COMPOSITES EUROPE 2012 Blog

Sustainability and energy efficiency: What does the future look like for international freight traffic? What new approach can freight forwarders and logistics specialists adopt, so that they are able to transport their clients’ large loads under favorable conditions? How can such an approach ensure high environmental standards? The solution lies in lightweight design for trucks and freight containers, where fuel consumption and transport costs are reduced, CO2 emissions are lowered and climate friendliness is increased.

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Whether recreational craft, aircraft components such as the fuselage and wing shells, railway trucks, surfboards, rotor blades for wind power plants or superstructures of commercial vehicles or caravans, without sandwich structures the most important applications of composites would be inconceivable. A sandwich structure is a type of lightweight construction, in which the components consist of force absorbing covering layers that are kept at a distance by a relatively soft, normally light, core material.

The sandwich structure is a production process for semi-finished goods, in which several layers with diverse characteristics are embedded in a material. Almost always, this involves the use of diverse composites, since despite being of a low weight these components are very rigid. They are computed according to the linear sandwich theory. The core material preferably consists of paper honeycombs, foam materials or balsa wood. It transmits arising shear loads and supports the covering layers. The thermally insulating and acoustic insulating properties of the very light core materials are also frequently utilized.

Optiplan GmbH from Oelsnitz is one of the leading manufacturers of glass fibre reinforced plastics as panels and reels under the Polydet brand. Apart from the main application as high-grade wall coverings on vehicle superstuctures, GRP products are also used in the technical, industrial and construction sectors. The company will present its latest products at the Composites Europe trade fair, which takes place in Stuttgart from 27 to 29 October 2009.

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Pipes, sills, boards, blocks, formwork, mats, cladding, stands, foundations, tanks, housing, containers, doors, coatings, shafts, adhesives, covers, benches, stones, boxes, walls, basins, frames, steps, drains, etc., the possibilities for the use of composites in the construction industry are virtually unlimited. Not for nothing has the industry been one of the consumers of composite fibre materials, more especially of GRP for over 30 years.

Virtual chemical stability, where required with a fire resistance finish, easy processing and uniformity, these are the characteristics that make composite raw materials interesting for the construction industry. Products such as glass fibre mats, fabrics and materials as well as sprayed and wound rovings with suitable resin systems are primarily employed. They are optimized for the known processing methods as well as being adapted or tailor-made for the requirements of the application.

Nevertheless, not all sectors of the construction industry already use the potential of composites for their needs. For example, modern architecture only recently discovered the possibilities for fibre reinforced plastics. One company that is involved in research in this sector is Mühlmeier GmbH & Co. KG from Bärnau. In the search for three-dimensional, deformable foam core materials, the developers of the company discovered that this task is solved perfectly by hexagonal foam cores combined with finely connecting webs. The product known as 3D-Core promises an interesting potential for designers and architects. Mühlmeier will present its latest developments in the composites sector at the COMPOSITES EUROPE trade fair, which will take place from 27 to 29 October 2009 in Stuttgart.

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Despite the increase in production capacities, the demand for carbon fibres continues to be far greater than the supply. This is evident from the annual market survey by the AVK – Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e.V. The worldwide capacity in 2007 is estimated to have been 55,000 tons. The applications are multifarious and consist primarily of the sports sector, wind energy, the oil industry, the automobile and transport sector as well as civil engineering. By 2010, an annual increase in the demand for CRP is predicted to be between 14 and 16 per cent. This is due to the development of new applications over and above the previous use. Current new developments can be found, e.g. with hydrogen tanks, although the main application continues to be aviation. Experts think that even though fibre production will experience a double-digit increase as expected, there will continue to be bottlenecks at least in the medium-term. Read Full Post

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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