Modern spatially resolved radar applications for driving assistance and autonomous driving need special antennas for electromagnetic waves in the millimeter range. New processes developed by Biconex now facilitate a simple metal plating on high temperature polymers like PPS and PEI and therefore a way to produce such antennas with flexible, high-quality copper and silver coatings with high adhesive strengths and unmatched uniform thickness. The new methods are highly scalable and therefore suitable for large volumes.

Whether you need first prototypes as 3D-prints or CNC manufactured samples or you are already looking for injection molded larger series, you will find Biconex an experienced partner for the manufacturing of these components.

For automotive applications we are able to provide large quantites of components in a certified environment via our production partner.

Image: Waveguide design by Fraunhofer FHR, 3D-printed prototype

Injection molded polymer parts can be produced with complex geometries at low cost in high quantities. With an appropriate metal plating those components even get metal properties like the reflection of electromagnetic waves. We offer a variety of different shielding solutions with various metal thicknesses for a broad range of polymers. According to your needs we will choose the right technology.

Metal plated polymers are recyclable. Metal coating and polymer body can be separated to join the material flows for metal and polymer. The latter can be repeatedly used in injection molding and plating.

Weight and cost reduction are key factors for many components in vehicles. We can offer both together with our production partner by plating injection moulded Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) polymers. PPS complies to the important UL94 V0 fire protection standard and our combined copper and nickel coatings provide excellent EMI shielding. Especially in electric vehicles due to their broad spectrum of electromagnetic radiation shielding is a critical factor.

State of the art complex aluminum geometries often require additional CNC finishing after dye casting. For these geometries injection moulded polymer parts with subsequent plating can be produced at lower costs while additionally reducing weight.

Whether you are looking for prototyping, replacement parts or very small series, 3D-printing is often the fast solution when tooling is too expensive and time is precious. Our partner 3DKG is able to print carbon fiber reinforced polyphenylene polymers to geometries with very low porosity and properties comparable to injection moulded parts. Small parts with high requirements for surface quality can be printed with DLP technology in high precision.

With our solid metal finish we provide metallic properties on the surface like EMI shielding, optical reflection, gas density as well as enhanced wear and corrosion resistance. Whenever full metal parts are not required this is the perfect light and cost effective alternative.