WO2025162831A1 - Material composite and fastening system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a material composite composed of a substrate (3) and an applied edge strip (1), the edge strip (1) being produced in a plurality of layers (2) by means of an additive manufacturing method. The material composite can be frictionally and/or interlockingly connected to a component (5) in a fastening system in which the edge strip (1) of the material composite interacts with at least one groove (4) or at least one projection (6) of the component (5).

Description

Material composite and fastening system

The invention relates to a material composite according to the type defined in more detail in the preamble of claim 1. Furthermore, the invention relates to a fastening system in which a component interacts with such a material composite.

The prior art knows so-called piping, for example for attaching textiles to metal profiles or the like. Purely as an example, reference can be made to DE 39 27 385 A1, which describes a piping with a plastic core. DE 10 2018 201 754 A1 describes a piping for a seat cover. The German utility model DE 20 2009 005 142 U1 describes a piping for connecting a flexible flat element such as an awning fabric to a component, for example an extruded aluminum profile, which has an undercut piping groove. The piping itself is typically provided with at least one piping flag, which is sewn to the flat element. The piping flag is usually made of the same material as the piping and formed as a single piece with it, e.g., as an extruded plastic part.

DE 10 2018 212 572 A1 describes a covering that can be used, for example, for seating or reclining furniture. Essentially, two aspects are relevant here. On the one hand, an adhesive layer is applied to the edge section of the textile covering, forming a type of piping. This adhesive layer is then inserted into a groove using only frictional engagement, in which it holds the textile, which is then shrunk under heat to create tension. The adhesive layer can be understood as a piping applied to a substrate. The disadvantage lies in the very complex application, which can hardly produce reproducible results and is therefore very limited in its design. The object of the present invention is to provide an improved composite material comprising at least one substrate and at least one piping, which avoids the aforementioned disadvantages. Furthermore, the object of the invention is to provide a fastening system comprising at least one component and such a composite material.

According to the invention, this object is achieved with respect to the material composite by the material composite in claim 1, and in particular by the features stated in the characterizing part of claim 1. With respect to a fastening system, such a system solves the problem with the features stated in claim 13. Advantageous embodiments and further developments of both the material composite and the fastening system emerge from the subclaims dependent on these claims.

In the material composite according to the invention, a piping is applied to a substrate, similar to the last-mentioned prior art. The piping is applied to the substrate in several layers using an additive manufacturing process. Such an additive manufacturing process, which builds the piping on the substrate in several layers, offers the decisive advantage of high manufacturing accuracy with previously unattained flexibility in the production of the piping. Various materials are suitable as substrates, which can, for example, be flat or three-dimensional. The piping can then be built up in several layers directly onto these substrate materials using additive manufacturing, without the need for a piping flag.

According to a very advantageous development, it can be provided that in the composite material according to the invention, the individual layers of the piping vary in width relative to one another. This allows undercuts to be formed, for example, by placing undercuts arranged further away from the substrate. Layers of the piping have a greater width and/or length than those which are arranged closer to the substrate.

The width or length of the piping can vary accordingly in the composite material according to the invention. For example, individual piping points can be placed that have a round, rectangular, or other shape, where the length essentially corresponds to the width. For example, various attachment points can be applied to the substrate distributed over a surface.

Alternatively, the length can also be greater, in particular much greater, than the width of the piping. This would then be an elongated piping in the classic sense, which could, for example, extend along an edge of the substrate from one end to the other end of that edge.

In this embodiment with a greater length than width, according to a very advantageous further development, it can be provided that at least some of the layers vary in width and/or thickness along their length. The layers can therefore not only be applied uniformly with regard to their geometric contour. Rather, additive manufacturing allows an application in which the width and/or thickness of at least some of the layers, or in particular of all layers, varies accordingly in order to be able to produce a highly flexible, variable piping. With such a piping, virtually all geometric requirements can be realized simply and efficiently. In addition to simply varying the width and/or thickness of the individual layers, the number of layers can also be varied along the length of the piping, for example to create a piping that is much thicker at one end than at the other, by having individual layers taper off along the length of the piping. This can be used to create, for example, threading aids or threading bevels. As mentioned above, such a piping can be implemented on virtually any substrate shape. It is particularly effective on flat substrates such as textiles, but also on sheet metal, plastic parts, wood parts, composite materials, tapes, and the like. The substrate is therefore usually flat, but can also be multiply curved or generally three-dimensional.

