DECEMBER 2010

compositesworld.com

Static load:
4,124 kg/
9,094 lb

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 Table of Contents

40
December 2010 | Vol. 16 | No. 6

COMPOSITES
WATCH

Energy | 10
Automotive | 18
News | 23

COLUMNS
54 Editor | 2
Automotive: On the fence
Composites: Past, | 5
Present & Future

DEPARTMENTS

34 Applications | 46
New Products | 47
Calendar | 50
FEATURES
Showcase | 51
COMPOSITES 2011 Preview
24 The annual ACMA event returns to Florida, with a keynote look at composites from a military point of view.
Marketplace | 52
Ad Index | 53

IBEX 2010: Looking Up in Louisville Publisher’s Statement | 53

26 A new venue helps regenerate a recession-battered industry, drawing in more exhibitors and
attendees than in 2009.
COVER PHOTO
Q&A Forum: Composites in Automotive
30 How will fiber-reinforced polymers fare in a post-recession auto market obsessed with cost and
fuel-economy?

Life Cycle Assessment:

34 Are Composites Green?
Methods for calculating the impact composites have on the environment are enabling
data-driven comparisons to traditional materials.
By Sara Black

Inside Manufacturing: Maintaining Fiber

40
CT DECEMBER 2010

Length in Complex 3-D Designs The complex, one-piece PP/glass LFT pallets
on the bottom and in the middle of this
Award-winning composite pallet showcases new LFT molding process from South Africa. stack of bagged materials (a static load
By Peggy Malnati totaling 4,124 kg/9,094 lb) are the product
of a new LFT molding process developed by
LOMOLD Group (Cape Town, South Africa).
Engineering Insights |
54 Double-bag Infusion | 70% Fiber Volume?
The composite pallets each weigh only 16
kg/35 lb — 60 percent less than comparable
wood pallets. The rugged composite material
is designed to provide service life of 10 years
A double vacuum-bag system and tight process control enable repeatable fiber volumes of 60 to vs. three-to-four years for wood, and they
70 percent and improves consistency of infused laminates. are 100-percent recyclable.
By Ginger Gardiner Source | LOMOLD Group
1
 Editor

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On the fence Group Publisher

Richard G. Kline II / rkline2@gardnerweb.com
Publisher
Ryan Delahanty / rdelahanty@compositesworld.com
It’s hard, looking at the fast-evolving automotive industry, not to get a little excited Marketing Manager
about the real and potential change at work that favors substantially increased use of Kimberly A. Hoodin / kim@compositesworld.com
Graphic Designer
composites in cars and trucks over the next couple of decades.
Susan Kraus / skraus@gardnerweb.com
Increasing fuel prices, changing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) stan-
EDITORIAL OFFICES
dards, peak oil, rapid growth in developing countries, focus on sustainability and
CompositesWorld
increasing consumer demand for alternate energy vehicles all seem to signal a new PO Box 992 / Morrison, CO 80465
and different automotive industry. On top of this is evidence that composites of p: 719.242.3330 / f: 513.527.8801 / www.compositesworld.com
almost every ilk provide the best method of decreasing vehicle weight and increasing Editor-in-Chief
fuel efficiency. Tis is thanks not only to part-by-part weight loss, but also the ripple Jeff Sloan / jeff@compositesworld.com / 719.242.3330
Managing Editor
effect it provides — a lighter chassis, for example, requires a smaller engine and a less
Mike Musselman / mike@compositesworld.com
robust braking system. Indeed, a 2007 report issued by engineering and consulting Technical Editor
firm Ricardo (West Sussex, U.K.) noted that on a small car, a 20 percent weight loss Sara Black / sara@compositesworld.com
Contributing Writers
increases fuel efficiency 8.4 percent. And if the engine on that small car is downsized,
Dale Brosius / dale@compositesworld.com
fuel efficiency increases 13 percent. Tis means a car that averages 39 mpg could see Ginger Gardiner / ginger@compositesworld.com
that number jump to 44 mpg. Michael R. LeGault / mikel@compositesworld.com
Te automotive industry, it appears, is responding. As we’ve reported in CT over Peggy Malnati / peggy@compositesworld.com
John Winkel / jwinkel@indra.net
the past few months, there are scores of new and emerging automakers working with Karen Wood / karen@compositesworld.com
composites to develop hybrid and electric cars that could be on the road soon. Even
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city Vehicle) promise to make new and innovative
The automotive use of composites in auto structures.
Publisher
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industry could as Despite all of this apparent momentum, p: 630.584.2025 / f: 630.232.5076
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easily fall into old however, I think it’s clear that the automotive District Manager
industry is still sitting uncertainly on the evolu- Barbara Businger / barb@compositesworld.com
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auto market and in the culture of auto manufacturing.
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Auto market: Growth of smaller, alternatively powered cars relies first on the District Manager
consumer, who, in the U.S., still prefers relatively large, powerful, comfortable vehicles Rick Brandt / rbrandt@gardnerweb.com
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that are easy to fuel and maintain. Will that preference change? If so, what will change
European Sales Office
it? My view: Te wallet guides much American decision-making. As long as gas prices European Manager
remain competitive with other energy sources, the combustion engine reigns. Rising Eddie Kania / ekania@btopenworld.com
p/f: +44 1663 750242
gas prices ushered in many of the auto industry changes we’re seeing now, but prices
since have stabilized. Tat, coupled with the recession, has slowed the rate of change. CIRCULATION
Auto culture: GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda and other legacy automakers use Direct all Composites Technology circulation changes to:
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established manufacturing materials and systems reinforced by decades of reliance on
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a steel-dominated environment — not a trivial matter.
Automakers will change their ways and embrace composites integration only if the
market demands it. And the market will demand it only if the cost of ownership and
operation of a vehicle tips the consumer toward smaller, more efficient cars. Te next
few years, I suspect, will show us just how much change this important market will
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embrace — and on which side of the evolutionary fence.

PUBLISHER: MEMBERSHIPS:

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2

Fuel cells (finally) set to power
composites growth
Bio | Cedric Ball
For more than 15 years, Cedric Ball has led marketing
and new business development efforts related to the use
of composite materials in the transportation, building and
alternative-energy markets. Currently, he holds the position
of global marketing director at Bulk Molding Compounds
Inc., headquartered in West Chicago, Ill.
A single fuel cell could contain hundreds of plates made from corro-
sion-resistant composite materials. Tat fact has stirred the imagi-
nation of many in this industry, but until recently, had not stirred a
great deal of commercial activity. Tat is changing.
Although the fuel cell market is relatively small and lags behind
some of the other energy-conversion technologies now in wide-
spread commercialization, it is beginning to move beyond its in-
fancy. Fuel cells and related technologies will form a sizable new
market as they move past the phase of demonstration projects,
overcome longstanding technology hurdles and gain momentum in
their progress toward affordability.
THE MARKET
Te fuel cell market can be divided into three major segments:
portable, transportation and stationary. Each of these can be further
segmented into a variety of broad and niche applications. Although
the majority of attention has been paid to the potential for fuel cell-
powered vehicles in the automotive market, most observers agree
that significant cost and technology barriers remain to widespread
use of fuel cells in passenger cars. Not so well known is the fact that
stationary units have already reached affordable levels and are being
sold for residential, light commercial and some industrial uses.
According to GBI Research (New York, N.Y.), global revenues
for fuel cell systems grew to $521 million (USD) in 2009. About
two-thirds of that total was for stationary fuel cell systems, with the
balance going to portable applications, including transportation.
Drivers for the adoption of fuel cell technology include not only the
increasing environmental concerns about fossil-fuel power sources
(e.g., coal- and fuel-oil-fired electric, gasoline and diesel automotive
systems), but also the need for power sources with long life and low
maintenance as well as the ever-increasing need for more compact
and efficient power systems.
As advances in electrochemical and materials technologies have
made fuel cells attractive, and more importantly, affordable enough
to compete with conventional power sources, large players, such as
Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, FedEx and most of the major car manufac-
turers, have announced plans to expand their use of fuel cells be-
yond demonstration projects. Some programs are already underway.
Most programs will begin full-scale production in the 2013-2015
timeframe, with scale-ups beginning in 2011. New installations are
expected to grow from ~2,500 units, today, to more than 200,000
units annually by 2015, based on industry announcements.
Composites: Past, Present & Future
THE TECHNOLOGY
A basic fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen
and oxygen to produce electricity, with water and heat as its only
by-products. Fuel cells are similar to batteries electrochemically, but
differ in that they use less toxic materials and do not need to be
recharged. As long as fuel is supplied, the fuel cell will generate elec-
tiricity. Because the fuel-to-energy conversion is electrochemical
and involves no combustion, the process is clean, quiet and two to
three times more efficient than burning fuel.
Tere are perhaps a dozen derivative fuel cell designs. Each of
these could emerge as suitable for specific applications (see chart
below). Te front-running fuel cell design for high-volume ap-
plications, however, is the proton exchange membrane (PEM)
fuel cell. Tis type operates at relatively low temperatures (about
175°F/79°C), has high power density and can vary its output quickly
to meet shifs in power demand. PEM fuel cells are well suited for
applications in which quick startup is required, such as automobiles
or back-up stationary power supplies.
High-temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel
cells are a variant of the standard PEM fuel cells. Both include mem-
brane electrode assemblies (MEAs). However, HT-PEM fuel cells
operate at higher temperatures (250°F/121°C to 390°F/199°C) and
are more tolerant to impurities that can build up within the cell over
time, reducing its efficiency. HT-PEM fuel cells are a preferred fuel
cell technology for integration with fuel reformers (mechanisms
that extract hydrogen from other fuel sources). HT-PEM fuel cells
outfitted with reformers allow the units to use standard propane or
natural gas, for example, as its source of hydrogen. Because direct
hydrogen storage and the lack of a hydrogen infrastructure have
CUMULATIVE INSTALLATIONS BY FUEL CELL TYPE (2009)
AFC 0.2%
DMFC 1.3%
Other 0.1%
MCFC 5.4%
PEM 56.3%
PAFC
13.8%
CT DECEMBER 2010
SOFC
Source: GBI Research
22.9%
Cumulative commercial installations by fuel cell type, through 2009. The
clear front-runner is the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell.
5
 New epoxy
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 Except as otherwise noted, all marks used are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Henkel and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and elsewhere. ® = registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. © Henkel Corporation, 2010. All rights reserved. 6554 (5/10)
A schematic of a typical PEM fuel cell. This type is finding use in high-volume
Easy
Release
applications is are well suited for applications in which quick startup is
required. Source: Ballard Power Systems

been major obstacles to greater fuel cell adoption, HT-PEM fuel

cells fitted with onboard fuel reformers and connected to existing
natural gas lines are proving to be a practical near-term solution.
It also is possible to capture and use the fuel cell’s generated heat.
Combined heat and power (CHP) fuel cell systems provide heat for
some water and climate-control systems, accelerating the payback
to building owners.

THE AGE-OLD BATTLE

In an individual PEM fuel cell, electric power is generated in
MEAs that contain flow field (bi-polar) plates and gas diffusion
(anode and cathode) layers. Tese components control the mix of
hydrogen and oxygen in the electrochemical reaction. Individual
cells are combined into stacks to scale the power of a given fuel
cell module (larger stacks generate greater power). Bi-polar plates
Superior Mold Release.
can be made from metals or composites. Because each material has All The Time.
inherent advantages and disadvantages, much study is devoted to
determining which materials are best suited to a given application. Unlike sacrificial waxes or silicones, Frekote® semi-
With metals, platinum is a common catalyst used for the an- permanent mold release agents chemically bond to
ode and cathode of the fuel cell. Stainless steel alloys can be, and the mold surface, allowing the parts to release cleanly
are, used for bipolar plates. Te principal advantage of metals is the with no mold release transfer.
ease with which they can be produced in very thin cross-sections, Frekote® semipermanent release agents offer:
allowing for compact stacks and greater power densities, an im- • more releases per application
portant attribute for transportation and portable applications. Te • lower overall cost & increased profitability
disadvantages of metals are their high cost and eventual corrosion, • support from a dedicated & experienced team
causing failure of the cell. In the case of platinum, concern focuses • reduced downtime & increased productivity
not only on cost, but also the adequacy of the world supply of plati- • lower rejection rates & higher quality products
num if fuel cell vehicles, for example, were to make up significant
portion of the global automotive fleet. Scientists continue to search Visit frekote.com
for methods to reduce platinum loading through the use of alloys,
or call 1.800.562.8483 to consult
platinum nanoparticles and film applications.
with a mold release application expert.
It turns out that thermoset compounds are nearly ideal for the
acidic electrolyte environment of a fuel cell. Chopped carbon fiber
and graphite particles added to the compound provide conduc-
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tivity, and for many years, such compounds have been used in flow
field (bi-polar) plates. As advancements have been made in control-
ling formulation and processing, compounders have extended the
Save Some

Except as otherwise noted, all marks used are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Henkel and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and elsewhere. ® = registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. © Henkel Corporation, 2010. All rights reserved. 6554 (5/10)
use of composites to the anode and cathode layers as well. Termo-
set composites offer corrosion resistance and dimensional stability

Coin
at high temperature at a relatively low cost compared to precious
metal or graphitic sheet materials.
In the past, thermoset materials were thought to be limited to
lower volume and stationary applications, due to longer cycle times,
higher scrap rates and an inability to produce molded composite
plates as thin as stamped metal plates. More recently, however, these
issues have been overcome, providing a clear advantage over metals in
high-temperature and low-temperature PEM fuel cells where power
density is a secondary requirement (i.e., stationary applications).
Chopped carbon fiber and graphite particle filled/vinyl ester
bulk molding compounds (BMCs) are finding wide use in bi-polar
plates for low-temperature PEM fuel cells. When introduced in
1998, the cost of composite plates made with BMC was high — in
the neighborhood of $25/lb — for reasons related to compound
cost, throughput and operational quality. Compound costs have de-
clined significantly since that time and as volumes have increased.
Similarly, molding cycles once measured in minutes are now rou-
tinely completed in seconds, due to formulation improvements and
thinner plate cross-sections. Te latter, in fact, have been reduced
from 7.0 mm to as thin as 1.7 mm (0.276 inch to 0.067 inch) to-
day, improving on the power/volume ratios possible with composite
plates. Another advantage of composites over metals is in the de-
sign and production of flow field patterns, considered by each OEM
to be a key and proprietary aspect of its fuel cell’s operation. With
composites, one can produce different and more complex flow field
designs on opposite sides of the plate. With thin, stamped metal
plates, it is only possible to have a mirror-image design on opposing
sides of the plate.
Finally, experienced composite plate molders, such as Dana
(Paris, Tenn.), Metro Mold and Design (Rogers, Minn.), Entegris Overall Lower Cost.
Fuel Cells (Chaska, Minn.) and InnoVentures (Willoughby, Ohio),
have improved quality and throughput. Similar advances have been
All The Time.
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made with graphite-filled/phenolic compounds, which are suitable
release agents will increase your productivity and reduce
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THE DECISION POINT manufacturing process and gain the most releases
In some ways, the question of “composite vs. metal” is misguided per application.
when it comes to determining which is the “best” fuel cell mate-
Frekote® semipermanent release agents offer:
rial. Classically trained engineers tend toward linear thinking when • more releases per application
selecting materials. Fuel cells, however, are complex, interactive • lower overall cost & increased profitability
systems that require a holistic approach to their development. Te • support from a dedicated & experienced team
design, material choice and the manufacturing process must be • reduced downtime & increased productivity
taken into account to deliver an end product that performs effec- • lower rejection rates & higher quality products
tively, efficiently and affordably. Te more successful fuel cell OEMs
have discovered — or are discovering — that composites are well
Visit frekote.com
suited for such designs. Te key is to work with molders and mate- or call 1.800.562.8483 to consult
rial suppliers, helping them understand the design possibilities. with a mold release application expert.
Although much work remains, composites already are playing a
central role in shaping the future of the fuel cell market. | CT |
 COMPOSITES WATCH

Composites WATCH
Tidal turbines, wind turbines and electric vehicles: How will they and their composite
components fare in the post-recession future?
ENERGY

Gamesa triples in China, Nordex starts up in U.S. despite slowdown

Wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa

Source: Nordex
(Madrid, Spain) announced on
Sept. 14 that it will triple its invest-
ment in China through 2012 to expand and adapt the
company’s manufacturing centers for the develop-
ment of its new turbine systems. By 2009, Gamesa had
invested a total of €42 million on facilities in China.
Te company’s investment plan involves more than €90
million more from 2010 through 2012, bringing its
cumulative investments to more than  €130 million
($182 million USD), to meet rising demand from
China’s wind energy industry and to address medium-
term local production needs for its new G9X-2.0 MW,
G10X-4.5 MW and offshore turbine systems.
Gamesa chairman Jorge Calvet says the company in-
tends to “cement its position as one of the top five play-
ers in the Chinese wind energy industry … and meet the
needs of its customers … in the regions with the greatest potential ing plant in September 2009 and completed construction in July
for the wind energy business.” Gamesa’s forecasts indicate that in of this year.
2011, the Chinese market will account for more than 30 percent “Two years ago, we announced our intention to make Nordex
of the total wind energy sold (vs. 15 percent in 2009). As a result, wind turbines in the U.S., for the U.S.,” said Ralf Sigrist, president
Gamesa expects to nearly double sales in China within two years. and CEO of Nordex USA Inc. “Today we’re doing it. We hope Con-
Gamesa also broke ground on its sixth manufacturing center gress will do the same,” he added, “by finally passing meaningful
in China, in the province of Inner Mongolia, one of China’s wind renewable energy legislation.”
energy development hubs. A nacelle assembly site for the G8X-2 Sigrist’s remarks coincided with the American Wind En-
MW turbine, the factory will have an annual production capacity ergy Assn.’s (AWEA, Washington, D.C.) recent call for action to
of 500 MW. Te plant is scheduled to begin operating in 2011. Just strengthen the policies that unleashed a wave of private investment
four months ago, Gamesa celebrated the groundbreaking of its fifh in 2008 and 2009. AWEA reports that the U.S. added only 395 MW
manufacturing plant in China (equipped with an annual produc- of wind-powered electric generating capacity in the third quarter
tion capacity of 500 MW of G8X-2 MW wind turbines) in the city of 2010, its poorest quarterly showing since 2007. Year-to-date in-
of Da’an, Jilin Province (northwest China), a region boasting some stallations stood at 1,634 MW, down 72 percent from 2009 and the
of the richest wind energy resources in China. When the Jilin and fewest since 2006. AWEA identified the lack of long-term U.S. en-
Inner Mongolia facilities come online in 2011, Gamesa’s production ergy policies, such as a renewable electricity standard (RES), as a
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

capacity in China will total 1,500 MW per year.  significant factor in the slowdown. Te resulting uncertainty has
Meanwhile, turbine builder Nordex (Chicago, Ill.) announced
on Oct. 4 that it has begun production at its turbine manufacturing
plant in Jonesboro, Ark. Te first Jonesboro production crew has
completed a 10-week intensive training program at the company’s
flagship plant in Rostock, Germany. Te crew’s initial work pack-
age will involve a turbine nacelle. Training will continue during the
early phase of production, with the team’s German counterparts
taking up residence in Jonesboro for several months to work along-
side their U.S. colleagues. Nordex broke ground on its manufactur-
10
discouraged U.S. electric utilities from moving forward with wind
build-out plans. Already in place in China and Europe, renewable
energy policies have resulted in more than $35 billion of invest-
ment in 2010 — nearly four times the investment the U.S. will see
this year. A second factor in the slowdown is the U.S. government’s
need to deal with concerns about turbine interference with aircraf
radar. Without a national policy, these concerns delay wind farm
startups because regional governments must address the issue on a
case-by-case basis.
ENERGY

