present a method for producing plastic parts which are to be painted, wherein process steps are integrated with one another in a simple manner. It is a further object of the invention to produce a plastic component which is prepared particularly simply and cost-effectively for further processing.The object is achieved by a method for producing plastic components for a vehicle, wherein the plastic components are at least partially painted in a painting step and are subsequently connected to further components on the un painted surfaces, wherein a region which serves for connection to the further components is freed from contaminants by a removal method with laser light.The use of lasers to remove the contamination on the plastic components saves the adhesive bonding and removal of adhesive strips and the use of human labour.It is provided here that at least the front side of the plastic component is painted and contaminants are removed on the rear side by overspray or targeted regions on the front side with laser light.Advantageously, after the painting step, a processing step takes place in which punching and / or drilling is combined with laser ablation.By integrating the laser ablation into the processing step, which also means that a machine station is used for this processing step, the plastic components can be processed very efficiently. It is also conceivable that the machining steps of drilling are likewise carried out with a laser, wherein the same laser head can be used for drilling as for laser ablation of the overspray. However, the use of two different laser heads, each of which optimizes their task, is also conceivable.Furthermore, it is advantageous for the method that the plastic component is held on edge for the processing step. This has the advantage that production area can be saved if the large-format plastic components are not processed horizontally but in a vertical arrangement.It is advantageous in this case that after the processing step, the plastic component is connected in a further combination step to further components made of plastic and / or made of metal and / or made of composite material in the regions for connection.Advantageously, the regions for connection extend continuously along the plastic component contour.The object is furthermore achieved with plastic components produced by the method, wherein the plastic components are tailgates, or front modules, or rear modules, or threshold claddings of a vehicle.DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONThe invention is explained in the following embodiment and illustrated with figures. FIG. 1 shows an example of a vehicle rear door, FIG. 2 schematically shows production steps.FIG. 1 shows the main components of a tailgate 1, which serves as an example of large-area plastic components. A support part 2 is used as the base of the tailgate, which is produced, for example, from fiber-reinforced plastics. The stiffening frame 3 is a closed mould or also a non-closed, arbitrary mould made of a polyurethane material or other composite materials. The cladding parts 4 are connected to the carrier part 2. To reinforce the tailgate, reinforcing elements 5 are provided, which in this exemplary embodiment are made of metal and are arranged in the region 3 a. They are connected separately to the carrier part 2.The trim parts 4 are painted on their visible surfaces 4 a. The paint system can of course also comprise areas of the edge of the trim parts 4 which remain visible after assembly.On the inner side 4 bof the cladding parts 4 there are regions 6 which have to be freed of contaminants for the connection of the cladding part 4 to the carrier part 2.Furthermore, the trim part 4 can also have regions 7 which have to be prepared for the reception of sensors and which are likewise freed of impurities.The trim parts 4 are exemplary of the plastic components which are mounted on the vehicle with paint surfaces visible on the outside.FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the machining method in the three main steps. The processing method should not be limited solely to these three main steps. In a first processing step, the painting step S 1, or in a first processing station, the plastic components, e.g. the trim parts 4, are painted. In this case, the plastic components 4, as likewise shown very schematically below the method steps, are processed in different orientations x, y, z. Particularly when painter robots and robot arms which guide the components with or without frames are used, the plastic components 4 are held in a wide variety of orientations and thus painted.The processing plant 10 in the processing step S 2 automatically or manually takes over the painted plastic component 4 and contains at least one processing station 10 in which the plastic component 4 is freed from contaminants on the un painted inner side 4 b. A CO 2- laser is used in this case in order to free regions 6 which are required for connecting the plastic component 4 to further components from the contamination.Furthermore, regions 7 which are provided for mounting functional components such as sensors, for example, are also freed from contamination.In the processing step S 2, further processing such as the drilling of holes and the punching of recesses can also be provided. Drilling holes is also possible with a laser, wherein a single laser can be used for removing the contaminants and for drilling the holes. Alternatively, two different lasers are used.The processing installation used in the processing step S 2 processes the plastic component 4 preferably in the vertical direction, i.e. as indicated in FIG. 2 in an orientation along the x-axis.This edge-on arrangement saves installation space in production. Near the machining installation 10 of the machining step S 2, a storage tower 15 for different punching tools and / or drilling tools can then also be provided, with which the station can be automatically equipped.As a result, it is possible in processing step S 2 to process quite different plastic components 4 at this station, since an exchange of the tools can be carried out easily and the CO2laser can easily be matched to different cleaning tasks.In the next processing step S 3, the prepared plastic component 4 is connected to further components and further components.Reference numerals denote reference numerals1 Component 2 Support part 3 Frame 3 a Bereich of frame 4 Cladding part 4 a Sichtbaren surfaces 4 b Innenseite 5 Reinforcing part 6 Regions for connection 7 Regions for functions S 1, S 2, S 3 Machining steps 10 Machining installation 15 Storage tower

Claims

Method for producing plastic components (4) for a vehicle, wherein the plastic components (4) are at least partially painted in a painting step (S1) and are subsequently connected to further components on the un painted surfaces, wherein a region (6) which serves for connection to the further components is freed from contaminants by a removal method with laser light and that after the painting step (S1) a processing step (S2) is carried out in which punching and / or drilling is combined with laser ablation, wherein the plastic component (4) is held on edge.Method according to claim 1, characterised in that at least the front side (4a) of the plastic component (4) is painted and impurities are removed on the inner side (4b) by overspray with laser light.Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that after the processing step (S2), the plastics component (4) is connected in a further combination step (S3) to further components made of plastics material and / or made of metal and / or made of composite material in the regions (6) for connection.Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the regions (6) for connection extend continuously along the plastic component contour.Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that regions (7) for functions are cleaned of impurities.Plastics components produced by the method according to Claims 1 to 5, wherein the plastics components are tailgates, or front modules or rear modules or threshold claddings of a vehicle.

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