The piping can be rectangular, U-shaped, C-shaped, trapezoidal, polygonal and/or circular segment-shaped in cross-section, at least in sections, based on its length and/or width. Piping is often circular segment-shaped and is, for example, inserted laterally into C-shaped rails. Alternatively, the piping itself could also be C-shaped. It could then be pushed or clipped onto a corresponding profile or round bar. In addition to such a C-shaped piping, in which the legs converge outwards to form an undercut, a U-shaped piping would also be conceivable in principle, which could, for example, be pushed onto a web of a component. Depending on the material, it can then hold there frictionally or, in addition to the U-shaped design, can additionally grip onto the surface using teeth, serrations, or the like. Simple rectangular or trapezoidal piping is also conceivable. In addition, piping can be produced with almost any cross-sectional shape, which can be polygonal, for example, and can also vary accordingly over the length, so that a piping starts rectangular, then continues trapezoidally and finally ends with a hexagonal or octagonal shape.

In this case, several pipings can be arranged on one or more surfaces of the substrate in order, for example, to fix a flat substrate both in the edge area and within the surface. The piping itself can be made of an elastic material, for example silicone, rubber or suitable thermoplastics.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment, the piping itself can be applied using high-speed 3D printing for high-performance plastics, preferably using the so-called SEAM process developed by one of the co-applicants. SEAM stands for Screw Extrusion Additive Manufacturing. This consists of an extrusion-based plasticizing unit for processing a suitable commercially available plastic granulate. This can be combined with a handling device or a robot arm, or preferably with a hexapod, to create a pivoting six-axis parallel kinematic system. This process allows a piping to be applied to a substrate extremely quickly and cost-effectively to create the material composite according to the invention.

As mentioned above, the invention further relates to a fastening system with at least one component which comprises at least one groove and/or at least one web which is designed to interact with the piping of the material composite according to one of the aforementioned embodiments. The piping and the groove and/or the web interact in a frictional and/or positive-locking manner. The piping is therefore introduced, for example, into a groove in the component or, in particular in the case of a U-shaped or egg-shaped configuration of the piping, can also be slipped onto a web of the component. Instead of a groove in the component, an arrangement of two parallel webs between which the piping is received can also take the place of a groove in the component.

According to the design of the piping, in a preferred development of the fastening system according to the invention, the groove and/or the web can be rectangular, U-shaped, C-shaped, trapezoidal, polygonal and/or circular segment-shaped, at least in sections, in relation to their length. This allows the appropriate piping to be accommodated efficiently. It is also possible to combine similar shapes with one another, so that, for example, a rectangular piping is pressed into a trapezoidal groove, compresses accordingly when pressed in, and due to the elasticity of its material, then takes up a larger space within the trapezoidal groove than the width of the groove inlet. This also makes it possible to achieve good fastening. The fastening system can furthermore be provided with the groove and/or the web having a Christmas tree-like or jagged contour, whereby Christmas tree-like is understood to be a combination of a jagged contour and a trapezoidal contour, while jagged is understood to describe serrations or teeth on an essentially rectangular contour. Such serrations on the contour can, for example, make it easier to accommodate a rectangular or trapezoidal piping, and the frictional connection between the components can be increased without the need for an exact form fit. Particularly in the case of a metallic component, other alternatives can be used to increase the surface roughness, e.g. knurling, a blasted surface, the deliberate leaving of machining grooves or the like.

Further advantageous embodiments of the material composite according to the invention and of the fastening system according to the invention also emerge from the remaining dependent subclaims and become clear from the exemplary embodiment which is described in more detail below with reference to the figures.

Showing:

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a possible structure of a

Piping for a material composite according to the invention in a first embodiment; Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of a possible structure of a

Piping for a material composite according to the invention in a second embodiment;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a flat substrate with several applied piping; and

Fig. 4 to 10 various exemplary cross sections of piping and corresponding grooves or webs of a component of a fastening system according to the invention.