U.S. Department of Energy

to fund tidal turbine

Except as otherwise noted, all marks used are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Henkel and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and elsewhere. ® = registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. © Henkel Corporation, 2010. All rights reserved. 6554 (5/10)
energy projects
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the recipients of
more than $37 million (USD) in funding awarded to accelerate
the technological and commercial readiness of emerging marine
and hydrokinetic technologies, which seek to generate renew-
able electricity from oceans, rivers and streams. Te 27 projects
range from concept studies and component design research to
prototype development and in-water device testing. Te Depart-
ment of Energy (DoE) funding, it is hoped, will advance the ability
of marine hydrokinetic energy technologies to contribute to the

Loyal
nation’s electric power supply.
“Tis represents the largest single investment of federal fund-
ing to date in the development of marine and hydrokinetic energy
technologies,” said Chu. “Tese innovative projects will help grow

Experts
water power’s contribution to America’s clean energy economy.”
Selected turbine projects and the companies chosen to build, in-
stall, operate, monitor and evaluate them include the following:
Ocean Power Technologies Inc.’s (Pennington, N.J.) full-scale, 15-
kW PowerBuoy system, which will be deployed in the Oregon Terri-
torial Sea to collect two years of detailed operating data. DoE funding
for the project is $2.4 million of a total project cost of $4.8 million.
Ocean Renewable Power Co.’s (ORPC, Portland, Maine) com-
mercial-scale array of five grid-connected TidGen Project devices
on the sea floor in Cobscook Bay off Eastport, Maine, which will
be deployed in two phases over three years. Te project is designed
to advance ORPC’s cross-flow turbine tidal energy technology and
produce a full-scale, grid-connected energy system. Te complet-
ed project will comprise an array of interconnected TidGen hydro-
kinetic energy conversion devices in moderate- to high-velocity
tidal currents in water as deep as 150 f/45.7m. DoE will fund $10
million of the projected total cost of $21.1 million.
Two 10m/32.8-f diameter Open-Centre Turbines, developed
Dedicated Specialists.
and manufactured by OpenHydro Group Ltd. (Dublin, Ireland), All The Time.
will be deployed by the Public Utility District No.1 of Snohom-
Backed by mold release application experts and factory
ish County (Everett, Wash.). Te project is expected to generate 1 trained distribution partners, we’ll ensure you have the
MW of electricity during peak tides, with an average energy out- right product for your application, and help you perfect
put of approximately 100 kW. DoE funding is $10 million of a total your manufacturing process. Scalability, testing and
project cost of $20.1 million. training will make sure you operate smoothly.
See “Composites Tap Tide Energy,” CT October 2010 (p. 28) | Frekote® semipermanent release agents offer:
http://short.compositesworld.com/FQuUgcEb. • more releases per application
• lower overall cost & increased profitability
BIZ BRIEF • support from a dedicated & experienced team
• reduced downtime & increased productivity
IPS Structural Adhesives Corp. (Durham, N.C.) announced on Oct. 18 • lower rejection rates & higher quality products
its acquisition of Holdtite Adhesives Ltd. (Newcastle, U.K.). The prod-
uct offering of the merged companies will include 10:1 and 1:1 methyl Visit frekote.com
methacrylate (MMA), cyanoacrylate (CA) and ultraviolet (UV) cure
or call 1.800.562.8483 to consult
adhesives.  IPS plans immediate investment in Holdtite to implement
manufacturing and technical service models that have proven success-
with a mold release application expert.
ful in North America. IPS will adopt the information systems currently
employed by Holdtite.
Low odor.
High shine.
We’ve got your molding
process covered.
Trigonox® 524

Trigonox® 524 is now formulated for low VOCs

and emissions, so you’ll achieve beautiful results
without the odor.
AkzoNobel is one of the world’s largest producers
of organic peroxides. We supply industries and
consumers worldwide with innovative products
and are passionate about developing sustainable
answers for our customers. With operations in more
than 80 countries, our 55,000 people around the
world are committed to excellence and delivering
Tomorrow’s Answers Today.™
Visit our website at www.akzonobel.com/pc
or call (800) 828-7929 to find out more.
 COMPOSITES WATCH
ENERGY

AEWC/DeepCwind launch
offshore wind conference
for state of Maine
Te University of Maine’s (UMaine) AEWC Advanced Structures
and Composites Center and the DeepCwind Consortium hosted
the first annual Maine Deepwater Offshore Wind Conference on
Oct. 19 at Point Lookout Resort in Northport, Maine.
Conference session topics included deepwater offshore wind
and economic development, responsible siting of deepwater
offshore wind turbines, environmental and ecological moni-
toring activities at the University of Maine Deepwater Offshore
Wind Test Site and deepwater floating wind turbine technology
development. Attendees heard AEWC director Dr. Habib Dagher
report that large offshore turbines, deployed 20 to 50 miles (32.2
to 80.5 km) out to sea, appear to be viable, given the abundant
wind resources available in the Gulf of Maine. Given the favorable
conditions, floating turbine designs and construction methods are
said to be under development. Notably, a small-scale test wind
turbine is scheduled for offshore deployment near Monhegan,
Maine, in 2012.
Te DeepCwind Consortium was established by UMaine’s
AEWC in 2009 through a competitive grant program awarded by
the U.S. Department of Energy to advance renewable energy goals
within the state of Maine.

PRO SET ® The science of epoxy

Laminating Systems
Adhesives
Fairing Compounds
Process Equipment

CT DECEMER 2010

Pro-Set Inc. MJM 40Z

888-377-6738 Designer Doug Zurn
www.prosetepoxy.com Builder Boston Boatworks

13
 THE COMPOSITE
THAT’LL SHAKE UP
YOUR THINKING.

The DuraPlate® composite – a different kind of material that doesn’t fall

into the traditional composite categories. While the name may be new
to you, DuraPlate has been the leading structural composite material for
over 15 years in transportation products – such as semi-trailers, storage
containers and box trucks. So, if you want a proven, cost-effective,
durable solution for your product or application, take a closer look at
DuraPlate. It will give you a new perspective on composites.
Foamed
HDPE Core Go to www.thinkduraplate.com or
Pre-Coated,
Galvanized call 1-888-480-4157 to learn how
Steel Skins
DuraPlate can work for you.

©2010 Wabash National, L.P. All rights reserved. Wabash,® Wabash National® and DuraPlate® are marks owned by Wabash National, L.P.
 COMPOSITES WATCH

BIZ BRIEF
Composite materials and tooling supplier Gurit (Zurich, Switzerland)
announced on Sept. 29 that it has won its first contract for a wind tur-
bine blade mold to be delivered to a customer in Europe from Gurit’s
Red Maple tooling plant in Taicang, China. The European order is a result
of Gurit’s global tooling strategy. The strategy was initiated following
shipments of several well-received blade molds to European-controlled
customers in China as well as the delivery of molds to two customers
in India. Red Maple’s new production facility is designed for the manu-
facture of next-generation blade molds for wind turbines up to 7 MW.
Red Maple is an independent, fully integrated and highly specialized
moldmaker that emphasizes attractively priced, solid quality tooling
equipment with very short lead times. 

Resin manufacturer AOC LLC (Collierville, Tenn.) reports that its parent
company, The Alpha Corp., is celebrating its 50th anniversary with the
grand opening of its new world headquarters in Piperton, Tenn. Fred
Norman, Alpha Corp.’s president and COO, says, “Building the new
headquarters here reaffirms our commitment to the future of western
Tennessee. Because of the way the building incorporates green solu-
tions, it has been certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environ-
ment Design [LEED] system of the U.S. Green Building Council. These
actions recognize how we strive to be a responsible business neighbor
of this region as well as a model environmental steward.”

Fort Lauderdale, February 3-4, Booth #917

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MIRteq
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microfiber composites

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boe!pwfs!26!upq!tvqqmjfst!bu!DPNQPTJUFT!3122-!Cppui!$!:28-!Gfcsvbsz!4!.5/

15
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 COMPOSITES WATCH

BIZ BRIEF
The Engineering Services Branch of Firehole Composites (formerly
Firehole Technologies, Laramie, Wyo.) has announced a contract rela-
tionship with Farr Yacht Design Ltd. (Annapolis, Md.) that entails ana-
lytical evaluation, design review and modification recommendations
for a high-performance ocean racing yacht. Mark Bishop, a Farr Yacht
senior design engineer, says that Firehole’s Helius:MCT software reduces
the gap between technical analysis and physical design. “This makes it
possible for us to interface directly with their staff and make real-time
corrections and modifications to the design, saving us hours, money
and frustration,” he reports. “Tools like this allow us to maximize per-
formance and optimize weight while still maintaining safety margins.”

Technical fabrics manufacturer SAERTEX USA LLC (Huntersville, N.C.)

has planned a $6.5 million, three-year expansion of its facility in Hunt-
ersville, a result of growing demand for lighter components that save
energy. The expansion is expected to create 178 jobs. The project was
made possible in part by a $110,000 grant from the One North Carolina
Fund. Founded in 1982, SAERTEX is headquartered in Saerbeck, Germa-
ny, and has locations in France, Germany, Portugal, South Africa, India,
China and the U.S. The company opened its first North Carolina facility
in 2000 and currently employs 126 people in Huntersville. “SAERTEX
USA appreciates the support of Gov. Bev Perdue and the State of North
Carolina in helping increase our footprint in North Carolina, while sup-
porting wind and other green industries in the United States,” notes
Precision Quincy / 1625 West Lake Shore Dr. / Woodstock, IL
general manager Dr. Christian Kissinger. Made in USA / 800.338.0079 / www.precisionquincy.com

CT DECEMER 2010

17
 COMPOSITES WATCH

EVs: Will the public buy?

AUTOMOTIVE
Global sales of hybrid electric vehicles
(HEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is
expected to total 5.2 million units — a mere
7.3 percent — of the 70.9 million passenger vehicles that will be
sold worldwide in the next decade, according to Drive Green 2020:
More Hope than Reality, a report from J.D. Power and Associates
(Westlake Village, Calif.). By comparison, J.D. Power projects that
global HEV/BEV sales in 2010 will be 954,500 vehicles, or 2.2
percent of the projected 44.7 million sold through this year.
Te report considers factors that will affect the potential of
green vehicles, many of which will be lightweighted with compos-
ites. It will be difficult, the report says, to convince large numbers
of consumers to switch to HEVs and BEVs. Significant consumer
migration likely will be stimulated by a significant increase in the
global price of petroleum-based fuels by 2020; a substantial break-
through in green technologies that would reduce vehicle costs
and improve consumer confidence; and government policy that
encourages consumers to purchase EVs. J.D. Power insists that,
based on currently information, none of these scenarios is likely
during the next 10 years.
Another study, by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (Wash-
ington, D.C.), is more upbeat. It claims that Nissan’s Leaf battery-
electric model and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid could com-
prise 9 percent of annual auto sales in 2020 and 22 percent in 2030

offering short courses

Engineering
and Design of
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COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

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 COMPOSITES WATCH

Source } Coulomb Technologies

North Coast Tool & Mold Corp.
Mold design and manufacturing
North Coast Composites Inc.
RTM process development and
serial part manufacturing

(1.6 million and 4 million units, respectively). Tat will depend on

two key factors: aggressive reductions in battery costs and rising
gasoline prices, the company says. In the short term, the sticker
price and access to appropriate charging locations will be the most
significant limitation to acceptance of HEVs and BEVs.
On that subject, Eldib Engineering & Research Inc.’s (Berkeley
Heights, N.J.) new study discusses electric vehicle charging sta- The Companies of North Coast
tions. It estimates that 5 million charging stations will be in use by COMMITTED TO ADVANCING THE COMPOSITE INDUSTRY
2015. Station cost (from $1,500 to $35,000, depending on charger www.nctm.com www.northcoastcomposites.com
power) will be defrayed, in part, by the U.S. government. Eldib Phone (216) 398-8550
says the top provider is Roth Capital Partners (Newport Beach,
Calif.) closely followed by Coulomb Technologies (Campbell,
ISO9001-2000
Calif.). For more information, contact Dr. Andrew Eldib: eldib@
AS9100B
eldib.com. Read more about electric vehicles in CT April 2010 (p. C o m p o s i t e s
28) | http://short.compositesworld.com/wODV21GH.

40 years of Recognizing the Plastics Innovation that

Keeps Families Safe, Saves Fuel, Adds Functionality,

& Makes Vehicles More Stylish & Durable.

See this year’s SPE Automotive Innovation Awards

Competition winners at http://speautomotive.com/inno

and http://speautomotive.com/awa.
CT DECEMER 2010

19
 COMPOSITES WATCH

Source (for all) SPE Automotive Div.

AUTOMOTIVE

SPE Automotive Innovation Awards

Te Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Auto- In the Chassis/
motive Div. (Troy, Mich.) hosted the 40th Hardware category,
Annual Automotive Innovation Awards Hyundai won for
Competition and Gala on Nov. 9 in the Detroit suburb of Livonia. its integrated car-
Winners and finalists in this competition highlighted current and rier rail for the rear
emerging design, materials, tooling and processing trends in cate- plastic door module
gories covering body exterior, interior, hardware, safety, powertrain, (bottom-lef photo)
performance and others. on its 2010 Sonata.
Composite products were among those honored. In the Body Te rail is produced
Interior category, the winner was a self-reinforced airbag door via injection mold-
system (top-lef photo) on the 2007 PST Citroën C5 Sedan, manu- ing by PYEONG
factured by Visteon Corp. (Van Buren Township, Mich.). Tis is HWA Automotive
the auto industry’s first airbag door system that integrates a self- (Daegu, South Ko-
reinforced polymer construction (polypropylene fiber-reinforced rea) using Stamax
polypropylene), which is supplied by LyondellBasell (Auburn Hills, 30YM240 long glass fiber (LGF)-reinforced polypropylene (PP)
Mich.) and Propex Fabrics (Gronau, Germany). Te door system provided by SABIC Innovative Plastics (Pittsfield, Mass.). Previous
is fully recyclable and does not require typical postmold scoring/ plastic door-module designs had separate metal rails attached to the
weakening of the door flap. Te mold required a multizone tem- module afer molding. Te new design features a window-regulator
perature control system and a vacuum holding system to fix the guide rail molded as part of the plastic door module. Wire-harness
fabric insert in place during the molding process. Te program also clips, the drum housing, the location pin and the door-handle brack-
required development of a specialized fiber-reinforced material to et also are molded in.
facilitate overmolding and subsequent adhesion. Te resulting sys- A finalist in Chassis/Hardware was the structural composite
tem is lighter than competing systems and saves approximately $5 radiator support (top-right photo) on the 2010 Ford Taurus, fea-
per part as compared to welded systems. turing LGF-PP from Dow Automotive (Auburn Hills, Mich.) and

BIZ BRIEFS
Teijin Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) announced plans
to build a high-performance polyethylene
(HP-PE) facility in Emmen, The Netherlands,
with commercial production to start in the
second half of 2011. Teijin’s HP-PE, which
will be available in fiber or tape forms, is
produced with ultra-high-molecular-weight
polyethylene (UHMWPE) polymers. Targeted
applications include reinforced plastics,
protective materials, ropes, nets and medical
materials.

Resin manufacturers DSM Composite Res-

ins AG (Schaffhausen, Switzerland) and
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

Kemrock Industries & Exports Ltd. (Vado-

dara, India) have signed a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture
in India for the manufacture of unsaturated
polyester and vinyl ester specialty resins.
Through the alliance with DSM, Kemrock is
expected to fortify its expertise in compos-
ites manufacturing and align it with global
1.800.2.MCLUBE standards. DSM is expected to strengthen its
presence in India.
info@mclube.com mclube.com
20
 COMPOSITES WATCH

Composites One (Ar-

lington Heights, Ill.).
Tis compression-
molded part passed
a 5,340N hood-latch
pull test. It features a
glass mat overlay for
extra strength and
reduces weight by 33
percent and direct
costs by 20 percent.
It also consolidates
part count, simplifies
materials handling
and shortens assem-
bly time compared to
the coated steel and cast magnesium parts it replaced.
Chrysler’s on-engine oil filter module (bottom-right photo) on
its 2010 Pentastar was a finalist in the Materials category. Made by
Hengst North America (Camen, S.C.), the module incorporates
BASF’s (Ludwigshafen, Germany) Ultramid A3WG7 HRX BK, a
PA 6/6 with 35 percent glass reinforcement. Te material’s supe-
rior heat and chemical resistance reportedly enabled engineers to
eliminate 148 parts and locate the large, spin-on oil-filter module
directly in the engine valley. Tis reduced the weight by 43 percent
and saves more than 60 percent in direct costs.

