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august 2012 | Vol. 18 | no. 4

Composites as Costume: Manga Masterpieces

Bio-based Radiator End Tanks: Double Durability

SPE Automotive Composites Conference Preview

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DOWNLOAD this issue of Composites Technology in a low-res PDF format — CLiCK HERE —

Momentive is a global leader in specialty chemicals and materials with over 10,000 people and 90 manufacturing facilities dedicated to making our customers’ products and processes perform better. With 2011 pro forma sales of $7.8 billion, we serve a broad range of markets including construction, transportation, electronics, energy, healthcare/personal care and consumer goods. Momentive Performance Materials Holdings LLC is the ultimate parent company of Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. and Momentive Performance Materials Inc. (collectively, “Momentive”). Momentive was formed in 2010 through the combination of entities that owned Momentive Performance Materials Inc. and Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc.

© 2012 Momentive momentive.com

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table of Contents

fEATuRES

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TCM Composites (Augusta, Maine), infusion consultant André Cocquyt (GRPguru.com, Brunswick, Maine) and resin supplier CCP Composites (N. Kansas City, Mo.) developed an infusion system to handle thick laminates, such as this 11 ft by 17 ft by 1.5-inch thick solid panel for a U.S. Navy project. See CT’s story about evolving infusion technologies, on p. 28.Source | TCM Composites

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CoMPoSiTES WATCH

Infrastructure | 5

Marine | 5

Automotive | 7

News | 12

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Editor | 3 CT Editorial: Got ideas?

DEPARTMEnTS

Work In Progress | 22

Applications | 40

New Products | 41

Calendar | 43

Marketplace | 44

Ad Index | 45

CovER PHoTo

2012 sPE aCCE PreviewThe Society of Plastics Engineers’ Automotive and Composites Divisions expand the Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition’s program to match auto-industry growth.

WInDPoWER 2012 ReportContinued technology-driven performance gains are overshadowed by PTC gloom and predicted Asian overcapacity.By Ginger Gardiner

auto Composites Quest | one-Minute Cycle time?Faced with high fuel prices and ever-more stringent restrictions on tailpipe emissions, automakers are taking composites into their own hands.By Jeff Sloan

the Evolution of InfusionAs resin infusion continues to infiltrate composites, fabricators across the market spectrum drive materials and process developments in pursuit of process control.By Ginger Gardiner

Inside Manufacturing | Manga MasterpiecesSophisticated design meets composite materials and manufacturing in cosplay application. By Sara Black

Engineering Insights | Cleaner & greener | Bio-based End tankPlant-based polyamides break high-cost/low-performance paradigm to meetthe demands of a challenging Toyota underhood application.By Peggy Malnati

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Editor

Composites Technology (ISSN 1083-4117) is published bimonthly (February, April, June, August, October & December) by Gardner Business Media, Inc. Corporate and production offices: 6915 Valley Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45244. Editorial offices: PO Box 992, Morrison, CO 80465. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, OH and additional mailing offices. Copyright © 2012 by Gardner Business Media Inc. All rights reserved.

Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2 Canada.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Composites Technology, 6915 Valley Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45244-3029. If undeliverable, send Form 3579.

Subscription rates: Nonqualified $45 (USD) per year in the United States, $49 (USD) per year in Canada, $100 (USD) per year airmail for all other countries. Single issue prepaid, $10 (USD) per copy in North America, $25 (USD) in all other countries. Send payment directly to Composites Technology at Cincinnati offices, (800) 950-8020; fax: (513) 527-8801.

PUBLISHER: MEMBERSHIPS:

CorporaTe offiCes

Gardner Business Media, Inc.6915 Valley Ave. / Cincinnati, OH 45244-3029 p: 513.527.8800 / f: 513.527.8801 / www.gardnerweb.com

Group Publisher & CT Publisher Richard G. Kline, Jr. / rkline2@gardnerweb.comMarketing Manager Kimberly A. Hoodin / kim@compositesworld.comArt Director Jeff Norgord / jnorgord@gardnerweb.comGraphic Designer Susan Kraus / skraus@gardnerweb.com

ediTorial offiCes

CompositesWorldPO Box 992 / Morrison, CO 80465p: 719.242.3330 / f: 513.527.8801 / www.compositesworld.com

