COMPOSITES EUROPE 2012 Blog

Polymer composites have been in use at Automobili Lamborghini since 1983, and since 2001 carbon fiber composites have been used for the production of all body panels and several portions of the spaceframe structure of the Murciélago. At the International AVK Conference (26.-27 October 2009, Stuttgart) Maurizio Reggiani (Vice-president of R&D and CTO, Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A.) and Paolo Feraboli (Professor and Director of the Automobili Lamborghini Composites Laboratory) will present the composites research and development at Automobili Lamborghini. The presentation will be divided in two sections.

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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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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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