INTEGRITY
™

No other gel coat has this

much Integrity.
Integrity™ is more than the name of our gel coat. It’s a performance promise.

It’s your assurance of the most advanced MACT-compliant technology available.

Test after rigorous test has proved Integrity gel coat’s ultrahigh resistance to
porosity, blistering, blushing and fading.

Choose from our bold, lustrous colors or ask our experts to customize colors to
any need. Integrity also stands for consistent quality and color from batch to batch
for superior application and repair performance.
CT DECEMER 2010

You won’t find another gel coat with this much Integrity. That’s a promise.

Contact us for more information, to order samples or locate a distributor.

1.800.736.5497
www.interplastic.com/integrity
© 2008 Interplastic Corporation. All rights reserved.

21
 Register for our newest CompositesWorld Conference
2011 Wind & Ocean Energy Seminar

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April 13-14 — Wyndham Portland Airport, Portland, ME

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Composites
Hexion/Momentive merger made official
Momentive Performance Materials Holdings Inc. (Albany, N.Y.),
the parent company of Momentive Performance Materials Inc.,
and Hexion LLC (Columbus, Ohio), the parent company of epoxy
manufacturer Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc., completed a previ-
ously announced merger on Oct. 1. Te resulting firm will retain
the Momentive name. Te combination creates a company with
117 production facilities, more than 10,000 employees, annualized
sales of approximately $7.5 billion (USD) and a pro forma adjusted
EBITDA of $1.24 billion. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, the
new Momentive makes approximately 28 percent of its sales in
fast-growing regions, including the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia,
India and China), with the balance in more mature markets (33
percent in Europe and 39 percent in North America).
Te combined company is organized into three global busi-
ness divisions: Silicones and Quartz, led by president Steven
Delarge and headquartered in Albany, N.Y.; Epoxy, Phenolic
and Coating Resins, led by president Joseph Bevilaqua; and For-
LASER PROJECTION SYSTEMS FOR
OUTLINES, TEMPLATES, SHAPES
High precision laser template projection
and laser measurement on flat and cur-
ved surfaces. Red, green or multicolor.
www.LAP- LASER.com
COMPOSITES WATCH
NEWS
est Products, under president Dale Plante. “Our new combined
enterprise now can offer a broader portfolio of specialty technolo-
gies and products to meet the diverse applications needs of our
global customers,” says Momentive chairman and CEO Craig O.
Morrison. “Tese technologies include silicones, epoxies, quartz,
phenolics, acrylics, aminos, acids and others that are used alone,
or in combination, across thousands of critical industrial and con-
sumer applications where superior performance is required.”
Momentive Performance Materials was formed in 2006
through the acquisition of GE Advanced Materials. Hexion Spe-
cialty Chemicals was formed in 2005, when the previously inde-
pendent Borden Chemical Inc., Resolution Performance Products
Inc., Resolution Specialty Materials Inc. and Bakelite AG merged
into a single entity.  Hexion’s (formerly Resolution Performance
Product’s) epoxy resin systems are well-established in the com-
posites industry, including EPIKOTE and EPIKURE epoxy sys-
tems formulated for wind turbine blade fabrication.
Finally, a fire retardant FRP
with unmatched processability.
Finally, there’s a fire retardant, low smoke/low
smoke toxicity phenolic FRP that’s processed
as easily as polyester. It’s called Cellobond
FRP and it’s processed from phenolic resins
available in a wide range of viscosities for:
• Hand lay-up/spray-up* • RTM
• Filament winding* • SCRIMP
• Press molding • Pultrusion
*FM approved
Gel coated Cellobond Phenolic FRP far
exceeds DOT and FAA requirements and
meets all stringent European fire perfor-
mance tests with ease.
The low density, high temperature resis-
tance, low flame and low smoke / smoke
toxicity properties make Cellobond the
hottest new material for fire retardant
applications. For the aircraft and aerospace
industries that require ablative materials,
we also offer Durite resins from Hexion.
CT DECEMBER 2010
Call or write today for more information.
Mektech Composites Inc.
Distributor for Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc.
40 Strawberry Hill Rd. • Hillsdale, NJ 07642
Tel: (201) 666-4880 Fax: (201) 666-4303
E-Mail: Mekmail@prodigy.net
www.cellobond.com • www.hexion.com
Cellobond and Durite are registered trademarks of Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc.
23
 Show Coverage

PREVIEW

COMPOSITES 2011
The annual ACMA event returns to Florida, with a keynote
look at composites from a military point of view.

TThe ACMA’s COMPOSITES

2011 trade show returns to
the East Coast at the
Greater Ft. Lauderdale
Convention Center in Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla.

THE SHOW IN BRIEF

WHAT: COMPOSITES 2011

WHERE: Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center,
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
WHEN: Feb. 2-4, 2011

Information: www.acmashow.org or (847) 620-4481

SCHEDULE: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2

Education Sessions (technical papers, workshops) 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Keynote, Gen. Stanley McChrystal (U.S. Army ret.) 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Education Sessions (technical papers, workshops) 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Welcome Reception 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

A
fer taking its 2010 show to Las Vegas, Nev., the American
Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA, Arlington, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3
Va.) is hosting COMPOSITES 2011, its annual trade show
General Session Keynote (Speaker TBD) 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
and conference, in sunny, warm Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Feb. 2-4 at
Exhibit Hall Open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

the Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center. As it does each

ACE & Pinnacle Awards Luncheon 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
year, ACMA’s show features a mix of conference sessions, keynotes,
networking sessions, awards and exhibitions. Education Sessions (technical papers, workshops) 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
ACMA is kicking off the show this year with another high- Networking Receptions 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
profile keynote speaker. U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4
(ret.), former commander of U.S. and International Forces in Af-
ghanistan, will speak on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. Education Sessions (technical papers) 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
McChrystal is expected to share insight, experience and stories Exhibit Hall Open 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
that will help composite companies understand the importance Networking Activity 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
of openness, teamwork and forward thinking. He also will ad-
24
dress use of composite materials in military applications. Te day
ends with the annual Opening Welcome Reception, sponsored
by resin supplier Reichhold Inc. (Research Triangle Park, N.C.)
at the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Marina, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Te show’s second keynote address is scheduled form 8:30 a.m.
to 9:30 a.m. on Tursday, Feb. 3 and open to all attendees. At CT press
time, the second speaker had not yet been determined. Te exhibit
hall opens Tursday as well, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and fea-
tures more than 200 exhibitors representing all aspects of the com-
posites manufacturing supply chain, from resins to tooling to fiber.
Te annual awards lunch starts at noon on Tursday and fea-
tures winners from one of the show’s
biggest attractions: the Award for Com-
posites Excellence (ACE) and Pinnacle
Product Showcase and Competition, with
products in several categories, including
Creative Design, Innovation in Green,
Process Innovation, Equipment Innova-
tion and Sustainability. Winning prod-
ucts will be on display in the exhibit hall.
Tursday evening, look for network-
ing receptions, sponsored by distribu-
tor Composites One (Arlington Hts.,
Ill.), emphasizing cast polymers, emerg-
ing markets, pultrusion, infrastructure/
corrosion, building and construction,
and international business. Composites
One and closed molding systems devel-
oper Magnum Venus Plastech (MVP,
Clearwater, Fla.) will bring their closed
molding road show to Ft. Lauderdale,
repeating a demonstration of MVP’s
new Flex Molding Process, which made
its debut at the IBEX Show in Septem-
ber (see CT’s postshow review on p. 26).
ally, there will be a presentation outlining the U.S. Department of
Energy’s approach to the wind power industry.
Technical papers will deal with a variety of issues related to de-
sign and engineering, green composites, manufacturing, traditional
and emerging markets, materials and pultrusion. Notable areas of
investigation will include collaborative engineering, vacuum infu-
sion of complex shapes, reducing the flammability of cellulosic fi-
bers, styrene-free resins, bio-composites, bond line read-through,
waterjet cutting, epoxy prepregs with bio-based curing agents, the
influence of glass on part design and performance, and evaluation
of high temperature for pultruded composites. | CT |
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Dpnqptjuft!Pof/
pnq tjuf
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xjui!b!tjohmf!tpvsdf!pggfsjoh!uif!cspbeftu!bssbz!
pg!qspevdut!gspn!uif!joevtuszÖt!upq!tvqqmjfst/!
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uif!qspevdut!zpv!offe!gps!cpui!usbejujpobm!boe!
fnfshjoh!nbslfut/!Ju!fnqpxfst!zpv!up!cfdpnf!
mfbofs-!hsffofs!boe!npsf!qspevdujwf!uispvhi!
iboet.po!usbjojoh!jo!Dmptfe!Npme!boe!puifs!
npsf!fgß!djfou!qspdfttft/!Boe!ju!hjwft!zpv!
bddftt!up!cbdl.vq!tvqqpsu!boe!wbmvf.beefe!
tfswjdft!uibu!dbo!ifmq!esjwf!ofx!cvtjoftt!
hspxui/
UibuÖt!uif!qpxfs!pg!pof/!Dpnqptjuft!Pof/!

PAPERS, EDUCATION
SESSIONS
Education sessions and technical papers
are being presented throughout all three
days of the show, starting Wednesday
morning and finishing Friday afernoon.
Broad education topics include de-
sign and engineering, business strategy,
traditional and emerging markets, green
composites, manufacturing, materials,
regulation and legislation, and cast poly-
CT DECEMBER 2010

mers. Notable presentation topics will in-

clude lightweight boat fabrication, robotic
trimming, gel coat repair, mold release
selection, resin transfer molding (RTM) 800.621.8003 www.compositesone.com www.b2bcomposites.com

and light RTM, plus sessions devoted to

fiberglass sizing, control of combustible
dust, the issue of styrene exposure, and Tff!uif!Mfbo!Nfbo!Dmptfe!Npme!Nbdijof!Efnpt!bu!DPNQPTJUFT!3122!
Ñ!MJWF!bu!cppui!$:28-!Gfc/!4.5/
techniques for lifecycle analysis. Addition-
25
 Show Coverage
IBEX 2010
Looking
Up in
Louisville
A new venue helps regenerate a recession-battered industry,
drawing in more exhibitors and attendees than in 2009.
O
n the occasion of its 20th anniversary, the International BoatBuild-
ers’ Exhibition & Conference (IBEX) was hosted, for the first time
ever, outside southern Florida. The new location, the Kentucky Ex-
position Center in Louisville, Ky., on the banks of the Ohio River, appeared
to be a plus: IBEX reported a 14 percent increase over 2009 in the number
of exhibitors — to 546 companies, including 70 first-time participants. At-
tendance also was up, 13 percent to 5,161, and this show marked the
first IBEX appearance of the Marine Aftermarket Accessories Trade Shows
FLEXIBLE, INFUSIBLE 3-D CORE
3A Composites, a division of Schweitzer Technologies Group (Sins,
Switzerland) exhibited BALTEK, AIREX and Lantor products. New
this year is LANCORE, a “true 3-D flexible core material,” for resin
transfer molding (RTM) Lite and vacuum infusion processes. Te
infusible core combines a polyester nonwoven with synthetic micro-
spheres, then sandwiches that between two layers of chopped strand
mat. Te result reportedly offers improved cosmetics and part thick-
ness consistency, but consumes less resin than other infusible cores,
thus yielding a part that exhibits better quality at less weight. Te
material features a random printed-dot cell structure, so that the
channels between cells act as a flow medium, but the material itself
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM
resists compression like a foam or balsa core. It is available in thick-
nesses from 2 mm to 5 mm (0.079 inch to 0.197 inch) and reportedly
saves up to 25 percent in resin use compared to conventional RTM
Lite mat products. www.corematerials.3acomposites.com
FATIGUE-RESISTANT VINYL ESTERS
Ashland Performance Materials (Dublin, Ohio) exhibited the
AME 6001-, AME 5001- and AME 1001-series vinyl ester resins.
AME 6001 is said to offer a 50 percent increase in tensile elonga-
tion and a 15 percent increase in tensile and flexural strengths over
26
(MAATS) Aftermarket Pavilion. The positive statistics echoed the marine in-
dustry’s overall mood: glad to have the worst of the economic recession
over and cautiously positive about the slow upturn as it begins to gain trac-
tion. The show’s theme, “Where the Business of Boating Gets Done,” was
appreciated in the aisles by exhibitors and visitors who often described the
show as the “three most productive days of the year” for boatbuilders.
CT was on hand for the event, and found a variety of new composites
products and technologies on display.
previous formulations and, as a result, offers greater resistance to
fatigue failure. A reformulated version of AME 1001 also delivers
significant improvements in fatigue life. AME 5001 is designed to
provide excellent blister resistance. All three are intended for appli-
cations that require low hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) content.
AME 6001 exceeds DNV Grade “1” mechanical properties, while
AME 1001’s mechanical properties exceed DNV Grade “2” require-
ments. All three resins may be used in layup, sprayup or closed
molding processes. www.ashland.com/businesses/apm
REUSABLE BAGGING SYSTEM
Composites One (Arlington Heights, Ill.) maintained its leadership
role in closed-molding demonstrations, featuring the new Flex
Molding Process developed by Magnum Venus Plastech (MVP,
Clearwater, Fla.). Flex Molding is a turnkey setup, which includes a
mix/meter resin infusion system (eliminates mixed resin in buckets)
that feeds directly into one or more Turbo Autosprue (TAS) units,
which are easily flushed with solvent (they reduce the use of consum-
able tubing). In combination with affordable reusable bags featuring
silicone products by Wacker Silicones (div. of Wacker Chemie AG,
Munich, Germany), and new accessories, such as the Pneumatic
Pressure Vacuum Sensor (PPVS), Flex Molding is designed to
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Louisville, Ky., attracted 14 For Maximum
percent more attendees than
in 2009. Exhibitors numbered Performance ...
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546 while the visitor total
surpassed 5,100.

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achieve better process control, reduce labor for tubing set-up and
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post-process clean up, and slash cost through the use of fewer
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consumables. Wacker Silicones’ Elastosil C is a fast-curing, no-odor,
minimum-shrinkage bagging system that can be brushed on or 0DQXIDFWXULQJFRVWVDQGWKURXJKSXW
sprayed, offering easier application. Composites One announced 3URGXFWDHVWKHWLFV
that it will perform another large demo at the American Compos- 'XUDELOLW\DQGIDWLJXHOLIH
ites Manufacturers Assn. (ACMA) COMPOSITES 2011 trade show :HLJKWUHGXFWLRQ
in February next year, where, among other closed-molding tech- 9LEUDWLRQGDPSLQJ
nologies, new temperature-controlled mold technology will be used

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to build a rotor blade and nacelle parts for a wind turbine. www. 2IIHULQJVLJQLILFDQWO\KLJKHUSHHOVWUHQJWKDQG
compositesone.com | www.mvpind.com | www.wacker.com H[WHQGHGVKHOIOLIH/25'0D[ORN70DGKHVLYHV
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Composites One (Arlington Heights, Ill.) continued its tradition of closed-

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molding
l demonstrations, featuring the new Flex Molding Process developed YLVLWZZZORUGPD[ORNFRP
by Magnum Venus Plastech (MVP, Clearwater, Fla.).
27
 Show Coverage

MULTIFUNCTIONAL MARINE METHACRYLATE ADHESIVE

MACHINING IPS Structural Adhesives (Durham, N.C.) introduced two products
HEAD DESIGN for structural bonding of hulls, decks and other marine laminates
Eastman Machine and composite parts: WELD-ON SS230 HV and the WELD-ON
Co. (Buffalo, N.Y.) SS300 Series. Tese two-component, room-temperature-cure meth-
Source | Eastman Machine Co.
promoted its Eagle SL acrylate adhesives are designed to produce, with minimal surface
dual laser and cutting T h e Eagle SL Dual Laser preparation, high-performance structural bonds characterized by
system, new for 2010, andd Cutting System, from superior tensile strength and elongation, low shrinkage and gap-
Eastman Machine Co. (Buffalo, N.Y.) filling properties. Both systems offer adjustable cure times of 5 to
which features a tool
combines laser cutting, angle and rotary blades, 130 minutes. www.ipscorp.com
head equipped with
plus punch- and notch-tool cutting and labeling
a 200-watt gas-assist
into one touch-screen controlled unit.
laser, three tool spin- LONG OPEN-TIME METHACRYLATES
dles (for rotary and angled blades, notching tools and/or punches) ITW Plexus (Danvers, Mass.) displayed its MA 2000 series of
and a pneumatic pen/marker for labeling. Combining all three of long open-time, 10:1 mix-ratio methacrylate adhesives and its
these functions into a single gantry design reportedly minimizes new universal cartridge system for use in standard hardware store
changeover time and enables integration with most CAD packages, caulking guns, the latter touted as more affordable for smaller appli-
further increasing efficiency and precision. www.eastmancuts.com cations, including repairs. Te company says the MA 2000 series
is EU-compatible, meeting all of the European Union’s health
NANO-TOUGHENED EPOXY INFUSION RESIN and safety requirements, and also is GREENGUARD-certified for
Endurance Technologies (formerly Epoxical Inc., St. Paul, Minn.), indoor air quality. www.itwplexus.com
introduced a new 4505-series epoxy infusion resin system that is
part of its Composite Polymer Design (CPD) product line. Te new PRODUCTS FOR SANDWICH CONSTRUCTION
product features a nano-toughened resin with several gel-time hard- Nida-Core (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) showed off its NidaFusion SXO/SXF
eners for room temperature applications, and a high-temperature 3D core material designed for applications that specify isotropic
hardener for applications that require service temperatures closer properties, such as wind blades. Its three-walled, pyramid-shaped
to 250˚F/121˚C. Tese systems reportedly exhibit excellent fracture truss network is formed by stitched fiberglass within polyurethane,
toughness, peel strength and lap shear values. www.epoxi.com polyester or phenolic closed-cell foam. It provides better sandwich
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