Editor-in-Chief Jeff Sloan / jeff@compositesworld.com / 719.242.3330Managing Editor Mike Musselman / mike@compositesworld.comTechnical Editor Sara Black / sara@compositesworld.comSenior Editor Lilli Sherman / lsherman@compositesworld.comContributing Writers Dale Brosius / dale@compositesworld.com Ginger Gardiner / ginger@compositesworld.com Michael R. LeGault / mikel@compositesworld.com Peggy Malnati / peggy@compositesworld.com John Winkel / jwinkel@indra.net Karen Wood / karen@compositesworld.com

sales offiCes

Midwestern U.s. & international sales officeAssociate Publisher Ryan Delahanty / rdelahanty@compositesworld.com p: 630.584.8480 / f: 630.232.5076

eastern U.s. sales officeDistrict Manager Barbara Businger / barb@compositesworld.com p: 330.239.0318 / f: 330.239.0326Mountain, southwest & Western U.s. sales officeDistrict Manager Rick Brandt / rbrandt@gardnerweb.com p: 310.792.0255 / f: 800.527.8801

european sales officeEuropean Manager Eddie Kania / ekania@btopenworld.com p/f: +44 1663 750242

CirCUlaTion

Direct all Composites Technology circulation changes to:p: 800.950.8020 / f: 513.527.8801 / rjacobs@gardnerweb.com

I am often asked by com-posites professionals how they can get their stories

published or submit article ideas for us to pursue.

Jeff Sloan

Ct editorial: got ideas?

On the plane home from a recent trade show, the person seated next to me asked what I do for a living. After I explained, he looked a little puzzled and wondered how we could find enough to write about. “Don’t you run out of ideas?” he asked.

It takes no more than a few hours of study to understand that the dynamics of composite design, materials, tooling and manufacturing provides very fertile ground for a variety of potential stories. So much so, in fact, that I am often asked by compos-ites professionals how they can get their stories published or submit their ideas for us to pursue. Much of what we do as editors and writers is gather ideas, and we find them at trade shows, in press releases and technical papers, and in conversations with composites manufacturers and their suppliers. Some ideas are e-mailed to us, some are called in, and some come through our advertising sales staff.

Still, this is likely a mysterious process if you’re looking from the outside in. So, herewith, I offer guidelines for working with us here at CT to turn an idea into a story.

Our mission: Here at CT, job one is to gather information from throughout the composites industry about how manufacturers are using software, materials and equipment to make quality composite parts, and then turn that infor-mation into reliable articles that are disseminated online and in print.

What we look for: We have a variety of story types, ranging from news to new products to full-blown features. For our stories, we look for creative problem-solving in design and manufacturing, creative use of existing materials in new ways, use of new materials in ways both old and new, applications of new technology, emerging technologies, emerging markets, new or evolving manufacturing processes, case histories and more.

Have an opinion?: It’s one thing for us to take an idea and turn it into a story, but some our best writing is not done by us. It comes from people throughout the composites supply chain who have an opinion to share about trends in technology, materials, markets, facility management and manufacturing — basically, if you have thoughts to share about any aspect of composites manufacturing, we are all ears.

What we don’t do: We are often asked if we can simply print a technical paper or manuscript authored by someone else. Unless it’s an opinion piece, articles in CT are staff-written. A manuscript or technical paper can provide the foundation for a story, but it will not be the story.

Get in touch: At the end of the day, the best way to test your story idea is to run it by us. Whether you’ve got a 10-page technical paper or notes scribbled on a napkin, we can take almost any good concept and shape it into a publishable article. Start by giving us a call or by sending an e-mail. I can be reached at jeff@compositesworld.com or (719) 242-3330. You also can send a note to pr@compositesworld.com. Messages sent to this address are received by me and technical editor Sara Black. Don’t forget that we exhibit at major composites industry trade shows, including those hosted by JEC and ACMA. Stop by and see us.

CT exists to serve you, but we need your input to keep what we do relevant and useful. We hope to hear from you.

.

www.ccpcompositesus.com • 800-821-3590

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For complete product information, visit www.ccpcompositesus.com or call 800-821-3590 today.

IMEDGE ECT Series is a registered trademark of CCP Composites. © 2012

Epoxy Compatible TechnologyE C T 1 2 0 S e r i e s

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MARINE • AEROSPACE • HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPOSITESTRANSPORTATION • INFRASTRUCTURE MARKETS

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From pedestrian bridges to floating docks for ferry traffic to a fifth major composite

materials supplier/auto OEM partnership, the news is big, big, big.

Composite Advantage LLC (CA, Dayton, Ohio) reported on May 30 that it has completed

installation of a FiberSPAN fiber-reinforced polymer pedestrian and bicycle bridge deck designed and built as part of the District of Columbia’s Anacostia Riverwalk Trail project. The new 3.5-inch/88.9-mm thick bridge deck is CA’s largest project to date and represents one of the largest composite pedestrian bridge decks in the world. Part of the Anacostia Waterfront initiative, a $10 billion investment to restore and revitalize the Anacostia River and its surrounding parks and neighborhoods, the bridge was constructed using 88 composite panels and is 685 ft/209m long and 16 ft/4.9m wide, comprising seven spans over a road and active railroad tracks.