Figure 1 shows a section of a piping 1 which can be produced, for example, using the SEAM process. It consists of several individual layers 2 which are to be applied one above the other on a substrate 3 which is located below but not shown and can be seen in the illustrations in Figures 3 ff. The lower layer has a relatively large width B in order to achieve the best possible adhesion to the substrate 3 (not shown here). The layers arranged on it vary in width over the length L of the piping 1 in order to achieve a substantially rectangular cross-section in the area shown on the left, a jagged cross-sectional contour in the area shown in the middle, and a rectangular section with a widened foot and head area in the area shown on the far right. All of this can be implemented extremely quickly and efficiently on almost any substrate 3 using the SEAM process.

The illustration in Figure 2 takes up a similar image again. Here, too, the two cross sections on the far right and far left are designed analogously to the cross sections in the illustration in Figure 1. The middle cross section now varies additionally by changing the layer thicknesses of all layers 2, with the exception of the layer 2 facing furthest towards the substrate 3. By varying the layer thickness in this way, the height H of the piping 1 can be varied over its length L. In addition to or as an alternative to a Varying the thickness of the individual layers 2 would also make it possible to vary the number of layers 2 (not shown).

In both Figures 1 and 2, especially in layer 2 shown at the very top, it can be seen that this layer widens accordingly along its length L, thus creating an additional variation here as well. The variations can be designed in almost any degree of freedom. They can be combined with each other.

The illustration in Figure 3 shows a flat substrate 3, for example a textile substrate 3. A first circumferential piping 1 is applied here using layer-by-layer additive manufacturing. In addition, several different pipings 1 with a greater length than width are applied over the surface, i.e. analogous to the illustration in Figures 1 or 2. Two of them cross each other. In addition, at the second position from the right, several pipings 1 are arranged, here purely as an example, aligned one behind the other in a line, each of which is point-shaped, i.e. has approximately the same length L as width B. They can be used, for example, to fix the substrate 3 to a surface provided with holes.

Various variants of the cross-sections of the piping 1 and its counter-elements are described below with reference to Figures 4 to 10, without limiting the invention to the possibilities presented here. All possibilities can also be combined with one another.

In Figure 4, a substrate 3 is visible, to whose left edge in Figure 4 the piping 1 is applied. It is constructed from individual layers as shown in Figures 1 and 2, even though these are not explicitly shown here or in most of the subsequent figures. The piping 1 is now inserted into a groove designated 4 of a component 5. introduced to connect component 5 and the material composite formed from the piping 1 and the substrate 3. The whole can also be referred to as a fastening system.

The groove 4 here has a C-shaped cross-section or a circular section. The piping 1 itself has a substantially circular cross-section and, as already mentioned above, is applied to the edge of the substrate 3. The component 5 could, for example, be an extruded profile.

In the following illustration in Figure 5, the substrate 3, as in all subsequent figures, is shown at the top, with component 5 at the bottom. It is provided with a groove, again designated 4, which here is designed as groove 4 with a rectangular cross-section. The piping 1 is also realized with a rectangular cross-section in the illustration in Figure 5. It is applied to the surface of the substrate 3.

The same substrate 3 with the same piping 1 can be seen again in the illustration in Figure 6. In the component 5, the groove 4 is designed such that, in addition to its essentially rectangular cross-section, it has a serrated side contour. It is thus provided with a corresponding serration on the two facing side surfaces of the groove 4 in order to further improve the frictional and/or positive connection between the component 5 and the piping 1.

Figure 7 again depicts this component 5 with its serrated groove 4. Additionally, a piping 1 is applied to the substrate 3, which, analogous to the representation of the piping 1 in Figure 1, has various layers 2 of varying widths in the middle region of its length L. This creates a serrated structure, so that a serrated contour of the piping 1 interacts with a differently serrated contour of the groove 4. In the illustration in Figure 8, a piping 1 is again applied to the substrate 3, which essentially has a rectangular cross-section. In the component 5, the groove 4 is trapezoidal. This can also lead to a good connection, particularly if the material of the piping 1 is elastic and the width of the piping correspondingly exceeds the minimum width of the groove 4, in this case its upper width, so that the piping 1 can be pressed in solely by the elasticity of its material, then expands accordingly in the trapezoidal groove 4 and ensures a good combination of frictional and positive locking. Here, too, the jagged contour of the piping 1 could be used analogously to the illustration in Figure 7 and/or the jagged contour of the groove 4 in addition to its trapezoidal design and analogously to the illustrations in Figures 6 and 7.