28
panel properties at a low cost for infusion and RTM Lite processing.
Contributing Writer
Also on display was a prefabricated Nida-Core sandwich panel with
Ginger Gardiner is a freelance writer and regu-
integrated non-skid surface. Designed to replace decks in work-
boats, the panels measure up to 10 f in width, 23 f in length and lar CT contributor based in Washington, N.C.
0.5-inch thickness (3m by 7m by 12.7 mm), at a cost of roughly $5/ ginger@compositesworld.com
f2 for a finished panel. Nida-Core also introduced NidaTack (pat.
pend.), an engineered tack adhesive for infusion and RTM applica-
tions, which reportedly can be applied directly to the mold surface
or behind a gel coat surface without the risk of print-through.
www.nida-core.com
Read this article online | http://short.compositesworld.com/kL25fW8T.
EPOXY INFUSION RESIN
Pro-Set Inc. (Bay City, Mich.) promoted its
new PRO SET M1027/M2027 and M1027/

W yoming
M2028 epoxy infusion resin and hardener
combinations. Described as “industrial • Over 40 types of
fixtures in stock,
grade,” these infusion systems are designed

T est
ready to be shipped.
to offer very good mechanical and thermal • Expert consultation
properties at a high-value price point, with Dr. Adams

F ixtures
with cure temperatures ranging from • Email or call today
room temperature up to 125˚F/52˚C. Te to discuss your fixture
company reported that it has seen signifi- INC. and custom design needs.
cant growth in use of its M1012/M2010
epoxy resin and hardener combination for
building molds capable (when tooling is Setting the
properly cured) of handling cure tempera-
tures as high as between 250˚F and 275˚F
Standard
(121˚C and 135˚C). Additionally, PRO-SET in the
M1019 surface coat, when applied to such Composite
tools, is said to form a low-porosity, buffable Testing Industry
mold surface. www.prosetepoxy.com

INFUSION/RTM EXPERTISE
First-time IBEX exhibitor SYBO Compos-
ites (St. Augustine, Fla.) consults with
customers on composite product devel- UTAH V-NOTCHED
opment (concept through prototyping WYOMING SHEAR TEST
and tooling fabrication to full production IOSIPESCU SHEAR TEST (ASTM D 7078)
runs). Te company claims wide experi- (ASTM D 5379)
ence in composite processes and applica-
tions, with greatest expertise in infusion
and resin transfer molding (RTM) and the
use of advanced reinforcements — carbon, WYOMING COMBINED LOADING
COMPRESSION TEST
aramid and metal fibers — such as those
(ASTM D 6641)
offered by Hardwire LLC (Pocomoke City,
Md.). Te company also produces parts ASTM Standards D 5379, D 6641 and D 7078 were
for U.S. Homeland Security projects and developed by Dr Adams and his colleaques at the
CT DECEMBER 2010

builds the Islamorada line of 18-f/5.5m Universities of Wyoming and Utah.

flatbottom fishing boats for Chittum Skiffs
(Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) See “Engineering Dr. Donald F. Adams 2960 E. Millcreek Canyon Road
Insights” on p. 54. SYBO’s facilities are President Salt Lake City, UT 84109
equipped with one 3-axis and two 5-axis 45 years of Phone (801) 484.5055
CNC routers for rapid prototyping and Composite Testing Experience Fax (801) 484.6008
email: wtf@wyomingtestfixtures.com
quicker turnaround. www.sybocompos-
www.wyomingtestfixtures.com
ites.com | CT |
29
 FEATURE | Q & A Forum

Q & A Automotive
Forum
Composites
How will fiber-reinforced polymers fare in a post-recession auto
market obsessed with cost and fuel economy?

raditional automakers are caught between a rock and a hard place. Tey need to reinvent

T
personal transportation in the wake of industry’s worst downturn since the Great Depres-
sion. And there is pressure from startups that are launching passenger cars and special-
purpose vehicles at lower price points (e.g.,Tata Motor’s Nano) or lower tailpipe emissions
(Tesla Motors’ all-electric Tesla Roadster, for one). Established automakers must innovate
or surrender marketshare. Further, much tougher fuel-efficiency requirements are bearing down on all
automakers as governments try to curb CO2 emissions and consumers and fleet owners demand greener
vehicles with lower cost of ownership.
Despite these challenges, OEMs are emerging from the recession on better financial footing, and
upstart automakers and legacy OEMs alike are preparing to field hybrid-electric and all-electric ve-
hicles. Composites have an unprecedented opening for substantial expansion in the automotive market.
CT closes out the year and looks ahead by asking experts who work in and around the auto industry
whether or not composites proponents will be able to seize that opportunity. Te
panelists, CT’s questions and their answers follow.
Will the unprecedented
automotive composites David Dyke, director of advanced engineering, Magna Exteriors and Interiors
opportunities be seized? (Aurora, Ontario, Canada).
Dr. Joerg Pohlman, managing director, SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers LLC
(Wiesbaden, Germany)
Martin Starkey, managing director — Automotive, Gurit UK (Isle of Wight, U.K.)
Donald Lasell, principal, Tink Composites (Palm Harbor, Fla.)
Peter Oswald, formerly VP marketing, Toho Tenax America Inc. (Rockwood, Tenn.)
Mike Shinedling, Dodge Viper program manager, in Chrysler Group LLC’s (Auburn Hills, Mich.) SRT
Performance Group.
Tadge Jeuchter, Chevrolet Corvette vehicle chief engineer at General Motors Co. (Detroit, Mich.).
William Harney, executive director R&D, Decoma International (an operating unit of Magna Interna-
tional, Aurora, Ontario, Canada),
Andy Rich, R&D engineer, Plasan Carbon Composites (Bennington, Vt.)

CT What factors most limit wider adoption of composites in automotive

COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

applications?
David Dyke: Building of confidence in engineers is a large challenge. Engi-
neers in today’s development process typically use computer-aided predic-
tive analysis to make decisions, and there is very little hand calculation, [as
in] the past. Predictive analysis of fiber-reinforced polymers is a large chal-
lenge, due to fiber orientation afer flow when molding with a random glass
matrix. Better sofware-analysis tools to confirm the engineer’s assump-
tions would greatly help in providing data for sound decision-making at a
reduced rate of risk. By removing the risk for the engineer, the decision for David Dyke
wide use becomes a point of fact, not an opinion.
30
Joerg Pohlman: [Te c]ost of carbon fiber is too high for use in series
car applications. Series manufacturing processes and know-how are
unavailable at [the] OEM.
Martin Starkey: Te purchase of an automobile represents one of the
most significant decisions we make
as consumers, and the products we
demand are a challenging blend of
cost, quality, design, [and] perfor-
mance. Quite rightly, the world’s
leading OEMs ofen work on an
evolution approach rather than revo-
lution, each new model representing
a refined version of the previous one.
Tis makes the adoption of any new
technology in automotive a cautious
Martin Starkey
one. Tis is no different for compos-
ites. As with other novel technolo-
gies that have managed to achieve this transition, we see an ever-
widening adoption of composites migrating down from supercars,
to the premium sector, to performance salons [sedans], etc.
Don Lasell: Te first important enabler is the need to demonstrate the
ability to produce high-quality automotive components at excep-
tionally high volume. Obviously, the major enabler is cost. But,
demonstrating production of high-volume, quality components,
dimensionally stable, etc., is just as important. Once high-volume is
shown, then cost will rapidly come down with demand.
Peter Oswald: [Lack of] cost-effective materials, material forms and
fabrication techniques. [Lack of] damage detection for large struc-
tural parts in carbon fiber composite.
CT Which automotive parts that are currently made of metal do you
think are best suited for conversion to composites, and why?
DD: Te military and aerospace markets have proven that compos-
ites are unmatched when used in structural applications. With the
need to lightweight vehicles, and the limitless options of being able
to locally reinforce composite parts, the obvious choice is to target
body-in-white for metals replacement. Ultimately, a combination of
body-in-white and body-in-black (composite material substitution)
is likely to be the first wave of components to proliferate composites
alternatives.
JP: OEMs producing battery electric vehicles likely will focus on
weight savings by use of lightweight materials.
MS: Composites have some very specific advantages and disad-
vantages over their metallic counterparts, which means there is a
natural selection process that earmarks composites for some appli-
cations. For instance, lower tooling costs for composites means they
are viable for lower production volumes. Significantly higher mate-
rial cost, however, eliminates high-volume or low-cost platforms.
High specific properties are naturally attractive to weight-sensitive
vehicles. Compared to steel, slow cycle times for composites limit
volume, but they are virtually unconstrained in the shapes to which
they can be molded, allowing part integration and design freedom.
DL: Automotive body structure seems best suited for compos-
ites. Ultralight weight enables significant improvements in fuel
economy. Also, a well-designed composite-intensive vehicle will be
safer than any of its metal counterparts. Tis has been proven in the
motorsports racing business. Te marketing of the value of carbon
fiber in the vehicle will encourage many people to demand their car
have that material.
PO: For carbon fiber composites, best targets for conversion are large
structural components that do not require Class A finish and offer bene-
fits from part consolidation. A good example would be the floor pan.
CT If you had an audience with the lead engineers of the world’s top
automakers, what would you tell them that they must understand
about composites to use them successfully?
DD: [To deliver] solutions that meet their aggressive mass-reduction
initiatives, they must think differently and change the paradigm
of current BOM/BOP [bill of material/bill of process] to consider
alternative materials and manufacturing processes. Once the initial
material comparison evaluation is complete, the OEM can run a
business case comparison of cost/performance/investment to deter-
mine future direction. Afer establishing direction, the OEM should
select a capable supplier/partner very early in the product develop-
ment process to take advantage of the supplier’s intellectual prop-
erty and development knowledge. Innovation is achieved by the
departure of past paradigms.
JP: New design principles and production technologies have to be
developed. Expertise has to be built up within automakers. Tus, hire
experts who really understand the materials and the value chain.
MS: Composites are as effective and efficient at replacing more estab-
lished materials as those materials are at replacing composites. For
example, if you try to apply a composite material to a steel design,
you make little of the true advantages and carry all the disadvantages.
For composite uptake to grow, the world’s leading OEMs will have to
re-invent car design, looking at how composites ca, be truly integrated
in the production of the vehicle. Tis, in turn, will take an in-depth
understanding of not only composite design considerations, but
composite manufacturing processes as well.
DL: Automotive engineers need to
understand how to design with compos-
ites, what typical sections to use, how a
composite part will be manufactured
and assembled, who will manufacture
it, how to attach it, and what it will cost
to produce and tool up.
PO: Tink big! Simply replacing sheet
metal with composites will reduce
weight somewhat, but meeting
economic targets will be difficult,
Donald Lasell
particularly where Class A is required.
Large structural parts could offer
CT DECEMBER 2010
significant weight savings [and] part consolidation savings as well
as fabrication and lifecycle savings.
CT What do you think the average car will look like in 20 years?
DD: Much different due to technology, ,legislation and social
conscience. Using new technology to significantly shif the drive-
train and propulsion systems, we will open up more packaging
space that was occupied by powertrain components of the
31
 FEATURE | Q & A Forum

past. As a result, we can take advan- AR: In the short term, the early adopters will be those applications where
tage of valuable real estate and turn performance is more important than cost (such as high-end sports
it into customer surprise-and-delight cars). However, when fuel economy becomes a major driver to save
features. Mass reduction, fuel effi- weight, the cost-benefit analysis will start to move in our direction.
ciency and consumer/customer-rele-
vant innovations will dictate architec- CT What, in your opinion, is the single largest hurdle to greater accep-
ture decisions and material choices. tance and use of CFRP in the automotive industry?
JP: A combination of lightweight mate- MS: Material cost. It will depend on the cost per pound of weight
rials will dominate car manufacturing. saved ….. An average passenger car can usually afford $1 to $2
CFRP will be a standard material. Te Dr. Joerg Pohlman in cost for every pound saved. For a higher priced performance
need to save weight is coming from car, that weight-saving value can be anywhere from $5 to $30 per
legislation. I expect a high number of electric vehicles. pound saved. With the high price of carbon fiber, it’s very difficult
MS: Te only thing I can be sure of here is what the car won’t look to save weight at the rate of less than $5/lb. Also, in addition to
like in 20 years! I don’t think in the late ’80s, anyone would have weight, there is marketing value for a performance car to offer a
predicted the designs of today. Te only thing I believe would be carbon fiber part. Not so much in a conventional passenger car.
true is that consumer demands will be even more focused. TJ: Net cost per panel is a real issue. We’d love to engineer every
DL: Lots of Priuses, but there will still be a lot of pick-up trucks. panel we make with it. However, at today’s cost, it just doesn’t
Aerodynamics only does so much — the mass must come down! offset the business case. With 100 years of industry inertia and
Also, I know most people would always legacy costs, and an entire infrastructure
prefer a larger car. Tese could benefit optimized around the steel solution, it’s
from carbon fiber lightening just as much
“Even when the costs make hard to see anything else. On the other
as the little sense, car companies are hand, when you clean the balance sheets
ones. Profit naturally hesitant to take a of 100 years of history and have a chance
margins would to deal with the more-subtle aspects
be higher too!
risk on ... a new material.” of legacy costs, then that can affect
PO: In the U.S., — Andy Rich the business case for everything in the
the average car corporation.
would still have room for four people, AR: Cost and manufacturing comfort. Cost is always a big chal-
plus dog and luggage and golf clubs. lenge in the automotive market, especially in the higher volume
[Te] car would have lightweight body cars, but the challenge of making the OEMs feel comfortable with
structure (due to composites), be more these materials is hard to quantify. All the OEMs’ designers are very
aerodynamic (due to composites) and familiar with the properties and the manufacturing processes for
Peter Oswald
have a lightweight power unit and drive metals, but we have rarely been given a part to bid on that was actu-
train (due to composites). Internal ally designed to be carbon fiber. We have to educate the customers
combustion is still likely to be the dominant power unit due to flex- most of the time, even the companies that have had some experi-
ibility, power and range, but CNG [compressed natural gas] fuel likely ence with CF. Any big company making cars has different depart-
will be more common. ments with different levels of understanding of composites, and
they don’t always consult with their own composites experts before
CT We’ve mentioned CFRP along the way, but let’s focus on it: they design a part. So we always see parts that are designed to be
There was a lot of momentum and innovative new uses of CFRP sheet metal, and the customers will ask, “Can you make this in
on production automobiles in the 2003-2004 timeframe, but since carbon fiber”? Tis lack of comfort level … is a significant hurdle
then, with the exception of the 50th-anniversary Corvette hood, for the technology. Even where the costs make sense, car companies
the Mustang Cobra, the Viper ACR, and Corvette ZR1, we haven’t are naturally hesitant to take a risk on using a material they are not
seen a lot of new CFRP applications on mass-produced vehicles and familiar with.
virtually all of them have been on performance platforms. Will that
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

change? If so, how? CT What technological challenges and/

William Harney: Although carbon fiber provides significant and or misperceptions must be addressed
necessary mass reduction for BEVs and PHEVs [battery-electric before we see greater usage?
vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles], the cost of carbon MS: Processing and molding cycle
fiber becomes a greater issue when stacked up against the cost of time are a big challenge in prepreg
EV technology itself. Te paradox will to some extent be solved applications when you get above
with advanced D-LFT and other thermoplastic composites in the 10,000 units/year. Conventional
medium term. New fuel-economy standards will create pull for forming methods like compression
more composites, but they will be based initially on high-perfor- and injection molding don’t utilize
mance glass with increasing use of thermoplastics. all of the potential benefits of carbon Mike Shinedling
32
because they typically use chopped [instead of continuous] fibers CT What role will CFRP play in alternative powertrain vehicles —
and have greater minimum thickness requirements. Finding resin hybrid electric, plug-in electric, and fuel-cell vehicles?
systems with good adhesion to carbon and good processability is MS: Many new alternative powertrain vehicles are in the exclusive
also a challenge. Te current chemistry hasn’t delivered sufficient niche market — Tesla, Fisker. Carbon will play a larger role in these
adhesion to the fiber yet, but I believe vehicles. For mass-market alternative vehicles ( theVolt, etc.), it is
it will at some point. A big reason still a question of cost per pound of weight saved.
more research isn’t put into solving AR: Te newer powertrains are a risk
this issue is the cost of the fiber. Once in themselves, so car companies are
carbon fiber is more of a mass-market taking one step at a time. If they build
material, there will be more research a new vehicle with a new powertrain
and discoveries to solve the current and a whole lot of CFRP, they have
problems. significantly increased their risk to
TJ: Te manufacturing process has a lot the success of that vehicle. I think
of little technical issues, like cycle time, that’s why we are seeing CFRP on
labor time, consistent part quality, and gas-powered cars for the most part,
Tadge Jeuchter
surface finish. Individually, these are and [see] steel being used to make the
not insurmountable challenges, but the hybrids. Tat may change as the risk of
Andy Rich
combination of all these little issues coupled with the fact that it is a both composites and hybrid engines
nonstandard material to make a car, makes comes down.
for an uphill battle finding acceptance …
in a risk-averse market. “There is still significant CT What applications will see the greatest
WH: Te biggest hurdle, once pricing of opportunity and more growth in CFRP materials in the next five
carbon fiber is at target, is the challenge years? If there were no other barriers to entry
of modeling and designing CFRP compo-
performance headroom in (price, availability, production speeds, etc.),
nents and subsystems to interface with SMC and D-LFT ... that have which applications on a typical passenger
a conventional body-in-white architec- yet to be exploited.” vehicle would benefit most from conversion
ture — particularly with respect to crash to CFRP?
requirements. One reason most CFRP
— William Harney MS: I see the greatest automotive growth in
applications in niche vehicles are limited Class A panels and exposed weave interior
to hoods and removable panels is that they are bolt-on. Once all trim on performance and luxury vehicles. If those barriers were
bolt-on opportunities are exploited, the going will get really tough. removed, applications might include front crush structures, front
cross members, seat structures, Class-A panels — actually the sky is
CT How will CFRP fare in competition with workhorse composites like the limit. Carbon fiber has incredible material properties and would
SMC, BMC, GMT, LFT and D-LFT? revolutionize the automobile if those barriers were removed.
MS: In the near term, I would guess traditional glass-reinforced TJ: We think we’ve pretty much overcome the technical challenges
composites will do better because of the current economic pres- and there’s no downside we see. Tere is a learning curve, obviously,
sures. In the long term, high performance composites should and new criteria you have to get used to, but integration into the
have strong growth as carbon fiber capacity expands and costs vehicle poses no technical challenges now if the other issues were
are reduced. resolved.
AR: The less costly composites have all been around for a long WH: Bolt-on will be the first wave, followed by body-in-white inte-
time, and very little has changed to make them “new.” They have grated components, but the greatest growth will occur with high
a 20 percent lighter SMC formulation or in-line compounding, mass-reduction opportunities on components like the vehicle front,
and they seem to have solved a lot of the paint pop issues, but for where you can lightweight without creating polar-moment (driv-
the most part, it’s still the same SMC/GMT that has been around ability) issues. Also, CFRP will do well when compared against
a long time. It will have its niche in places where volumes are metals in lifecycle analyses when the true energy cost of using one
more than 20,000/yr and less than 90,000/yr. In general, these system vs. the other is compared. | CT |
are not structural parts either, and never could be, due to the
CT DECEMBER 2010

