Ibi, Alicante -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/06/2010 -- AIJU has developed new materials Polyamide (PA)-based for its processing by means of Selective Laser Sintering techniques. The tests undertaken with the specimen tests have revealed an increased stiffness and strength in tension and a decreased impact resistance of these materials.

One of the main objectives in AIJU is to enable the toy industry and leisure sector to accede to the last developments and technological innovations within the market, contributing in a way that the developments could be achieved according to the requirements of entreprises. That is why it follows the technological evolution of the sector and the necessities of the related companies.

A previous study undertaken by AIJU to the companies using Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Manufacturing technologies has shown that 80% of the companies miss a greater sturdiness in the quality of the final product. As regards materials, 70% would like to manufacture prototypes with ABS by means of SLS, which keep similar characteristics. 95% or the companies believe that PA is a good material to work with and consider it useful to carry out some studies to generate new compounds based on this material. A 52% believe that searching new materials could be interesting, like PP, PET, PS and other elastomeric materials easy to manufacture. Finally, all the questioned companies think that obtaining prototypes directly from the SLS equipment with different colours could be innovative and easy to apply.

The juncture of these materials in Spain is the import of both the technology and the materials, as these are not developments of our own. This fact, combined with the need to boost new materials shown by enterprises, has guided AIJU to research about this subject.

These tasks have been done within the framework of IBE-RM projects, partially supported by MICINN and the UE with FEDER founds (PSE-020000-2004-1) and MatSinter, supported by IMPIVA (IMIDIC/2009/80 y IMIDIC/2010/45).

AIJU
The Toy Research Institute (AIJU) is a non-profitmaking organisation, located in Ibi, the Spanish geographic centre for the manufacture of toys. It was funded in 1985 with the collaboration of the Toy Manufacturers Spanish Association (AEFJ) and the Regional Government (IMPIVA).

Its aim is to transfer and allow toy manufacturers the access to the knowledge of new technologies in order to improve their competitivity, while offering technological and financial assessment and supporting the professional development of people involved in the sector. For this purpose, it has a staff of 75 professionals which develop their work in the different areas AIJU is made up of. Besides, this organization is provided with the required infrastructure to manage the different activities it undertakes.

The department intended to carry out these tasks is the Product Development – Laboratory Department, specially the Processing and Materials area. This department is closely linked to the Rapid Prototyping Area, which has been working on the research of SLS Equipment for 10 years now, studying its feasibility of use in the manufacturing of functional prototypes and mould prototypes with the objective of reaching final material sets.

AIJU is an active member of the Rapid Manufacturing European Platform and the Spanish mirror led by ASERM, the Spanish Rapid Manufacturing Association. It is also member of EuMAT and Manufuture. AIJU is the coordinator of the working group “Rapid Prototyping Proposal SP3 (materials) Lab” and member of the “Materials” group promoted by REDIT between the RDT Centres of IMPIVA’s Network.

In the standard field, the entity is working on the potential feasibility of the proposed rules as well as new safety criteria for toys, with participation in several proficiency testing schemes both on a National and European Level. Thus, it is participating in the development of new standards for toys in the European Committee of Normalization (CEN).