The substrate 3 with the cuboid-shaped piping 1 in the illustration in Figure 9 now interacts with two parallel webs 6, which are arranged, for example, on the component 5 (no longer shown here). They can be connected to it in a corresponding manner, such as welded, glued, screwed, etc., or formed integrally with it. A space is created between the webs 6, in which the piping 1 is received, analogous to the illustration in Figure 5. Here, too, it would be conceivable to provide both the piping 1 and the mutually facing surfaces of the webs 6 with a corresponding contour, for example a serration, in order to achieve the effect described in Figures 6 and 7.

The illustration in Figure 10 reverses this principle. Instead of the two webs 6, there is now a single web 6, the piping 1 on the substrate 3 being U-shaped and thus encompassing the web. With this construction, it would also be conceivable to design the inner sides of the legs of the U-shaped piping 1 with serrated edges, or to create the surfaces of the web 6 with corresponding serrations, grooves, or roughening in some other way. The principle behind the illustration in Figure 10 could again be applied analogously to the other figures. For example, analogous to Figure 4, a C-shaped piping 1 could be combined with a web 6 that is round-rod-shaped, at least in the area facing the piping 1. Further combinations and/or reversals of the operating principle analogous to Figures 4 to 10 would also be conceivable here.

Overall, this creates a fastening system in which a component 5 with a groove 4 and/or at least one web 6 can be reliably connected to the corresponding material composite of substrate 3 and piping 1. The connection can be made either along an edge of the substrate 3 or in its surface.

Claims

Patent claims 1 . Material composite comprising at least one substrate (3) and at least one piping (1) which is applied to the substrate (3), characterized in that the piping (1) is applied to the substrate (3) in several layers (2) by an additive manufacturing process. 2. Material composite according to claim 1, characterized in that the individual layers (3) of the piping (1) vary in their width (B) relative to one another. 3. Material composite according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the piping (1) has an approximately equal length (L) and width (B). 4. Material composite according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the piping (1) has a greater length (L) than width (B). 5. Material composite according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that at least some of the layers (2) vary along their length (L) in width (B) and/or their thickness. 6. Material composite according to claim 3, 4 or 5, characterized in that the number of layers (2) varies over the length (L) of the piping (1). 7. Material composite according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the substrate (3) is flat. 8. Material composite according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the piping (1) in its cross section related to its length (L) and/or width (B) at least in sections - rectangular; - U-shaped; - C-shaped; - trapezoidal; - polygonal; and/or - is shaped like a circular segment. 9. Material composite according to claim 8, characterized in that the piping (1) has a U-shaped or C-shaped contour, wherein the mutually facing sides of the legs are serrated. 10. Material composite according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that several pipings (1) are arranged on one or more surfaces of the substrate (3). 11. Material composite according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the at least one piping (1) is made of an elastic material. 12. Material composite according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized by the production of the piping (1) by means of the SEAM process. 13. Fastening system with at least one component (5) which comprises at least one groove (4) and/or at least one web (6) which are designed to interact with the piping (1) of the material composite according to one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the piping (1) and the groove (4) and/or the web (6) interact in a frictional and/or positive manner. 14. Fastening system according to claim 13, characterized in that the groove (4) and/or the web (6) are at least partially - rectangular; - U-shaped; - C-shaped; - trapezoidal; - polygonal; and/or - are shaped like a circular segment. 15. Fastening system according to claim 14, characterized in that the groove (4) and/or the web (6) have a fir-tree-like or serrated contour. 16. Fastening system according to claim 13, 14 or 15, characterized in that the component (5) has two parallel, spaced-apart webs (6) which are designed to receive a piping (1) between the webs (6).