inherent strength of the material. It’s a complementary tech-

nology, but not a direct competitor for carbon fiber in most
applications.
WH: Tere is still significant opportunity and more performance
headroom in SMC and D-LFT components and advanced closed Read this article online | http://short.gardnerweb.com/sreWIza3.
structures that have yet to be exploited. Tis includes high-perfor- Read CT’s Web-only featurette “Why CFRP?” | http://short.gardnerweb.
mance matrices, tactical local reinforcing, fiber orientation and com/Uu6ivbCH.
composite-welding techniques.
33
 FEATURE: Life Cycle Assessment
Life Cycle Assessment
ARE COMPOSITES
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM
Methods for calculating the impact
composites have on the environment
are enabling data-driven comparisons
to traditional materials.
34
H
ow green are composites? Tat question is asked more ofen
than ever by consumers concerned with the environmental
impacts of manufacturing. “Te public has the perception
that composites, many of which come from oil, are not green and
are polluting,” observes Bill Kreysler, president of Kreysler & Assoc.
(American Canyon, Calif.). “But this is a myth. Tey can be much
greener than you think in the right applications because of their
strength and light weight.”

GREEN?
Debunking that myth, however, is no simple task. Myriad fac-
tors determine a product’s environmental impact but manufactur-
ers increasingly use Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to help quantify
their products’ environmental footprint.
Also known as “cradle-to-grave” analysis, LCA seeks to deter-
mine and evaluate every environmental impact represented by the
manufacture, use and disposal of a product. Impact data give man-
ufacturers a convincing way to market a product as environmen-
A recent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) demonstrated that prefabricated
building panels, such as these (above) used in the house at left, from InnoVida
Holdings LLC (Miami Beach, Fla.), have less impact on the environment than
traditional wood-frame building materials and methods.
tally sensitive and demonstrate to both customers and shareholders
their commitments to sustainability, says LCA expert Dr. Michael
Lepech, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Envi-
ronmental Engineering at Stanford University.
LCA gives composites a data-driven leg to stand on, says Cheryl
Richards, chair of the American Composites Manufacturers Assn.’s
(ACMA, Arlington, Va.) Green Composites Committee and the
global marketing manager for wind energy at PPG Industries (Pitts-
burgh, Pa.). “We can tout the advantages with real data — it finally
gives composites equal footing with traditional materials when you
consider all parts of the product’s life cycle.”
A MEANS TO DEFINE GREEN
LCA was popularized decades ago, when environmentalists raised
concerns about diminishing material and energy resources coupled
with a growing world population. First used in the food and beverage
industry, LCA has spread to other sectors, driven in part by the
European Commission’s Environment Directorate, which requires
manufacturers to monitor energy and raw-material consumption
and solid waste generation.
Today, LCA methodology is spelled out in the International Or-
ganization for Standardization (ISO) 14040 environmental manage-
ment series standard, which consists of four major steps: 1) goal and
scope definition (§4.2 ISO 14044); 2) inventory analysis (§4.3 ISO
14044); 3) impact assessment (§4.4 ISO 14044); and 4) interpreta-
CT DECEMBER 2010
tion (§4.5 ISO 14044). Each step, as noted in the following para-
graphs, presents considerable challenges, say LCA practitioners.
Goal and scope definition. According to Lepech, each LCA starts
by defining a goal and the “functional unit” of the study — that is,
the service provided by the material, component or system and its
performance characteristics. For example, to compare the impacts of
two desks — one made with steel, aluminum and laminate and the
other with wood — a researcher must define a quantifiable unit in
35
 FEATURE: Life Cycle Assessment

ence, in part because the required data inputs,

while available for some processes, are absent
Raw Material Air pollutants for others. Further, assumptions about data in-
Acquistion (e.g., Hg)
puts and the relative weights of environmental
Primary impacts differ among the sofware packages.
Materials
Water Interpretation. Tis step is a challenge be-
(e.g., ores,
pollutants cause assumptions about data input and the
biotic Material Manufacture
(e.g., BOD)
resources) Processing & Assembly relative weight of impacts also differ among
Recycled those who use the sofware. “Interpretation
Solid Waste
Materials of LCA results can vary,” confirms Bob Mof-
(open loop recycling remanufacture (e.g., MSW)
recycling)
fit, product manager at Ashland Performance
Materials (Columbus, Ohio), who heads the
Retirement
Use company’s green resin efforts. “Some results
& Recovery Products
Primary are weighted more than others, depending on
Energy (e.g., goods,
(e.g., coal) reuse services) their importance to the manufacturer or end-
Source | Michael Lepech, Ph.D

user,” he explains. “Some people might put

Disposal
Service
This generalized flow diagram shows the basic steps considered in preparing an LCA for a part made
in a manufacturing process.
order to compare the parts, such as the desk’s working surface area.
“Te functional unit is needed in order to establish a quantitative
equivalent between two comparable products or processes, so that
the impacts can be assessed,” Lepech explains. For an LCA that com-
pares building materials, the functional unit might be one board-foot
or other dimensional unit large enough to meet the project require-
ments for stiffness. Although the LCA’s scope of investigation ideally
is cradle to grave, there are situations in which the scope may be lim-
ited, for practicality’s sake, without compromising study conclusions.
Inventory analysis. Tis step requires legwork. Investigators
must determine all of the possible inputs to and outputs from the
functional unit that have an impact on the environment. Inputs
include the upstream impacts of raw materials (e.g., sand for glass
manufacture); the energy used to mine or extract the raw materials;
the fuel costs to transport the raw materials to the manufacturing
site; the energy used to transform the raw materials into the prod-
uct (e.g., from natural gas or coal); the energy use associated with
any recycled materials in the product; and so forth. Outputs include
the downstream impacts of air pollutants (e.g., greenhouse gases);
water pollutants; solid waste (e.g., disposal and/or recycling of the
product itself); any coproducts that can be beneficially reused; and
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM
Coproducts more emphasis on carbon dioxide [CO2] emis-
(e.g., recyclables, sions, for example, than solid wastes.” Given
energy)
the potential for interpretive variation, an LCA
study typically undergoes a third-party review
to ensure that the results are credible.
Te LCA provides a means for modifying
designs to optimize environmental friendli-
ness. In Lepech’s desk example, the wood desk
consumes more materials in total and produces more solid waste, but
more than 60 percent of the steel and aluminum desk’s total life cycle
energy use is taken up by the highly energy-intensive aluminum ex-
trusion process needed to produce the castors on the desk’s legs. Tat
energy use could be decreased somewhat by increasing the amount
of recycled aluminum in the desk, he points out, or by eliminating
the castors. Likewise, the impacts of composite materials and manu-
facturing ofen can be mitigated with judicious material selection or
small changes in design, he emphasizes.
As consumers demand more environmental information about
new products, LCAs are expected to grow in importance. Environ-
mental Product Declarations (EPDs), for example, inform purchas-
ers about the environmental impacts, based on LCA data prepared
in accordance with ISO 14025 guidance. EPDs are the equivalent of
the nutritional information now standard on food packaging. Rich-
ards says that many U.S. companies, particularly those in the build-
ing materials market, are scrambling to market products with green
labels, including not only EPDs but also the Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System,
developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, and the Energy Star
program, a long-standing joint effort of the U.S. Environmental

more. For a list of published data sources for conducting life cycle
inventories, see “Learn More,” p. 39.
Impact assessment. Sofware is available to help LCA inves-
tigators navigate the somewhat arduous process of the inventory
analysis and assessment steps, including SimaPro and ECO-it from
PRé Consultants (Amersfoort, Te Netherlands) and GaBi from PE
International (Stuttgart, Germany), among others. Tere also are
many options for limiting the scope of a study with a streamlined
or partial LCA that reportedly still provides sufficient information
for assessment. Tat said, the process remains as much an art as sci-
36
Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy.
“Right now, building material specifications are listing LCA as
an option,” reports Gary Jakubcin, Owens Corning’s (Toledo, Ohio)
LCA process head and the cochairman of ACMA’s Green Compos-
ites Committee Life Cycle Inventory subcommittee. But he warns
that “in the near future, it might become a requirement for selling
your product.” Beginning Jan. 1, 2011, for example, EPDs will be
required for products sold in France. “Learning about LCAs and
performing them to document your product’s impacts is becoming
a business necessity,” he maintains.
LCAs ENABLE COMPOSITES MARKETING
Several composite materials suppliers have conducted or partici-
pated in studies of their own products to facilitate green marketing
campaigns. Others, typically university researchers and students,
have conducted LCAs focused on the use phase to compare
composite products with those made from other materials.
An example of the former are studies conducted since 2006 by
Owens Corning on its internal processes. Te company’s core busi-
ness strategy includes reducing the negative impacts of its manu-
facturing operations, increasing the positive impacts of its products
and assisting customers in reducing their carbon footprints, says
Frank O’Brien-Bernini, the company’s chief sustainability officer. A
case in point involves Owens Corning’s Advantex E-CR corrosion-
resistant E-glass product. According to O’Brien-Bernini, an LCA
demonstrated that the fiber’s total life cycle environmental impact
could be mitigated if the company replaced its glass melting fur-
naces with new units that use more fossil-fuel-efficient gas/oxygen
firing technology. Te new furnaces were installed and now reduce
CO2 emissions by 40 percent, nitrogen oxides by 75 percent, sul-
fur oxide by 40 percent and particulates by 90 percent. At Owens
Corning, greenhouse gas emissions at plants equipped with the new
technology are, on average, 23 percent lower. Says O’Brien-Bernini,
“Tanks to these LCAs, we can now transcend narrow, single-attri-
bute material comparisons, like recycled content, to represent the
true sustainability benefits of composite applications.”
Owens Corning recently worked with its customer Strongwell
(Bristol, Va.) to produce a “cradle-to-gate” LCA. Tis partial study
stopped at Strongwell’s front gate and did not consider transpor-
tation to downstream customers or specific end applications that
might have required additional procedures (e.g., fastening). Nor
did it consider use and end-of-life impacts. It compared pultruded
composites with aluminum and steel for five structural parts: grat-
ing, handrail, U-shaped channel, channel-and-tubing combination
and floor plate. Te functional units were 100 f2/9.3m2 for the grat-
ing and floor plate and 100 linear f/30.5 linear m
for the handrail, channel and channel-and-tubing SAFRAILTM FRP
combination. Developed by an industry consul-
tant who used SimaPro7 LCA sofware, the study
examined the embodied energy of the raw materi-
als and processing needed to create each product.
Among the materials under consideration were
advantage over composites, with a 50 percent lower embodied-
energy footprint. A take-home message from the report is that the
impacts represented by a composite part increase as its percent-
age of resin increases. Terefore, increasing fiber content and/or
reducing styrene in the resin can “green” the product. Strongwell’s
environmental manager, John Barker, notes, “We have chosen LCA
for determining our environmental impacts because of its quanti-
tative nature and scope and because the resulting reports are peer-
reviewed for objectivity.”
Ashland’s Envirez 1807 bio-resin, made with soy oil and corn eth-
anol, was the subject of an LCA performed by consultant Jim Pollack
(Omnitech International, Midland, Mich.) for the United Soybean
Board (USB, St. Louis, Mo.). Pollack explains that LCAs of bio-based
materials involve evaluating additional factors, such as the ability of
the source plants to fix nitrogen, how much fertilizer and fuel is re-
quired for cultivation and the sequestration of carbon within plants,
among others. “Because soybeans are nitrogen-fixing plants, nitrous
oxide emissions from soybean fields are lower than for other crops.
Tis helped keep the global warming potential [GWP] of the Envirez
resin lower than the equivalent petrochemical resin.”
Te USB LCA, like the Strongwell study, included only up-
stream and resin production impacts and stopped at the facility gate.
Downstream delivery, application and use phases were considered
equivalent and, therefore, out of scope. Te results showed that the
GWP for the Envirez resin, when compared to a petrochemical resin
(also manufactured by Ashland), was 4.1 kg/9 lb of CO2 equivalents
per kilogram or pound of resin produced vs. 5.2 kg/11.5 lb of CO2
equivalents for the petrochemical-based resin (“CO2 equivalents” is
a common LCA term that expresses greenhouse gas emissions, and
thus GWP, referenced to CO2). In terms of energy impact, Pollack re-
ports that Envirez consumes 2,567 fewer BTUs/lb of resin produced
during manufacture than the petrochemical resin. Moffit says that
fact enables Ashland to state with confidence that resins made with
renewables offer tangible environmental benefits for their customers.
H Handrail
andrail
v S vs. s. Steel
ateelAand nd Aluminum
luminum
H Handrail
andrail
110
100
90
80
70
percecntage

Advantex glass fiber, a general-purpose polyes- 60

ter resin, A517I low-carbon steel, three grades of 50
aluminum (ranging from virgin to 80 percent re- 40
cycled content) and kiln-dried pine. 30
According to the study results, the embod- 20
ied energy represented by the composite parts is 10
CT DECEMBER 2010

lower when compared to aluminum parts made 0

Global Warming Acidification Eutrophication Ozone Depletion Smog Metered Water Energy
with virgin aluminum and steel primarily be-
Source | Strongwell

Aluminum Handrail-100 Lineal Feet SAFRAIL FRP HANDRAIL- Steel Handrail-100 lineal feet
cause the composite delivers better strength-to- 100 Lineal Feet-Review 6-2-09

