COMPOSITES EUROPE 2012 Blog

We met Michael Scharmer at our show in Stuttgart. For MSC Polymer AG it is a premiere to exhibit at CE show. www.msc-polymer.com

Q: Question

MS: Answer of Michael Scharmer

Michael Scharmer (man on the right side on the picture) www.msc-polymer.com/

Q: Please introduce yourself and MSC Polymer AG.

MS: MSC Polymer AG is a capital markets company LC. I am in the bord of directors as a director of technology and the Chief Executive Officer. 1988 the company was founded as a technical consulting company. Later on it had been developed towards a distributor of materials. Glass fibre reinforced epoxy laminates are the backbone of the classical PCB. Our customers already expected that we supply materials for premanufactured and pretooled. So we had to invest in suitable machinery and step by step we became a manufacturer of glass fibre reinforced parts for broad applications (despite PCB, our core business). We are at at the COMPOSITES EUROPE show because we had more and more inquieries asking for new materials as they are being shown here.We knew nobody in this industry, now we know a lot! Exhibitions are not only to attract new customers, but also to come in touch with the industry. We wanted to find new suitable suppliers and tool makers. In addition, we have a lot of contacts, for example to science institutions. It is really worth to come here. The next time in Düsseldorf we will bring more examples with us made of carbon fibre. In a few years we want to become an important European player in the manufacture of 3D-parts for many application industries, especially for the machinery industry.

Q: So how did you come to the COMPOSITES EUROPE show?

MS: We observed the development within the composites industry and the COMPOSITES EUROPE trade show. I asked myself where is this industry going? Looks like it is getting really important. I would have come as a visitor anyway. So why not taking a booth? The stand is also a meeting point. It can not be replaced by google or other social platforms. In the evening you also meet your visitors in the same hotel at the bar. This trade show is very well organized, not bureaucratic at all and our administration efforts to manage our participation were markable low compared to other major German exhibitions.

Moreover, it takes place in one of Germany’s most beautiful exhibition centres!

Our team met the exhibitor Kegelmann Technik at COMPOSITES EUROPE show 2011 in Stuttgart! Today is the 3rd and last day of our exhibition.

Kegelmann Technik presents it’s product range here. The company offers prototyping and small-series production for complex prefabricated parts made of metal and plastic.

Kegelmann Technik at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011, Mr. Weber, http://www.ktechnik.de/

80 employees work at the location of Rodgau-Jügesheim. In this way Kegelmann Technik unifies 100% in-house production depth in one company, from the design, construction, rapid-prototyping technology, model making, tool making to injection moulding.

We asked Mr. Weber (on the picture) if Kegelmann Technik alsways worked in the field of composites.  He answered “Yes, we have worked in the field of composites technology for many years now. At the COMPOSITES EUROPE show we present the RTM-production technology in the prototyping phase.”

So how was their impression of our show? Kegelmann Technik is a new exhibitor this year! The answer is “Positiv. COMPOSITES EUROPE is a specialised exhibition. Here you can find the market place for the area of composites manufacturing.”

Come to the show and meet Kegelmann Technik in hall 4/booth E65! http://www.ktechnik.de/

COMPOSITES EUROPE Blog interviewed Stephan Knappe – International Sales and Applications Manager at NETZSCH-Gerätebau GmbH. The company is a new exhibitor at COMPOSITES EUROPE show in September!

Q: Question

SK:  Stephan Knappe

Q: Please introduce yourself – who are you, what are your responsibilities at NETZSCH-Gerätebau GmbH?

SK: Chemical engineer, International Sales and Applications Manager, dedicated to polymer and composite applications. Currently also responsible for sales in Southern Europe.

Read Full Post

Done and dusted. The German government’s decision to withdraw from nuclear energy has also paved the way for the development of renewable forms of energy. The proportion of electricity generation from renewable sources is expected to rise to at least 80 percent by 2050. Wind energy is planned to play a major role in this. Last year the sector contributed 7.9 percent to the total amount of electricity generated in Germany.

The energy policy of the German government includes giving greater support to offshore wind farms. The remuneration for this power is to be raised to 15 cents per kilowatt hour. Operators of onshore wind turbines will continue to receive up to 10.2 cents per kilowatt hour. 0.5 cents are paid for power from new wind parks if the old equipment went online before 2002. The new turbine should also deliver twice the amount of power than the old one.

Example of how the crystal structure could be used in the rotor blade of a wind turbine. (Photo: Wüstefeld)

These factors therefore represent healthy prospects for the future of the wind power sector. The manufacturers of fibre-reinforced composites are also expecting to benefit from this development – because modern wind turbines are inconceivable without glass and carbon fibre-reinforced plastics. The organisers of the international Composites Europe (CE) exhibition, to be held from 27 to 29 September 2011 in Stuttgart, recognised this early on and are giving the industry the platform it deserves. Well-known producers and processors of fibre composites for the wind energy sector and the relevant machine producers and suppliers get together each year at the event.

