System for co-molding a thermoplastic material with a thermoplastic sandwich material and article produced thereby

A method and system for co-molding a thermoplastic material with a thermoplastic sandwich material to form a thermoplastic sandwich article having a thermoplastic inner portion are provided. In one embodiment, the thermoplastic material may be a composite material and the article is a deep-drawn article. In this embodiment, the method and system include a female die having an article-defining cavity defined by inner surfaces of the female die and an outer male die for forcing an inner portion of a blank of thermoplastic sandwich material having a cellular core and a predetermined amount of thermoplastic composite material placed on the blank into the female die along a substantially vertical axis and against the inner surfaces of the female die to obtain deep-drawn sandwich material. In a second embodiment in which the article formed is not deep-drawn, the outer male die is not required. A crushing device is provided for crushing a peripheral edge portion of the deep-drawn sandwich material formed completely about the thermoplastic composite material. An inner male die forces the thermoplastic composite material and the deep-drawn sandwich material within the peripheral edge portion together at a temperature and pressure sufficient to fuse the materials together to form a thermoplastic composite inner portion of the deep-drawn sandwich material. In the first embodiment, a clamping mechanism clamps a plurality of spaced outer portions of the blank immediately adjacent the female die to guide the plurality of spaced outer portions of the blank to travel into the article-defining cavity at an acute angle with respect to the vertical axis during forcing of the inner portions of the blank into the female die so that thickness of side walls of the deep-drawn sandwich material is substantially the same as thickness of the blank of thermoplastic sandwich material and so that the deep-drawn sandwich material does not significantly stretch or tear as the inner portions of the blank are forced into the female die. In the second embodiment, the clamping mechanism is also not needed.