weight. Te report assumes that as more recycled Comparing 1p ‘Aluminum Handrail-100 Lineal Feet’, 1p ‘SAFRAIL FRP HANDRAIL-100 Lineal Feet’ Revision 6-2-09 and 1p
‘Steel Handrail-100 Lineal feet’; Method: TRAC/IMPACT 2002+/IPCC/Energy (Feb 09) OCVStrong V11.08/characterization
content is added to the aluminum and steel, their
energy use and environmental footprint would Graphed data from an Owens Corning/Strongwell cradle-to-gate LCA that compared pultruded
be closer to the composite components. As might composite components to similar products made from aluminum and steel shows the environmental
be expected, the wood materials had a significant advantage of a composite handrail, due primarily to its greater strength-to weight-ratio.
37
 FEATURE: Life Cycle Assessment
3A Composites (Sins, Switzerland) has gone a step further and
developed an LCA tool called the Hybrid Core Calculator. Te tool
calculates a simplified LCA, based on inventory data for typical
sandwich panel components, core and skin. Afer inputting data
on a project’s sandwich design requirements (panel size and thick-
ness) and the performance loads, the calculator quickly produces
environmental impacts for each phase of a core product’s life cycle.
It then displays energy consumption, greenhouse gas potential (in
CO2 equivalents), water consumption and other ecological indica-
tors, says the company. In one example, a double-decker city bus
with a composite sandwich (instead of steel) upper floor has 30 per-
cent lower weight, says 3A, and its ecological impact is reduced by
30 percent over the bus’ life cycle because of greater fuel efficiency.
LCAS AND AUTOMOTIVE COMPOSITES
Krishnan Jayaraman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering
at the University of Auckland (Auckland, New Zealand) says that
end-of-life directives in Europe and Japan are forcing automotive
OEMs to apply LCA techniques to their manufacturing processes to
better understand the environmental effects at all stages of produc-
tion. In a recent paper, he and coauthor Xun Xu described a study
that compared automotive doors, hoods and trunk lids made with
steel, aluminum, fiberglass/polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and
carbon fiber/epoxy (30 percent fiber volume). Te LCA results
showed that the carbon fiber/epoxy panels had the lowest environ-
mental impact scores, primarily, says Jayaraman, because of their
lower weight and higher strength.
He notes, however, that in the event of a crash, the panel replace-
ment would overshadow the environmental benefits because alumi-
num and steel panels can be readily repaired. In another automo-
tive LCA, adds Jayaraman, a bumper beam made of unidirectional
fiberglass in a polypropylene matrix had a lower environmental
impact than a steel bumper beam. As was true with the previously
discussed bus floor, the lighter composite beam consumed less en-
ergy by enabling greater fuel economy over the vehicle’s useful life,
a key point emphasized by many LCA proponents.
WINTER ACIDIFICATION
FRP SMOG 80%
CARCINOGENS
CONCRETE 60%
SUMMER 40%
SMOG
20%
0%
SOLID WASTE
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM
Source | Kreysler and Assoc.
PESTICIDES
OZONE LAYER HEAVY METALS
This spider diagram, which depicts the relative importance of many factors on
a single figure, superimposes the impacts of a composite fish tank on those
of a concrete tank proposed for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The composite
tank (green area) generated far fewer impacts for this application.
38
A much-discussed LCA, performed by Lepech and a group of
his students at Stanford University, examined a fish tank for the
Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Calif. Te aquarium wanted
a large, freestanding, seismic-resistant tank, approximately 20 f by
40 f by 10 f (6.1m by 12.2m by 3m), capable of sustaining a saltwa-
ter aquatic ecosystem for 20 years. A glass/polyester tank designed
by Kreysler’s firm was one option; the other was a concrete design
with a smooth “shotcrete” (sprayed concrete) lining. Lepech devel-
oped a detailed process flow diagram for both material systems.
For the concrete tank, the raw materials — including limestone,
gypsum, cement rock and aggregate — and the extraction activi-
ties associated with them were identified, as were the raw materials
for the formwork (timber and glues to make the plywood) and the
reinforcing bar (pig iron and other metals to make the steel). Envi-
ronmental impact estimates were made of the equipment needed to
produce the concrete tank (cement mixer, pumps, etc.), maintain it
over its life span (cleaning equipment) and, finally, demolish it and
transport it to a landfill.
Te same process components were developed for the glass fiber-
reinforced polymer tank, including the raw materials to produce the
fiberglass filaments (sand, feldspar, sodium sulfate, borax, etc.); the
energy consumed to melt the raw materials and extrude and wind the
glass fiber filaments; and the raw ingredients and processing steps to
produce the polyester resin. Ashland was actively involved in the tank
study and provided resin process data to Lepech, notes Moffit.
Lepech and Kreysler confirm that the data showed the fiber-
glass/polyester tank solution had significantly less impact than the
concrete tank on many environmental fronts (see diagram on this
page) because the mining and extraction of the cement and other
concrete materials is not only energy-intensive, but it also involves
more shipping and generates more air pollution.
A recent LCA study funded by InnoVida Holdings LLC (Miami
Beach, Fla.) and conducted by Florida International University Col-
lege of Engineering and Computing (Miami, Fla.) compared the envi-
ronmental performance of InnoVida’s manufactured composite house
panels with conventional house construction methods. Two graduate
students, supervised by Drs. Yong Tao and Yimin Zhu, developed a
1,200-f2/111.5m2 five-room, single-story “patio reference house.” Te
conventional version featured masonry block reinforced by rebar and
cement grout, with gypsum wallboard over batt insulation on the inte-
rior walls. Te roof trusses were structural lumber beams covered with
ENERGY
RESOURCES plywood panels and R-30 batt insulation.
In contrast, the InnoVida house was constructed entirely of the
company’s proprietary 4-inch/101.6-mm thick sandwich panels for
EUTRO- the roof and exterior walls and similar 2.5-inch/63.5-mm thick pan-
PHICATION els for interior walls. Te panels feature an insulating polyurethane
core with integral stiffeners between glass fiber/epoxy skins. Te
GREENHOUSE
panels were bonded onsite with Innovida’s proprietary adhesive.
Tao and Zhu developed a basic life cycle inventory of only the
raw material inputs and manufacturing processes necessary to create
one board-foot of panel vs. one board-foot of traditional masonry
construction. Ten they calculated the GWP (in CO2 equivalents) of
both construction types using the ATHENA Impact Estimator, pub-
lished by the Athena Institute (Merrickville, Ontario, Canada). Al-
though the study’s scope was limited, it showed that if the effects of
the bonding adhesive are ignored, the total impact of the composite Technical Editor
panel house is significantly lower — by about 50 percent — than the Sara Black is CT’s technical editor and has
reference house. When the adhesive is included, the impact of the served on the CT staff for 10 years.
composite panel house is 25 percent less than the traditionally con- sara@compositesworld.com
structed house. Zachary Waksal, InnoVida’s VP of business devel-
opment, says, “We are trying to change the construction paradigm
by using innovative composite technology that allows for greater
speed of construction, affordability and sustainability.”
Kreysler tells a cautionary tale about an LCA that compared real
Read this article and find a list of LCA published data resources online |
stonework with a proprietary fiber-reinforced (FRP) cladding mate- http://short.compositesworld.com/UBYusVqz.
rial engineered to look like stone. Says Kreysler, “It seemed on the
surface like the FRP solution had to be better,
when you considered the extraction of the
stone from the quarry, the shipping logistics,
not to mention part weight.” But the LCA 5"
showed that the medium-density fiberboard
(MDF) used to make the molds for the FRP
parts made the composite solution much less
environmentally sustainable because of the
energy-intensive process used to produce
the MDF. “It proved that you have to look at 4"
the entire process ... from beginning to end,”
Kreysler adds.

WHAT’S NEXT?
LCA is immensely promising and very new
to composites. “We’re at the start of the 3"
journey right now,” says Richards. Tere is,
necessarily, much work to be done. Indeed,
the ACMA Green Composites Committee’s
Life Cycle Inventory subcommittee headed
by Jakubcin is focused on developing more
inventory data specific to composites, 2"
something that is in short supply at present,
using a standard pultrusion process as the
first model. ACMA also is in the process
of educating its members about LCAs and
their benefits. Green training sessions will
be held at its COMPOSITES 2011 trade 1"
event, which commences Feb. 4, 2011,
in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (see CT’s ACMA
THE SUPERIOR METHOD FOR MACHINING
COMPOSITES 2011 show preview, p. 24). LARGE AND SMALL COMPOSITE PARTS
Te most important factor, however,
is that LCAs need to come into wide use. The Best Composites Edge Finish:
“Everyone in the composites industry Non-contact cold cutting, no delamination,
needs to get in the game,” says Owens microcracks or edge fraying.
Corning’s O’Brien-Bernini. “Tis is a posi-
CT DECEMBER 2010

tive thing for composites — it’s not emo-
tional anymore. We can now compete with
traditional materials on fact-based green
attributes.”
“Our industry needs to show the life cycle
benefits of composites,” concludes Ashland’s
Moffit. “We’ve made some progress, but as an
industry, we need to do much more.” | CT |
The Most Productive Machining Method:
Simple fixturing, high cutting speed, tight
corners, thin or thick machining of any
composite, and virtually any material!
The Inventor and Global Leader in Abrasive Waterjet
39
 INSIDE MANUFACTURING

MAINTAINING
FIBER LENGTH
IN COMPLEX
3-D DESIGNS
Award-winning composite pallet showcases new LFT molding process from South Africa.

D
iscontinuous glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene
(PP) is a popular composite material in automo-
tive, building and construction, and lawn and garden
applications. It offers a good balance of high stiffness-to-
weight, broad chemical resistance, good weatherability, all-
around toughness and durability and, of course, low cost.
Maintenance of postmold fiber length is critical to
achieving good mechanicals, and is what has moved glass/
PP from commodity to engineering resin status. Much work
in the past two decades has focused on getting longer fibers
into the matrix prior to its being placed in a tool, and then
preserving that fiber length during the molding process.
Tis led to technology developments that drove an evolu-
tionary shif from precompounded short-glass pellets for
conventional injection molding to so-called long-fiber ther-
moplastic (LFT) pellets (also precompounded) for injection
and compression molding and a more recent development,
the inline compounding of charges/logs of glass and resin
at press side just prior to placement of the charge into an
injection or compression press. Ironically, compression-
moldable, glass-mat thermoplastic (GMT) composite in
sheet form experienced a parallel but opposite trend. Origi-
nally offered in continuous-strand, randomly oriented glass
mat, which delivered high mechanicals but exhibited less
than desirable glass penetration in deep ribs, bosses and
intricate design features, the material evolved to shorter
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

chopped-glass mats with optional unidirectional glass and/

or engineering fabrics for locations that required additional
stiffness. Although molders now have access to all of these
diverse material forms and molding processes, no material/
process combination is without issues that tend to compro-
mise part design complexity, cost and/or mechanical per-
formance.

A LOMOLD LFT pallet (bottom) bears the brunt of a static load

totaling 4,124 kg/9,094 lb.
40
Four views of the highly complex, one-piece glass/
polypropylene pallet demonstrate the effectiveness of new
LFT molding process developed by LOMOLD Group of Cape
Town, South Africa.

Injection molding of short- or long-glass pellets

provides the opportunity for rapid cycle times, excel-
lent repeatability and reproducibility (R&R), and the
option to create extremely complex three-dimensional
(3-D) designs thanks to tooling action. On the down-
side, feedthroat issues limit the ultimate length of glass
that can be injected, and production volumes need to
be great enough to justify the high cost of equipment/
press time and tooling. Additionally, all the “plumb-
ing” and tooling action that enables production of
such complex parts also tends to break glass fibers,
reducing mechanical properties in finished parts.
Because there is less flow with D-LFT and very
little flow with GMT in compression molding, fewer
fibers are broken, so mechanicals are typically higher
than those achieved using injection molding. Ad-
ditionally, tooling and press time are less costly, it’s
easier and more economical to mold large parts, and
the process is fast and can be semi-automated. Simi-
lar to GMT, newer work in D-LFT allows fabrics and
unidirectional glass to be added to the charge as it’s
placed in the tool. However, compression molding is
unable to reproduce the intricate and complex 3-D de-
signs possible with injection molding. For example, in
ribs deeper than 55 mm/2.2 inches, glass bridging im-
pedes desired glass penetration. Further, the process
cannot produce through-holes. Tese must be cut or punched afer Te process also can produce parts with higher mechanicals but
removal. Unless the compression tool is equipped with shear edges, with thinner walls and lower mass, which presents cost-reduction
parts also require edge trimming afer demolding. Each secondary opportunities. Because it better preserves initial fiber length, it also
operation adds cost and time to the production process. improves low-temperature impact strength, a traditional weakness
Te compression molding/GMT combination best preserves of short-glass PP. Additionally, parts have higher mechanicals at el-
the initial fiber length and, therefore, typically achieves the high- evated temperatures, greater dimensional stability at any wall thick-
est mechanicals in glass/PP parts but also is most likely to limit de- ness, and enhanced creep and fatigue resistance. Te upshot is that
sign complexity. And, as a semifinished good, GMT sheet can be processors and OEMs get more out of the investment they’ve made
pricier than LFT and D-LFT materials. Unless higher mechanicals in the composite’s reinforcement system.
and lighter, thinner parts are critical instead of just desirable, the Te Lomolding process also duplicates several unique advantag-
customer may be unwilling to pay the premium. es of injection molding: It is automated, fast-cycling, and has high
R&R. And company founder and CEO Pieter du Toit is quick to
DESIGN COMPLEXITY AND HIGH MECHANICALS point out that it is a closed-mold system, so resin is never exposed
Now, a new, modified-LFT injection process called Lomolding seems to air as it is when D-LFT charges are moved from the ILC unit,
poised to render unnecessary the trade-off between 3-D design or when GMT sheet is moved from the oven into the compression
complexity and fiber length/mechanicals that is typically required molding tool. Tis eliminates a potential issue with hydroscopic
CT DECEMBER 2010

for large parts in PP/glass and other LFT composites. Ten years in
development by the LOMOLD Group (Cape Town, South Africa),
the patented process can rapidly produce large, highly complex parts
with the intricate design features of injection molding, yet maintains
post-mold fiber lengths typically seen only in compression molding.
Fiber lengths of 10 to 50 mm (0.4 to 2.0 inches) can be maintained
with the new process vs. 3.0 to 4.0 mm (0.1 to 0.2 inch) for conven-
tional LFT injection.
materials, such as nylon and thermoplastic polyester.
Further, the Lomolding process has no trouble producing deep
ribs, through-holes, and surfaces with complex geometry, and it
eliminates the secondary finishing associated with compression
molding. Like compression molding, however, Lomolding lever-
ages the benefits of lower molding pressures, which permit molding
against sof skins without tearing or damaging grain, and against
polymer fabrics or natural fiber mats without melting or burn-
41
 INSIDE MANUFACTURING

Source (all step photos): LOMOLD Group

7 As the cycle ends, the platens open, and

ejector pins push the part off of the tool.

4 Packing and metering pistons replace screw

and hot-runner systems on Lomolder
machine.

1 Lomolder machine schematic: Pellets are 8 A robot pulls finished pallet from tool
introduced and metered for delivery into the (ejector pins fully out).
tool using two pistons instead of a screw.

5 In this view, the tie bars pulled back prior to

loading the pallet tool into the press.

9 The robot lays a pallet on a conveyor to cool

as it is moved away from press.
2 The Lomolder injection unit, coupled to the
clamping unit.
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

6 This view, with platens open, shows the core

3 The control panel allows the process to be side of tool as it is sprayed with mold release 10 Demolded pallets cool prior to packing
monitored and adjusted precisely. prior to the molding cycle. and shipping.
42
 FEBRUARY 2–4, 2011
FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
www.acmashow.org

Connect. Learn. Grow.

COMPOSITES 2011 connects the entire composites industry to
provide you the broadest range of education, cutting-edge products,
and innovative processing technologies—face-to-face and under
one roof. Find the information and expertise you need to meet the
growing demand for quality, cost-effective products in multiple
end-use applications. COMPOSITES 2011 offers in-depth education
and demonstrations focusing on real world applications and
innovations.

You’re invited to connect, learn and grow with the composites

industry at COMPOSITES 2011. Plan to Attend!

EXHIBITS | DEMONSTRATIONS | EDUCATION | NETWORKING | BUSINESS MEETINGS | AWARDS SHOWCASE

 INSIDE MANUFACTURING
ing. A vented tool avoids air-entrapment that can lead to part poros-
ity and dieseling (burning of plastic as heated gases become trapped
between solidifying plastic and the tool).
Lomolding differs from conventional injection in two respects:
LOMOLD has customized the control systems and modified the
melt-delivery system. Much like bulk molding, a large piston (rath-
er than a screw) is used as a plunger to force the melt into the tool
through a single gate (up to 100 mm/3.94 inches diameter; gate size
is determined by press size rather than size of shot). Te fill segment
of the molding cycle is short: a 16-kg/35-lb part can be injected in 7
seconds. Tat’s a rate 60 percent faster than straight injection mold-
ing. Moreover, to injection mold a comparably sized part would re-
quire a tool with hot runners and at least eight gates.
Significantly, the melt is delivered at 500 to 700 bar (7,250 to
10,150 psi). Tis generates far less shear and, at 1/20th the melt veloc-
ity of conventional injection, uses roughly half of the latter’s clamp
tonnage (1,800 tons vs. almost 3,600 tons). All of this helps prevent
glass breakage and reduce shear heating. Te resulting reduction in
internal part stress also lowers the risk of post-mold warpage.
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM
Racking is the most important performance requirement for pallets,
because many pallet customers use racking systems in their warehouses to
maximize floor usage. Racking strength indicates how much weight a pallet
can carry over time while it is supported only on its edges in a rack. In this
photo, an edge-racked LOMOLD pallet (bottom) holds (2,790 kilograms/6,151
pounds) without cracking, breaking, or taking a permanent deflection.
44
Te plunger/piston face closes off the mold’s bounding wall at
the end of the stroke, sealing the tool. During pack-and-hold, a
second piston meters out the next shot, so there is no lag between
finished part ejection (during mold open) and setup for the next
shot (once the tool closes again). Additionally, hot runners are elim-
inated, which saves capital tooling costs and material, which oth-
erwise would be lost as sprues. Lack of sprues shortens cycle times
and eliminates post-mold sprue trimming. Plus, Du Toit says, the
long glass fibers help conduct heat away the center of the part. Use
of a single gate reduces the number of weld lines and strengthens
the weld interface because the fast fill means the material is still hot
when flow fronts converge. Te one downside of the process, at least
from an aesthetics standpoint, is that gate vestige is far larger than
with conventional injection. Te company, however, has exploited
this as a marketing tool by putting a large “L” on the piston’s front
face, which leaves an impression in the vestige — LOMOLD Group’s
equivalent of “Intel Inside.”
Although the bulk of parts likely to run on the system will be
glass-reinforced, Du Toit says the process is equally amenable to
carbon fiber, natural fibers or wood flour, because resin temperature
can be closely controlled and shear-heating of the melt at the gate
is effectively eliminated. Tis can help processors avoid the cost of
thermal-stabilizer packages when molding with reinforcements or
resins that are temperature-sensitive.
PROOF OF CONCEPT: ONE-PIECE PALLET
Afer investing considerable time, money and effort developing the
Lomolding process, the company looked for a good application
to demonstrate the process’ capabilities. It settled on a composite
pallet, the veritable “holy grail” of the materials-handling industry.
Designed in-house with input from materials-handling insiders, the
one-piece, 21 percent glass-reinforced LFT PP pallet has a complex
design and ribbing pattern and is intended to solve a host of prob-
lems that long have plagued plastic/metal and composite pallets,
totes and dunnage.
Tere are many reasons why composite pallets should long ago
have replaced wood: Te generally have far more repeatable dimen-
sions than hand-built wood pallets, and because it is easy to attach
tracking devices to the plastic, they are more easily adapted to au-
tomated warehousing systems. Composite pallets weigh less than
wood pallets, reducing shipping costs for outbound and inbound
legs without exceeding legal loading limits.
Wood pallets also can harbor insects and bacteria and, there-
fore, require costly fumigation and/or heat treatment before cross-
ing international borders. Composite pallets are immune to pests,
eliminating border treatments. And composite pallets are more sus-
tainable. Typically, one large tree produces only 6.4 pallets, many
of which are used once and then burned or landfilled. Composite
pallets offer longer service life —10 years on average vs. three to
four years for wood. Finally, they are potentially tougher and, there-
fore, less prone to breakage or other damage. Tus, they require less
maintenance (reusable wood pallets spend up to 25 percent of their
service life out of circulation awaiting inspection and repairs). In the
case of pallet rental pools, there is greater use of pallets at a given
point in time, since far fewer pallets are awaiting repairs.

