COMPOSITES EUROPE 2012 Blog

On September 22nd and 23rd the Aachen Body Engineering Days take place at the Institut für Kraftfahrzeuge (IKA) of RWTH Aachen University. Well known speakers from research and industry will discuss about recent developments in car body engineering at the international conference. Among the speakers are: Prof. Dr. Rudolph C. Stauber (BMW AG), Dr. Matthias Rabe (Volkswagen AG) and Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn (Bentley Motors Ltd.).

Car bodies, vehicles and technology demonstrators are presented in an additional technical exhibition. Some of the highlights will be the Porsche Panamera, the BMW 5er GT, the new VW Polo, the Mercedes SLS AMG, ThyssenKrupps InCar and the SuperLightCar. Some plastic applications in modern car body engineering will also be presented.

From 27 to 29. October IKA will be represented at COMPOSITES EUROPE (Halle 4, Stand G28).

Visit the Huntsman Advanced Materials stand (Hall C2, Stand B04) at COMPOSITES EUROPE in Stuttgart from 27th – 29th October 2009 and see the latest advances in new composite materials and energy saving technologies.

New OLED markets for Araldite® Highly Flexible Composite, HFC
For the first time you can see how Huntsman is helping the Organic Light Emitting Devices, OLEDs, market to broaden its market. Huntsman has in conjunction with the Philips Holst Centre won a major award for its Araldite® HFC for a new multi-layered composite foil. This composite foil combines OLED technology with the award winning Araldite® HFC to open up an enormous range of new generation lighting and signage design opportunities.

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Something that awakened the interest of the experts in 2006, is now becoming a reality since last year with the production of a small batch of the Tesla Roadster, an all electric driven, two-seater sports car that has now also been available in Europe since May 2009. It is driven by a 252 PS electric motor in the rear, which develops a maximum torque of 375 Nm on the back axle. In almost 4.0 seconds the vehicle reaches 62.5 mph (100 km/h), with an electronically restricted maximum speed slightly above 125 mph (200 km/h).

Consequently, the American Tesla Roadster has everything a sports car needs, apart from the sound. This is now being provided by BRABUS, the German tuning specialists. The company from Bottrop and its Zero Emissions Division, is cooperating with Tesla Motors Inc., and is providing the sports car with an appropriate soundscape.  For this, the electricians developed a so-called space sound generator, which can imitate the sound of a V8, a racing car or various fantasy sounds. The intensity of the sound matches the current performance of the electric motor.

To keep the weight low, the body rests on a stuck aluminium frame and consists of glass fibre reinforced plastic.  Consequently, the 4.0 metre long sports car only weighs around 1,240 kilograms. This demonstrates the increasing importance of composite fibres for automobile construction. At the Composites Europe Trade Fair, which will take place in Stuttgart from 27 to 29 October 2009, this trend will also dominate the presentations of numerous exhibitors.

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Block material is usually used for the manufacture of ultra firm, lighter weight carbon composites.  This involves the curing of a combination of epoxy resins, micro glass spheres and a curing agent in an autoclave.  When curing the pre-impregnated carbon fibres, a composite laminate is produced in the same shape as the original model.  This in turn forms the basis for the pertinent carbon component.  Epoxy based composite materials have become the norm especially for high speed use, for example in Formula 1.

Block materials are also becoming the norm not only in high-tech applications, such as those for speedy runabouts, but also in other industries.  In addition to the customary automobile industry, examples can also be found in railway and ship building as well as in aviation.  In addition, companies in the wind energy sector are increasingly relying on the blocks that are stuck together from slabs in defined standard sizes.  At the Composites Europe Trade Fair, which will take place in Stuttgart from 27 to 29 October 2009, high-tech as well as routine applications will be on display.

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Very light, very sturdy and very expensive. The characteristics of carbon fibres can be briefly described in this way. Consequently, their applications were primarily restricted in the past to aircraft and aerospace as well as to sports equipment. In addition, the so-called monocoque and other components of Formula 1 racing cars are produced using a carbon fibre reinforced plastic. Very large CRP components are employed in the wings and hull of aircraft.

After carbonization of the basic organic raw materials into carbon, the fibres are tensioned and thus achieve higher strengths and rigidities. Further processing takes place as rovings. This involves several thousand fibres which are combined into a strand and are then used as reinforcing fibres in woven fabrics. As low filaments (short fibres) they can be added to polymers. Suitably reinforced plastic components can be produced by means of processing equipment such as extruders or injection moulding machines.

