German polyurethane specialist Hennecke (St. Augustin; www.hennecke.com) has opened a new Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) centre at its headquarters that will allow its customers as well as potential raw material partners to manufacture, test and develop high-performance parts before beginning mass production.

In their search to make parts ever lighter, Hennecke says, several players are put off by the RTM technique’s long processing time, the great amount of manual work and the relatively long curing times. To address the latter problem in particular, Hennecke has developed the so-called High-Pressure RTM (HP-RTM) process, which injects a reactive mix into a mould within just seconds. Says the German company: “In combination with the appropriate raw material system, the HP-RTM process provides for accelerated reaction and extremely short curing times.”

The new centre will allow customers to familiarise themselves not just with this new technology, but use it in combination with Hennecke’s mixheads and patented constant-pressure injector. “We intend to assist our customers with the implementation of their ideas and plans already before they purchase a processing plant and support them in their investment decision-making process,” said Hennecke managing director Alois Schmid.