Lomolding achieves post-mold fiber lengths that
are usually only possible in compression molding,
but can reproduce design complexity usually
restricted to injection molding. Shown here is the
glass fiber reinforcement that remained after a
ribbed section (see inset) was subjected to a resin-
burnout test. The result (top) shows the excellent
retained glass length and high glass penetration
achieved in complex ribs, which were positioned
more than 1 m/3.3 ft from the injection gate.
Despite these benefits and numerous attempts to introduce new
designs during the past few decades, composite pallets have failed
to penetrate deeply into the materials handling and logistics indus-
tries owing to higher cost and, in some cases, lower mechanicals.
LOMOLD believes it has addressed the cost and performance
challenges through its unique design and Lomolding materials/pro-
cess technologies. Te company’s one-piece, 122-cm by 102-cm (48-
inch by 40-inch) pallet weighs only 16 kg/35 lb and can be produced
at injection molding rates, yet offers impact strength of 2.03 J/cm
and tensile strength of 88 MPa/13,000 psi. Further, it can bear rack-
ing loads greater than 2,750 kg/6,000 lb with deflection of less than
10 mm/0.4 inch, and it can hold a static load greater than 10 metric
tonnes/22,000 lb. It delivers mechanical performance and service
life far superior to comparably sized/rated wood pallets that weighs
60 percent more (40 kg/88 lb).
PALLET PROCESSING STEPS
For the pallet, the Lomolding process begins like conventional injec-
tion molding. Pelletized long-glass/PP is melted and transported via
a low-shear extruder into the metering section of the unit. Here, a
metering piston pulls back to prepare a measured volume of melt,
which is then sent on to a second packing piston, which rapidly,
but with low shear, forces the melt into the tool through the unit’s
single large gate. Upon mold close, as noted earlier, it seals off the
bounding wall of the tool.
Te tool used to form LOMOLD’s one-piece pallets weighs al-
most 25 metric tonnes/55,116 lb and — with 4,382 components,
including slides, gate, shutoff, and hardware — is said to be one of
the most complex pallet molds in the world. Total cycle time is only
70 seconds. Demolded and cooled parts can be packed for shipping,
with no secondary operations required.
INSIDE MANUFACTURING
Rapid cycling enables production of commercial pallets priced
competitively with wood pallets on a lifecycle-cost basis but with far
more functionality. Slots for radio-frequency identification (RFID)
chip can be molded into the part, allowing easy tracking of the pal-
let and its contents throughout its use-life. Te pallet is fully recy-
clable at end of life, which is estimated to be a decade or longer.
Taken together, these accomplishments earned LOMOLD
Group’s pallet top honors in the Transportation category, during
the 2010 JEC Innovation Awards competition this past April. Not
content to rest on its laurels, the LOMOLD team has developed a
second, multipiece pallet that is lighter, has higher glass loading (for
higher performance), and provides greater
functionality and cost-savings. Tese fea-
tures make it suitable for export use and for
single-ownership or pallet pools, particularly
when shipping fast-moving consumer goods
(FMCGs) — commodities that are shipped
and consumed quickly, such as food).
Te company’s first pallet production
plant, in Huzhou, China, is projected to go
online first quarter 2011 and will produce sin-
gle- and multipiece pallets. Additional plants
for pallets and/or LFT pellets are planned in
Malta, South Africa, and the U.S. Other proj-
ects in the offing include pressure vessels and auto components.
Te company has found that its Lomolder injection unit works
equally well whether receiving and injecting material from a con-
ventional single-screw extruder that is fed precompounded pellets
from a hopper, or from a twin-screw extruder coupled to an inline
compounding (D-LFT) unit. Te company, therefore, sells its Lo-
molder injection molding systems fitted for either LFT or D-LFT,
together with pultruded LFT pellets (olefin and engineering plas-
tics) for the system, greatly expanding the number of processors
who can take advantage of the technology. Machines for both types
are produced by Chuan Lih Fa Machinery Works Co. Ltd. (Tainan,
Taiwan). Licensing opportunities are available. Additionally, the
company is South Africa’s largest rigid-plastics recycler (providing a
source of reprocessed resin for less-critical Lomolding applications)
as well as Africa’s largest producer of rotomolding powders. | CT |
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Peggy Malnati covers the automotive and
infrastructure beats for CT and provides commu-
nications services for plastics- and composites-
industry clients. peggy@compositesworld.com
CT DECEMBER 2010
Read this article online | http://short.compositesworld.com/fXjHZ1t4.
Read more about LOMOLD Group’s 2010 JEC award | “JEC 2010 Product
Showcase” | CT June 2010 (p. 20) | http://short.compositesworld.com/
GvkPByej.
45
 Applications

Applications
INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE Meeting requirements for interior composites

In a giant leap forward for the composites

Photographer | William C.K. Wong (used by permisson)

industry, the 2009 update to the Interna-
tional Code Council’s (ICC) International
Building Code (IBC) explicitly permits the
use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) in
interior and exterior building construc-
tion. For the first time, FRP can compete
with traditional materials on a relatively
level standards playing field. Te IBC
code requires that, for interior use, FRP
must be fire tested and meet both flame-
spread and smoke-obscuration criteria,
says John Rowen of Avtec Industries
(Hudson, Mass.). IBC Chapter 8 speci-
fies the fire test criteria, and IBC Chapter
26 requires that FRP components carry
an ICC-sanctioned label indicating that
the material has passed the required fire
tests. Tese labels are affixed only when
the material is listed with an independent
product safety testing organization that
has certified the fire test results (e.g, Underwriters Laboratories, ment means less resin to fuel the fire. Te glass content should be
Southwest Research Institute, Intertek). When an FRP component 38 percent or more, says Rowen. “Composite parts with less than
bears a testing laboratory’s label, architects and professional engi- 38 percent glass,” he explains, “are unlikely to pass the IBC tests, re-
neers may call out the credentialed FRP in construction plans. gardless of how the resin is modified.” He adds that typical chopped
Te critical issue, of course, is how to produce FRP parts that strand mats should be avoided because they absorb a dispropor-
can meet IBC flame-spread and smoke-obscuration specifications. tionate quantity of resin. Woven materials, new high-density mats
Rowen and collaborator Nicholas Dembsey of Worcester Polytech- or stitched woven roving mats should be substituted.
nic Institute’s (WPI) Department of Fire Protection Engineering Te second step, the addition of an intumescent surface veil at
(Worcester, Mass.) have developed some specific recommendations the part surface or just beneath the gel coat or painted surface, slows
for a “systems approach,” whereby fire spread and smoke problems burning and subsequent smoke generation, says Rowen. Avtec’s
are attacked simultaneously. FireWall veil, Technical Fibre Products Inc.’s (Newburgh, N.Y.)
First, high-viscosity commodity resins are modified with specific TechnoFire and Regina Glass Fibre Tissue and Veil’s (Ballarat, Vic-
additives to reduce the propensity of the finished material to com- toria, Australia) FireShield are three available products. Te Avtec
bust. Second, a fire-retardant-coated surfacing veil that dramatically veil provides not only the additional protection of an intumescent
suppresses smoke is added to the part layup, greatly reducing flame additive, which forms an insulating char barrier layer, but it can,
and smoke generation. Use of both strategies in concert can produce depending on part design, enable a Class A surface as well.
a part that passes the IBC Chapter 8 criteria, declares Dembsey. Rowen and Dembsey have extensively tested their fireworthy de-
“Bromine has been an excellent fire retardant,” adds Rowen, “but sign thesis. A composite test panel constructed in accordance with
it produces a lot of acrid black smoke, so bromine additives can’t pass the systems approach was tested for fire and smoke production, per
the smoke obscuration criterion.” Under the new systems approach, ASTM E84, “Standard Test Method for Surface Burning Character-
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

one should start with an economical commodity resin in which the
styrene content has been reduced to less than 27 percent. Methyl
methacrylate (MMA) should be added to reduce resin viscosity so it
will accept a high loading of aluminum trihydrate (ATH), anywhere
from 25 to 150 parts per hundred parts of resin. To accommodate
the high ATH filler loading, a fire-retardant liquid-phosphorus
plasticizer, such as that manufactured by Supresta (Ardsley, N.Y.),
can be added to reduce resin viscosity.
Rowen and Dembsey stress that the ratio of resin to fiber in the
part should be reduced as much as possible because more reinforce-
46
istics of Building Materials” (also called NFPA 255 and UL 723). Te
E84 test is ofen referred to as the “tunnel test,” and it measures flame
propagation and smoke obscuration as compared to a sample of red
oak flooring. Te test panel produced almost no smoke and posted
a remarkable flame spread index (FSI) of 20 and a smoke developed
index (SDI) of 125, a vast improvement over a typical composite
part. Te use of this approach for composite building and construc-
tion elements should help FRP materials gain wider acceptance with
architects and engineers. Complete details of the test program can be
found at www.avtecindustries.com/news.html. | CT |

NEW Products
Unsaturated polyester for wind blades
DSM Composite Resins (Schaffhausen, Switzerland) has developed Syn-
olite 1790-G-3, an unsaturated polyester resin system specifically formu-
lated for wind turbine blade applications. The new high-performance resin
reportedly was developed and tested in cooperation with wind industry
manufacturers. The low-viscosity resin system is designed for vacuum infu-
sion and is said to offer a range of performance improvements over other
commonly used unsaturated polyester and epoxy resin solutions. Reported
benefits include better wetout, room temperature cure with no necessity
for postcure,  very low exotherm and fast through-cure in thin-laminate
parts. The new specialty resin is commercially available and will be pro-
duced in China and Europe. www.dsmcompositeresins.com
Mineral-filled liquid crystal polymer
Ticona Engineering Polymers (Florence, Ky. and Kelsterbach, Germany)
has added a new material to its family of inherently flame-resistant liquid
crystal polymers (LCP). Vectra T. rex LCP is designed for thermal forming
processes and offers high dimensional stability, good high-temperature per-
formance and chemical resistance. The material’s  high melt viscosity and
melt strength make it well suited for extrusion and thermoforming. Initially,
the company is offering a 40 percent mineral-filled grade, Vectra T. rex 541,
which provides impact and notched-impact strengths that, the company re-
ports, are significantly higher than those of other mineral-filled grades. Oth-
er benefits include a heat deflection temperature (HDT) of 245°C/473°F, 20
percent improvement in impact performance vs. standard 40 percent min-
eral-filled LCP and melt viscosity up to three times greater than standard
40 percent mineral-filled LCP. Target applications include medical trays and
equipment, aircraft interiors (good flame/smoke/toxicity data has been re-
ported) and semiconductor chip carriers. www.ticona.com
Turnkey infusion molding system
Magnum Venus Plastech (Kent, Wash.) has introduced their Flex Mold-
ing Process, a system  that consists of injection systems, accessories and
seals designed to optimize infusion with a better control of production.
It eliminates large resin reservoirs and the need to premix resin, and it
reduces the use of consumable tubing and fittings by using a mix/meter
infusion system that provides a direct feed to the infusion membrane. Pre-
cision is enhanced by new accessories, including the Pneumatic Pressure
Vacuum Sensor (PPVS-Infusion) and the infusion-specific Turbo Autosprue
(TAS-14). Other features include  a new “lockable” reusable bag mem-
brane, large-bore feed pipes that reduce costs and consumable waste, Uni-
versal Membrane Fittings that provide a secure connection for the valves
and a training package that covers the process, accessories and systems.
www.mvpind.com
New Products
Bio-fiber composite makes debut
Thermoplastics compounder RheTech Inc. (Whitmore Lake, Mich.) has
launched a new bio-composite material called RheVision, a sustainable
alternative to traditional mineral- or glass-reinforced polypropylene. Rhe-
Vision uses bio-fibers from waste materials (initially wood fiber, flax fiber
and rice hulls) to produce materials for use in automotive, consumer and
construction applications. The resin can be molded or extruded and report-
edly is easily colored. www.rhetech.com
Graphene oxide platelets
Nanographene platelet (NGP) manufacturer Angstron Materials Inc.
(Dayton, Ohio) has introduced a new high-quality graphene oxide product
that is available in a 0.5 percent water or solvent dispersion for processing
flexibility. The single-layer graphene, with a thickness about 50,000 times
smaller than the diameter of a human hair (17 microns), is said to be the
thinnest, toughest material known. This single-layer graphene oxide is 0.34
to 1.0 nm thick and nearly transparent under visible light, making it suitable
for use in transparent coatings. It can be used to improve thermal, electrical
and mechanical properties of polymers and composites. It also enhances en-
ergy and power density in batteries and supercapacitors, enabling a higher
charge storage capacity. Its average x, y dimension, based on light scatter-
ing, is 530 nm. Element analysis shows that its oxygen content is up to 46
percent. The new platelets are in stock and next-day delivery is available.
www.angstronmaterials.com
CNTs in thermoplastic concentrates
Carbon nanotube (CNT) manufacturer Nanocyl (Sambreville, Belgium)
has expanded its line of masterbatches that feature its highly conduc-
tive  NC7000 CNTs.  PLASTICYL thermoplastic concentrates now include
new masterbatches for thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and poly-
etherehterketone (PEEK) resins, along with proven masterbatches for
CT DECEMBER 2010
polycarbonate, polypropylene, polyamide, high- and low-density poly-
ethylene (HDPE and LDPE) and polybutylene terephthalate resins. When
incorporated into TPU or HDPE, the CNTs reportedly help produce more
durable materials that have a smoother surface and a greater resistance
to chemicals, abrasion and heat. The product also offers good conductivity
when integrated into elastomers, and it significantly enhances the me-
chanical properties and durability in O-rings, conveyor belts and timing
belts. www.nanocyl.com
47
 New Products
Injection-molded composite sheet
Injection molding machine manufacturer ENGEL (Schwertberg, Austria)
exhibited a new composite product, developed using carbon and glass fi-
ber sheets supplied by Bond-Laminates (Brilon, Germany), at the K 2010
plastics show in Düsseldorf, Germany (Oct. 27-Nov. 3). Designed to replace
metallic products in automotive applications, the organic composite sheets
were produced live at the show on an ENGEL duo 2050/500 injection mold-
ing machine. A polyamide (PA) thermoplastic resin was injected onto and
around sheets of glass fiber or carbon fiber. The system also allows for the
injection of polypropylene (PP). Tooling for the demonstration product at
the show — an automobile steering column — was provided by moldmak-
er Siebenwurst (Zwickau, Germany). www.engelglobal.com | www.
bond-laminates.com | www.siebenwurst-wzb.de
Continuous fiber-reinforced polyamides
Rhodia (Paris, France) has introduced Evolite by Technyl, a product line
of continuous fiber-reinforced polyamides for transportation and indus-
trial and consumer applications, including  transport seating, car bumper
beams and front-end structures, racing bicycle frames, window frames
and tanks. The material features what the company says is the  lowest
viscosity of any polyamide, which allows fiber volume fractions as high
as 62 percent.  Available as recyclable prepreg fabrics or consolidated
plates, Evolite can be made of glass, carbon and other continuous fibers.
www.rhodia.com
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM
48
Wind blade repair system
Gurit’s (Zurich, Switzerland) new, trademarked RENUVO wind blade repair
system is designed to address many of the practical issues that have pre-
vented more effective and expedient maintenance programs. The system
reportedly provides the option to create a wider weather window for repair,
with a working temperature range starting at 5°C/41°F, and it is designed
to reduce structural repair time by 50 percent. Its low-odor, zero-VOC (sty-
rene- and amine-free), UV-curable resin systems prevents these problems.
Summer and winter grades of RENUVO MPS (Multi-Purpose System) and
RENUVO PP (Prepreg) are available to cope with most conditions, making
the system compatible with prepreg, epoxy infusion and polyester infusion
molding methods. The repair system includes RENUVO Lamp Technology
(available in “spot” lamp format and in a high-intensity configuration) that
enables technicians to expose laminate patches to UV light and cure the
matrix in minutes, without the need for a postcure. Gurit says Germanischer
Lloyd (GL) certification is pending. www.gurit.com
Long-fiber thermoplastic compound
PolyOne Corp.’s (Avon Lake, Ohio) new OnForce LFT long-fiber thermoplas-
tic compounds are optimized for surface finish, stiffness and impact strength,
and are said to offer higher performance and better aesthetics than similar
products in applications that involve metal replacement and structural ele-
ments. They retain properties across a wide temperature range, from -20°C
to 160°C (-4°F to 320°F). Benefits include better high chemical, creep and
fatigue resistance and dimensional stability than
highly filled short-fiber products and other long-
fiber thermoplastics. The compounds are currently
available in a range of base polymer/reinforce-
ment combinations, including polypropylene,
polyamide 6.6, and thermoplastic polyurethane.
www.polyone.com
New aramid for armor
DuPont (Wilmington, Del.) has launched Kevlar
XP for hard armor applications. Initially targeted
to military and police helmets and tactical plates
used in ballistic protective vests, the material is
said to offer 20 percent greater ballistic perfor-
mance and increased protection, without sacri-
ficing other performance requirements. For the
U.S. military‘s Advanced Combat Helmet, which
weighs almost 4 lb/1.8 kg, it reduces weight by
0.5 lb/0.23 kg. The new product combines Kev-
lar KM2 Plus fiber and a new thermoplastic resin
that improves upon the original Kevlar technolo-
gy. Kevlar KM2 Plus will be produced at DuPont’s
new $500 million Kevlar facility under construc-
tion near Charleston, S.C. The site is expected to
be fully operational by the beginning of 2012 and
will help increase worldwide production of Kevlar
by 25 percent. www.kevlar.com
 New Products