To produce carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CRP), several layers of carbon fibres are embedded in a plastic matrix of epoxy resin, thermoplastics or ceramics. Analogue to glass-fibre reinforced plastics (GRP), press or autoclave processes for prepregs or fibre wrappings are used for production. CRP manual laminates are only employed for small scale runs or for individual production.

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As a subsidiary of Dassault Systemes Simulia Corp. (Rhode Island, USA), Dassault Systemes Simulia GmbH is the contact for SIMULIA software products in Germany and Switzerland. Both in aircraft and in automotive construction, there is a clear trend towards the use of lightweight fibre composite structures.

Major reasons for this are rising fuel costs and stricter emission limits. Due to their favourable weight-specific properties, fibre composite structures offer considerable potential for cutting fuel consumption and emissions. In the process of developing composite fibre structures, the use of finite element (FEM) analyses in structural design is increasing. These “virtual“ FEM simulations can take the place of real tests to some extent, leading to savings in time and cost.

At COMPOSITES EUROPE, Dassault Systemes Simulia GmbH will present state-of-the-art solutions for FEM analysis of lightweight fibre composite structures at its stand (Hall 4 / Stand B13) and at the COMPOSITES Forum, using its Abaqus calculation software. Dassault Systemes Simulia GmbH at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2009:

• Hall 4 / Stand B13

• Lecture “Simulation of Composite Structures with Abaqus Unified FEA from SIMULIA” at the COMPOSITES Forum (Hall 4 / Stand A78) on 28 October 2009, 11 a.m.

When the first commercial motor vehicle was equipped with a carbon ceramic brake disc, this was a real innovation. When compared with a conventional cast iron brake disc, the carbon ceramic brake disc provides a significant reduction in weight of up to 50% and thus the possibility of reducing fuel consumption.

In addition, they are noted for a longer service life, higher resistance to corrosion, a reduction in the emission of fine dust and improved product characteristics as well as higher thermal stability. In the meantime, renowned automobile manufacturers such as Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Daimler, Ferrari, General Motors, Lamborghini and Porsche are fitting the new discs in their vehicles.

Brembo S.p.A., a leading provider of high performance brake systems, and the SGL Group, a specialist for carbon products, combined their competencies on 1 June 2009 through the establishment of Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic Brakes as a joint venture. In future, the joint further development as well as the production and exclusive marketing of carbon ceramic brake discs for the automobile and commercial vehicle industry is to be promoted from Milan.

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Only one more year to go: For 200,000 dollars well-heeled flight enthusiasts will then be able to fly with SpaceShipTwo to a height of 110 kilometres (68 miles) above the surface of the earth, where space begins. The idea for this so-called space tourism came from Richard Branson, the British billionaire, entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin record label. The specially established company Virgin Galactic (VG) is to implement his concept.

Branson is building the first private spaceport for space tourists in New Mexico, and is investing several hundred million euros in this. It is said that several tens of thousands of would-be space tourists have already applied for a flight with SpaceShipTwo. These suborbital spaceplanes are being developed by Scaled Composites, which had already produced the previous model SpaceShipOne, with which it won a renowned competition.

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From a three metre high windmill to a racing car, from a resin infusion to an intelligent surface:  With its special Product Demonstration Area, COMPOSITES EUROPE will again create a special visitor attraction in the autumn in Stuttgart when it will open its doors for the fourth time.

Together with the exhibitors, it will once again demonstrate the potential and the innovative character of composite materials from 27 to 29 October.

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Within a short time, the COMPOSITES EUROPE specialist fair has developed into a significant growth factor in the composites industry and established itself as an industry institution. This year, from 27 to 29 October the specialist fair will present technologies and products covering the entire value creation chain of fibre-reinforced materials for the fourth time.

COMPOSITES EUROPE will showcase innovative solutions for major sectors of application, such as the automotive sector, the aerospace industry as well as the building and construction sector – tailor-made to fit the current requirements on material properties, such as lightweight construction, energy efficiency or improved corrosion resistance.

The start of COMPOSITES EUROPE will be marked by the International AVK Convention and the 2nd Biocomposites Congress. 350 international exhibitors are expected at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2009, among them key players of the industry such as Huntsman, AOC Resins and Exel Composites.

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