The deck was manufactured with CA’s method of sandwich con-struction, which employs fiberglass top and bottom skins and close-ly spaced internal webs that function like a series of I-beams, with fibers oriented at a 45° angle. CA molded and manufactured both straight and curved panels to accommodate the customer’s specifi-cations for a bridge deck with an S-curve that could safely transition pedestrian traffic over the road and railroad tracks. The panels were molded with a beige pigment to meet aesthetic requirements for the

national park. As part of CA’s prefabrication capability, the panels were delivered with a beige nonslip surface.

The company says it helped reduce onsite construction time and costs by delivering deck panels with prefabricated features, such as curbs that can accommodate handrails and light posts. Drainage scuppers were built into the deck panels, and electrical junction boxes were added to support the lighting system. The panels were connected to steel beams using clips bolted to the bottom of the decking. Six spans were placed on steel beams, with a middle span attached to an enclosed steel truss to clear the railroad tracks. Weighing 1,250 lb/567 kg each, the 8-ft/2.4m long panels took just three days to install.

Composite-decked pedestrian BRIDGE opens in U.S. capital

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World’s first all-composite FLOATING DOCK makes debut

Riverside Marine (Brisbane, Australia) reports a successful collaboration with Wagners Com-posite Fibre Technologies Mfg. (Toowoomba,

Australia) to develop a pontoon (floating dock) structure that will service ferry traffic at Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia. Said to be

the first all-compos-ite ferry pontoon ever commissioned, the structure is 114m/374 ft long with a deck area of 573m2 (6,168 ft2). The dock structure was designed to support the local tourism industry by accommodat-ing as many as five

high-speed catamaran-style ferries even under conditions that include high winds and heavy seas.

Dr. Gareth Williams, research and development engineer for Riverside Marine, says, “Ongoing maintenance of metallic struc-tures in the marine environment poses continual concerns for the lifetime of an asset, so our aim was to develop an innovative, zero-maintenance solution using composite materials.”

A proprietary Wagners CFT pultruded glass fiber composite, typically used for boardwalks and bridges, was identified as the best solution to meet the requirements of the structure. Wag-ners also used its new Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC) product to ballast the lightweight composite structure and improve its dy-namic response characteristics. The use of composite materials reportedly has doubled the expected design life when compared to metallic or concrete construction, offering a huge benefit in total lifecycle cost of the structure. The pontoon’s environmen-tal sustainability also was a high design priority, and the use of composites represented a low-carbon solution, adds Williams.

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Trends in Advanced Machining, Manufacturing and Materials

CHICAGO, IL @ IMTS SEPTEMBER 12-13, 2012

CHICAGO, IL @ IMTS SEPTEMBER 12-13, 2012

AEROSPACE CONFERENCE

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Advanced Machining Processes to produce more complex parts for the latest designs in aircraft structures and engines, as well as other industries that can benefit from similar machining processes. The conference will examine the impact of these processes and techniques.

Advanced Manufacturing Technologies have been introduced and traditional methods have been improved. The conference will consider the effectiveness and benefits of using new and developing technologies.

Advanced Materials are being used, including composites and titanium alloys, which produce lighter stronger structures. Aircraft engines are using materials to enable them to work at higher operating temperatures, increasing efficiency and operating performance. The conference will examine the impact of these materials and the new manufacturing technologies being developed.

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EVENT SPONSORS

TRAM3_2012_UNIV_MAY.indd 1 5/11/12 5:04 PM

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One of the biggest surprises of the postreces-sion period in automotive composites is the

still-unfolding story of major development agreements between composite material suppliers and auto OEMs. Umeco (Heanor, U.K.), on June 12, became the fifth composites industry supplier to partner with an auto industry OEM on a quest to make high-performance composites practical in production automobiles. Umeco reported it is leading a consortium that includes Aston Martin Lagonda (Gaydon, Warwick, U.K.), Delta Motorsport Ltd. (Northants, U.K.), ABB Robotics (Zurich, Switzerland) and Pentangle Engineering Services Ltd. (Grantham, Lincolnshire, U.K.) to examine the potential for using high-performance composites in mainstream autos. Named ACOMPLICE (Afford-able COMPosites for LIghtweight Car structurEs), the partner-ship will address the growing pressure on the mainstream auto-motive sector to manufacture lightweight, fuel-efficient vehicles that meet reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emission targets. The group believes that the physical limitations of aluminum and high-strength, steel-based alloys have been reached, creating a situation in which composite options are worth pursuing.

Umeco joins a growing trend, preceded by an international Who’s Who of auto industry players. Automaker BMW and the SGL Group (Munich and Wiesbaden, Germa-

Fifth AUTO COMPOSITES partnership announced

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(Continued on page 9)

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25-27 SEPT 2012

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Tomorrow’s aircraft interiors industry in the making

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Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas is the only dedicated aircraft interiors event in the Americas region showcasing the latest trends, designs and innovations. Meet and network with key industry decision makers from Aircraft Manufacturing Companies, Major Scheduled, Regional and Charter Airlines, Business Jet Operators and Completion Houses.