Pourable high-temp foam core

Postprocessor upgraded for CATIA
Numerical Control Computer Sciences (NCCS, Irvine, Calif.) reports
that the latest version of its postprocessor, PostWorks, can be integrated to
run within CATIA V5. A universal postprocessor that can generate precise
NC code for a variety of machine makes, the program supports mills, lathes
and multitasking machining centers. In addition, the software is compat-
ible with several brands of CNC controls, including Heidenhain, Siemens
and Fanuc. PostWorks can convert complex 5-axis tool paths to NC code
and features a look-ahead function that automatically reduces excessive
rotary axis movement and prevents potential machine over-travel. Optional
features include software that simulates the material removal process and
machine movement while performing interference checking between all
relevant components of the machining environ-
ment. Besides CATIA, PostWorks is compatible
with NCL, UG and Mastercam. www.nccs.com
Stepan Co.’s (Northfield, Ill.) newest STEPANFOAM pourable urethane
foam is a polyurethane/polyisocyanurate hybrid that reportedly combines
excellent flow capabilities with the ability to withstand temperatures of
at least 200°C/392°F in resin transfer molding (RTM) and autoclave cure
processes. In a thermogravimetric analysis conducted by the company to
determine the foam’s percent weight loss as the temperature increased,
polyurethane (PUR), polyisocyanurate (PIR), polymethacrylimide (PMI) and
the new HTC foams were compared. Weight data (measured as a percent-
age of weight) was collected as a function of temperature. As expected, the
polyurethane foam showed the first signs of degradation as the temperature
increased, followed by the polyisocyanurate foam. From 200°C/392°F to
325°C/617°F, the HTC foam also outperformed the polymethacrylimide foam.
www.stepan.com
Ignition-resistant polymer coating
Industrial Technology Research Institute’s (Hsinchu, Taiwan) Reddex,
a non-toxic, fire-resistant material, offers ignition resistance and fire pro-
tection in one system. This inorganic polymer can be applied as a paint
and chars and burns, eventually converting into a bound inorganic porous
structure with low thermal conductivity, thereby insulating the structure
The formulation contains no halogen, sulfur or phosphor components. The
material will be tested in the U.S. within one year and ITRI expects it to be
globally commercialized within three years. www.itri.org.tw

Multipurpose core fabric

Formax (Narborough, U.K.) launched its Mul-
tiCore product at the Composites Europe 2010
show (Sept. 14-16 in Essen, Germany). A multi-
purpose core fabric for the marine, automotive,
industrial and construction markets, the product
is a range of stitched fabrics that combine lay-
ers of reinforcement with infusible core materi-
als. The reported benefits include optimized resin
flow that enables controlled usage; high drapabil-
ity that allows for complex mold forms; uniform
and consistent behavior in the vacuum process;
and high-quality surface finishes. It reportedly can
be adapted to maximize performance for any ap-
CT DECEMBER 2010

plication with a choice of core materials, densities

and thicknesses. The reinforcements, offered on
either side of the core, include standard chopped
mats or continuous filament mats. The com-
pany’s multiaxial fabrics can be integrated with
the core fabric in the laminate design to provide
directional reinforcement and optimize strength.
www.formax.co.uk
49
 Calendar

Calendar
DEC

Dec. 7-9, 2010 Carbon Fiber 2010

La Jolla, Calif. | www.compositesworld.
com/conferences/carbon-fiber-2010

Dec. 27-30, 2010 2nd Int’l Conference on Composites

Kish Island, Iran | http://ccfa.iust.ac.ir
FEB

Feb. 1-2, 2011 2nd Annual Offshore Wind Power USA

Boston, Mass. www.greenconferences.com

Feb. 2-4, 2011 COMPOSITES 2011

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. | www.acmashow.org

Feb.16-18, 2011 Nano Tech 2011 International

Nanotechnology Exhibition
and Conference
Tokyo, Japan | www.nanotechexpo.jp/en/
MAR

Mar. 1-3, 2011 4th International Composite-Expo 2011

Moscow, Russia | www.mirexpo.ru/eng/
exhibitions/composite11.shtml

Mar. 7-9, 2011 25th Annual Commercial Aviation

Industry Suppliers Conference
Beverly Hills, Calif. | www.speednews.com

Mar. 15-17, 2011 Techtextil North America

Las Vegas, Nev. | www.techtextilNA.com

Mar. 22-24, 2011 ICMAC, the International Conference on

Manufacturing of Advanced Composites
Belfast, U.K. | www.iom3.org/events/
icmac2011

Mar. 29-31, 2011 JEC Composites Show 2011

Paris, France | www.jeccomposites.com
APRIL

April 5-7, 2011 AeroDef Manufacturing

Anaheim, Calif. | www.aerodefevent.com
April 12-14, Composites Manufacturing 2011
2011 Dayton, Ohio | www.sme.org/composites
MAY

May 16-18, 11th Int’l Conference on Wood and

2011 Biofiber Plastic Composites
Madison, Wis. |www.woodandbio
fibercomposites.org

May 22-25, Windpower 2011

2011 Anaheim, Calif. | www.windpowerexpo.org
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM

May 23-26, SAMPE 2011

2011 Long Beach, Calif. | www.sampe.org
JUNE

June 9-10, 2011 Composites in Fire

Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K. |
www.compositesinfire.com

June 20-26, 2011 International Paris Air Show

Le Bourget, France | www.paris-air-show.com

50
 Showcase

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information and quality 2011 WIND & OCEAN ENERGY SEMINAR
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CT DECEMBER 2010

November 9-10 — Embassy Suites, Charleston, SC

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www.compositesworld.com/conferences

51
 Marketplace

Marketplace
MANUFACTURING SUPPLIES |
TOOLING SERVICES/SUPPLIES |

www.forcomposites.com
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COMPOSITES SOURCES
14726 Avalon Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70816
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INDEX OF ADVERTISERS
A&P Technology Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Abaris Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Ahlstrom Specialty Reinforcement Bishopville . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Akzo Nobel Polymer Chemicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
American Composites Manufacturers Assn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
AOC LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Ashland Performance Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
CCP-Cook Composites & Polymers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Composites One LLC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 25
De-Comp Composites Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Duraplate Products Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Elliott Co. of Indianapolis Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48, 49
Flow International Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
General Plastics Manufacturing Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover
Gerber Technology Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Henkel Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 9, 11
Hexion Specialty Chemicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Ad Index
Interplastic Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
LAP Laser LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
LMT Onsrud LP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Lord Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
McLube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Mektech Composites Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Nida-Core Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
North Coast Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Precision Quincy Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Pro-Set Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Saertex USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Cover
SPE Automotive Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Superior Tool Service, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Technical Fibre Products Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Vestas Wind Systems A/S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Wisconsin Oven Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover
Wyoming Test Fixtures Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
CT DECEMBER 2010
53
 Engineering Insights
Double-bag 70% FIBER
infusion
VOLUME?
A double vacuum-bag system and tight process control enable repeatable fiber
volumes of 60 to 70 percent and improve the consistency of infused laminates.
D
ouble vacuum bagging was first used in the 1980s to reduce
porosity and increase mechanical properties in prepreg and
wet-layup composite repairs. More recently, NASA and Te
Boeing Co. (Seattle, Wash.) applied its basic principles to vaccum-
assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) and infusion, achieving
aerospace-quality composites out of the autoclave. Unaware of the
NASA and Boeing efforts, Russell Emanis tried double bagging
with resin infusion more than 15 years ago. Excited by the results,
this former composite process manager on Lockheed Martin Aero-
nautics’ (Forth Worth, Texas) F-22 program and now district sales
manager for JB Martin (St. Jean Sur Richelieu, Quebec, Canada),
developed his own process and subsequently recommended it to a
variety of companies, including SYBO Composites (St. Augustine,
Fla.) and Air Command International (Caddo Mills, Texas). Each
reports that the process has achieved lighter but stronger parts.
Source | SYBO Composites & Chittum Skiffs | Photographer: John Kipp
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM
SYBO Composites uses double-bagged infusion for the Islamorada 18’
flats fishing boat because it enabled production of an extremely lightweight
260-lb/118-kg hull, which enables owners to fish in shallower waters.
54
DOUBLE BAGGING DEFINED
Te basic technique is to apply two discrete vacuum bags, an inner
bag, next to the laminate, and an outer bag, which is sealed to the
tool outside of the sealed inner bag perimeter. From there, however,
the technique’s details and explanations of why it works differ with
almost everyone who uses it. Te most successful applications use
what Emanis calls a venting layer to separate the inner and outer
vacuum bags, “Otherwise,” he explains, “they will suck down
together and act as one bag.” But the means to do so range from
a solid tool (caul plate) to flexible material (breather cloth, flow
media or noncrimp fabric). Practitioners also differ about when
and how much vacuum to apply to each bag, but Emanis believes it
is essential to split the two main vacuum functions, assigning vola-
tiles extraction (removal of entrapped air, ambient moisture and/or
solvents) to the inner bag and then using the outer bag for compac-
tion. All who use the process agree it improves volatiles extraction
and compaction, and they report lower void content and higher
fiber volume.
GRASS ROOTS DOUBLE-BAG INFUSION
Emanis’ double-bag technique was developed while he worked to
mitigate infusion’s high labor cost at Lockheed Martin. Emanis
first took infusion in this direction when he tried to help his wife’s
company make small composite dishes for satellite TV applica-
tions. “We were pursuing an RTM Light type of process that was
tight enough to give us the stiffness and cost we needed,” Emanis
explains. He tried placing dissolving resin bags — small polystyrene
film bags filled with resin — into deep draw corners with bagging
film on top, to act as pressure concentrators. Once the resin was
fed in during infusion, the bags would dissolve and the extra resin
was there to wet out the problem areas, but Emanis still could not
generate enough consolidation. A second bag enabled him to apply
the pressure he had been seeking and squeeze resin out from the
laminate under the inner vacuum bag.
Emanis’ process is unique, however, in that he applies two discrete
vacuum pressures: Te inner bag pressure is set for the optimum resin
flow, given the materials and infusion setup. Vacuum pressure in the
outer bag is defined to achieve desired fiber volume and is applied
only afer the laminate is completely infused. At this point, the resin
feed valve is closed and Emanis opens a valve installed in front of the
resin feed shutoff, giving the resin two out-flow paths (from the resin
inlet and the vacuum inlet with catch pots) as the outer bag applies
 SYBO COMPOSITES’ DOUBLE-BAG INFUSION PROCESS
Vacuum
Vacuum Resin feed Outer bag
Inner bag
Spiral wrap
Peel ply Optional
Tacky tape breather/flow Part layup
media
MOLD TOOL
Illustration | Karl Reque
ENGINEERING CHALLENGE:
Develop a method for vacuum infusing a laminate that increases
its strength but reduces its weight by simultaneously reducing the
laminate’s void content and increasing its fiber volume beyond that
possible with conventional vacuum-bagging regimes.
compaction pressure. Emanis says this setup consistently achieves
close to 70 percent fiber volume (see “Learn More.”).
LIGHTER, STRONGER, CHEAPER
On a recent composite box structure for a military application,
Doug Smith, founder and owner of Air Command International
(ACI), says double-bag infusion enabled ACI “to beat our custom-
er’s weight specification by almost 50 percent while still meeting
strength and rigidity requirements.” ACI’s part weighs 6.4 lb/2.9 kg
vs. the customer’s request for 11.6 lb/5.3kg. Te box uses JB Martin
6-oz/yd2 (203 g/m2) carbon fiber 2x2 twill, 6-oz/yd2 3K carbon fiber
plain weave, and 3oz/yd2 (102 g/m2) fabric made from Innegra fiber
(Innegrity, Simpsonville, S.C.) on either side of a closed-cell foam
core with flow media next to the Innegra on the tool-side skin.
ACI infuses this sandwich with a newly developed 4505 toughened
epoxy ambient-cure infusion resin from Endurance Technologies
(St. Paul, Minn.). Te box passed empty and weighted drop tests.
In the latter, a 35 lb/16 kg weight was placed in the box and it was
dropped 48 inches/1.2m. Te box survived undamaged.
Smith comments that double-bag infusion enables a higher fi-
ber-to-resin ratio. “We did a lot of our own testing in-house,” he
(Bagging design includes intensifier)
Bag-separation media:
Breather and/or wire screen Inner bag seal
Resin feed
Outer bag
seal (at mold
Intensifier (helps periphery)
eliminate bridging)
Peel ply
Spiral
Excess resin, wrap
due to bridging
Overlapped peel ply
accounts for expansion
induced by intensifier
DESIGN SOLUTION:
The double-bag infusion technique, which splits the two main vacuum
functions, assigning volatiles extraction (removal of entrapped air,
ambient moisture and/or solvents) to the inner bag and then using
the outer bag for compaction.
explains, “to develop our own process method that works best for
us.” Additionally, trial runs defined exactly how much resin is need-
ed, and reduced the amount of resin used in production, avoiding
wasteful overages.
Most of the parts ACI makes are small, under 4-f by 8-f (1.2m
by 2.4m) in size, but the process also handles ultra lightweight
18-f/5.5m hulls that SYBO Composites manufactures for Chittum
Skiffs’ (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Islamorada flats boat. At one time, the
hulls were infused with a single vacuum bag, but SYBO switched
to double bagging, says CEO Dana Greenwood, because “the more
weight we take out of the structure, the less draf the boat has, which
enables it to go into shallower water and access fish others can’t.”
SYBO started with a hull that weighed 320 lb/145 kg and dropped
CT DECEMBER 2010
that to 280 lb/127 kg by optimizing core and other materials. “Dou-
ble bagging enabled us to reach 260 lb /118kg without having to take
materials out that we need for performance,” Greenwood claims.
SYBO notes one additional benefit. “For us, the ability to put an
intensifier where the bag is not compacting the laminate sufficiently
is key.” Intensifiers are silicone rubber inserts placed between the
inner and outer vacuum bag in areas where resin tends to pool or
where the bag tends to bridge (see drawing, this page). SYBO uses
55
 Engineering Insights
Source | SYBO Composites
An Islamorada 18’ flats boat hull, with inner bag The Islamorada hull, after placement of the
vacuum infusion setup in place, in preparation for outer bag, is ready for application of discrete
double-bag infusion. vacuum pressure to each bag.
Big Blue L-100 vacuum bag film from Airtech (Huntington Beach,
Calif.), which has more than 350 percent elongation and the extra
toughness necessary in large infusion projects.
SYBO also uses Ashland’s (Columbus, Ohio) AME 6001 vinyl
ester infusion resin as well as epoxy infusion resins from Endurance
Technologies and engineered fabrics from JB Martin and Owens
Corning Composite Materials (Toledo, Ohio). Greenwood cautions,
“We stay under 19 in. Hg vacuum pressure … to avoid resin outgas-
sing.” He has found that highly styrenated infusion resins tend to
“boil” at around that pressure. “It looks like you have a leak in the
bag,” says Greenwood, “but, of course, that’s not the problem at all.”
Lower vacuum pressure during infusion reduces the propensity for
problems. “Your goal with vacuum pressure in the inner bag is really
only to pull resin through the laminate and achieve wet out,” says
Emanis. “Using a second bag to achieve compaction reduces the risk
for moving materials around and vaporizing your resin.”
DOUBLE BAGGING SOLVES PROBLEMS
A typical double-bag infusion for a 20-f boat hull starts at the keel
and flows outward, using vertical feed lines to achieve wet-out to
the top edges. “Ofen you end up with a resin-rich laminate lower
in the boat and a drier laminate as you move up the hull sides,” says
Emanis. Similarly, there is a change from vacuum pressure to hydro-
static pressure on the fibers as the resin front moves forward. He
illustrates, “If you take a flat piece of plate glass with fiber under
vacuum on top of it, and you measure the thickness of the fiberglass
before and afer the resin flow front, you will see that it is thicker
behind because there is no vacuum pressure lef there to hold it
down.” Emanis asserts that even with full vacuum, the pressure
difference in the bag could be 15 in. Hg over 4 f/1.2m. In other
words, the pressure in the bag drops even when the vacuum gauge
at the pump reads 29 to 30 in. Hg. Emanis believes double bagging
COMPOSITESWORLD.COM
overcomes this because there are no effects from fluid dynamics in
the outer bag; it acts purely to achieve compaction, pushing the inner
bag down. Te outer bag enables a positive pressure not possible in
the inner bag and, Emanis contends, is also the cheapest insurance
against a blown bag and laminate inconsistency.
PROCESS CONTROL REQUIRED
Emanis points out that those who use the process must be attentive
to infusion process and environmental variables. Few processors, he
observes, recognize that a change in barometric pressure can vary
56
This close-up of a vacuum line for outer bag
shows how it is sealed where it exits to its vacuum
source.
infusion results. Te key is to identify the average barometric pres-
sure for a given climate and geographic location, and account for
it when specifying a part’s materials and process. Emanis explains,
“If your part requires a 980 mbar [28.9 in. Hg] pressure to achieve
the specified fiber volume, and you know the average pressure is 965
mbar [28.5 in. Hg] where you are operating, you’re probably not going
to hit your specification consistently.” Further, measuring the differ-
ence in vacuum is not possible with typical vacuum gauges. Emanis
uses an absolute pressure gauge, which measures the exact pressure
in mbars and to within 0.001 in. Hg. (See “Learn More.”) Unlike dial-
type vacuum gauges, absolute gauges are unvented (venting report-
edly introduces errors) and incur no delay, providing a more accurate
understanding of pressure-change dynamics. Emanis notes, “I can
repeat a particular laminate time and time again, consistently.”
Likewise, changes in ambient temperature and moisture and any
differences between resin and tool temperatures will change the res-
in flow profile, making it impossible to replicate results consistently.
Stored core and reinforcement materials must be protected against
ambient moisture absorption and/or dried before infusion to avoid
outgassing during infusion and cure, which causes voids. Even light
can elevate temperature, if only a little, causing resin to react more
quickly. According to Emanis, “If you test panels … in a very well lit
lab and then move to a dimly lit open shop to run the full infusion,
you won’t get the results you tested for.” | CT |
Contributing Writer
Ginger Gardiner is a freelance writer
and regular CT contributor based in
Washington, N.C.
ginger@compositesworld.com
Read this article online | http://short.compositesworld.com/SpGmPFm9.
Read the full results of Russell Emanis’ side-by-side double-bag infusion
test | http://short.compositesworld.com/gviPUXrX.
Read more about vacuum control | http://short.compositesworld.com/
CUzqBZ7Q | http://short.compositesworld.com/BR0GsK6J.
Read a detailed backgrounder on double-bagging developments since the
1980s | http://short.compositesworld.com/gNwNt7sV.
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