But it is not only the presence of the big names which makes a visit to the exhibition so worthwhile. Jens-Hagen Wüstefeld from Starnberg, for instance, has developed a crystalline structure as a lightweight construction element. It yields an 85 percent reduction in weight, lower manufacturing costs, outstanding rigidity and design flexibility in comparison to a solid material. Starting out with a geometric concept, he made a three dimensional lattice from triangles, similar to a crystal structure. Any forces applied to such a symmetrical grid are distributed optimally to adjacent surfaces and edges.

These lightweight elements can be manufactured to any scale, from any materials and in any form – including those appropriate for wind turbines. The resulting reduced weight of the tower would allow the foundation to be simplified. And the lower weight of the rotor would result in lower bearing loads and therefore reduced wear and greater efficiency in the entire turbine. The reduced amounts of materials required would also reduce production costs. Individual segments can easily be joined together, simplifying both transportation and erection.

The Abraj Al-Bait Towers also known as the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower is a complex under construction in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The building holds and will break several world records in the construction world, including: the tallest hotel in the world, constructed with the tallest clock tower in the world and displaying the world’s largest clock face. COMPOSITES EUROPE Blog met one of the project partner for this – Dominik Ch. Scheurer:

Read Full Post

One of the most established uses for composites is in the building industry. It has made use of fibre-reinforced structures for over 30 years now. The reason is that these fibre composite materials are suitable for use in countless building and construction applications. Pipes, sleepers, boards, blocks, linings, mats, cladding, posts, foundations, tanks, housings, containers, doors, coatings, shafts, adhesives, coverings, banks, bricks, boxes, walls, basins, frames, steps, gutters – the possibilities are virtually endless.

Read Full Post

Neumayer Station III, shortly Neumayer III, named after the geophysicist Georg von Neumayer, is a German polar research station of the Alfred Wegener Institute in the Antarctic.  It is located on the Atka Bay on the 200-meter-thick Ekström Ice Shelf.

Dear reader, sympathizer and friends,

an eventful year is drawing to its end.
We would like to thank you very much for reading our blogpost, visiting our show or telling us what is going wrong or fine.

The year 2009 has the sub-title “year of the crisis”. But we never gave up. We always tried to find a solution – pretty often a creative solution. Our shoulders were closed against the vortex downward.

What will be in 2010 ? – Outlook.

Few days ago we saw that the first plane with extra-easy carbon fibers for Engine tail, Thrust reversing housing etc. is able to fly – and will save 20% of fuel.

In Copenhagen the world discusses over reduction of Co2 – We need stronger energy sources apart from the atoms energy – wind mills with especially long reinforced carbon fibres wings will play a serious role.

My last point: The weight of the battery in electric vehicles must become balanced somehow to protect the positive effects.

Fiber reinforcements are able to change characteristics of plastics. With reinforced plastics designers are able to design more beautiful things and it makes our life lighter. Who would like me a contradicting, if I said that: We improve the world with Composites!

We wish you and your familiy happy holidays as well as a healthy, peaceful and successful new year 2010!

Best regards,

Frank Mertz
Sales Manager COMPOSITES EUROPE

Looking forward to your comment:
Frank.Mertz@reedexpo.de
+49 (0) 211 90191 227
http://www.twitter.com/ceshow

Während des Dritten Deutschen WPC-Kongresses war ein besonderer Höhepunkt die Vergabe des WPC-Innovationspreises, der weitere neue Anwendungen offenbarte.

Um den WPC-Innovationspreis 2009, der von der Firma Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG (Troisdorf) gesponsert wurde, hatten sich 15 Unternehmen beworben, die im Jahr 2009 ein neues WPC-Produkt auf den Markt gebracht hatten. Eine Jury aus Sponsoren, Partnern des Kongresses und Mitarbeitern des nova-Instituts nominierte drei Unternehmen für den Preis. Auf dem Kongress stellte jedes Unternehmen sein Produkt in einem Kurzvortrag vor, anschließend wählte das Publikum den Sieger:

Read Full Post

Steigender Absatz von Holz-Polymer-Werkstoffen (Wood Plastic Composites) auch in der Wirtschaftskrise. Der Dritte Deutsche WPC-Kongress in Köln (2. und 3. Dezember) kann sich mit 300 Teilnehmern aus 26 Ländern sowie 30 Ausstellern als europäischer Leitkongress der Branche weiter etablieren.

Read Full Post