COMPOSITES EUROPE 2012 Blog

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.

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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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