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ny, respectively) broke the ice with plans to use carbon compos-ites in the chassis of upcoming electric cars. Detroit, Mich.-based General Motors and fiber source Teijin (Tokyo, Japan) followed, trumpeting a part-per-minute process for carbon fiber/thermo-plastics. Japan-based giants Toyota, Toray Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries (all headquartered in Tokyo) recently revealed that they will produce carbon composite roofs and hoods for Toy-ota’s Lexus luxury cars as early as this year. News of a fourth part-nership came April 12 from Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, Mich.); Dow Automotive Systems (Auburn Hills, Mich.), a business unit of The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.); and Oak Ridge Na-tional Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tenn.). Notably, on June 12, this group was awarded $9 million by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), and will receive an additional $4.5 million from private sources to develop a lower-cost carbon fiber precursor made from polyolefin rather than traditional polyacrylonitrile (PAN).

During the next two years, ACOMPLICE will aim to signifi-cantly reduce the cost of composite body-in-white vehicle struc-tures for the mainstream automotive sector. With a total budget of £1.5 million ($2.35 million USD) — partially funded by the Tech-nology Strategy Boards’ Collaborative Research and Development program — ACOMPLICE proposes to develop broadly applicable preimpregnated composite materials suitable for robotic lamina-tion and fast-cure technologies, then demonstrate the developed technologies through the rapid manufacture of selected structural automotive parts.

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(Continued from page 7)

(Continued on page 11)

The International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition & Conference

October 2-4, 2012 Kentucky Exposition Center I Louisville, Kentucky USAIBEX – WHERE THE BUSINESS OF BOATING GETS DONE

Don’t miss the most crucial Marine Technology Event of the Year

he entire marine industry comes together at IBEX 2012 to discover new products and process, discuss emerging trends and technologies, and explore new methods and materials.

With more than 5000 attendees from throughout the world, IBEX is where the business of boating gets done.

North America’s largest marine trade event offers an even bigger impact in 2012.

More NEW marine products, tools and technologies under one roof than you’ve ever seen before

More empowering education with 90+ seminars in the highly respected IBEX Seminar Series

More insights and best practices direct from 100+ leading marine industry experts

More seminars and workshops with targeted topics that can make a difference for all marine professionals

More opportunities to connect with potential business partners on and off the show floor at numerous networking events

IBEX is owned and produced by Professional BoatBuilder magazine and National Marine Manufacturers Association.

Visit www.ibexshow.com to register for your FREE exhibit hall badge and make plans to experience the future of marine technology.

T

*Photo courtesy Nicolas Peitrequin. Boat design by sbschmidt architecte naval sarl.

www.ibexshow.com

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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:• Handlay-up/spray-up* • RTM• Filamentwinding* • SCRIMP• Pressmolding • Pultrusion *FM approved

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40 Strawberry Hill Rd. • Hillsdale, NJ 07642Tel: (201) 666-4880 Fax: (201) 666-4303E-Mail: Mekmail@prodigy.netwww.cellobond.com • www.momentive.comCellobond and Durite are registered trademarks of Momentive Specialty Chemicals, Inc.

Umeco’s role in ACOMPLICE is to develop fast-curing pre-pregs that will enable the rapid robotic manipulation and highly efficient placement of individual plies for optimized component output rates. Umeco’s DForm product also will be used in combi-nation with novel rapid preform technology to facilitate the lami-nation of complex geometries via automated processes. DForm is said to be a deformable composite prepreg technology that com-bines the mold-surface conformability of a short-fiber molding compound with the directional characteristics of a high-perfor-mance, long-fiber composite.

For more insight into this subject, see CT’s feature article “Auto composites quest: One-minute cycle time?” on p. 24.

CORRECTIONIn the June 2012 issue of CT, our “Composites: Past, Present & Fu-ture” article on the history of sheet molding compound (SMC) in auto manufacturing, written by James B. Canner, made reference to a Dr. Appel who worked with the Budd Co. (Troy, Mich.) circa. 1972. An alert reader, who once worked with the gentleman in question, suggested that his name might instead be Dr. Epel. The CT staff looked into it and found that, indeed, Dr. Joseph N. Epel was director of The Plastics Research and Development Center at the Budd Co. CT regrets the error. Epel was a significant force in the development of SMC and other composites technologies and was issued 10 patents during his tenure there.

(Continued from page 9)

The International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition & Conference

October 2-4, 2012 Kentucky Exposition Center I Louisville, Kentucky USAIBEX – WHERE THE BUSINESS OF BOATING GETS DONE

Don’t miss the most crucial Marine Technology Event of the Year

he entire marine industry comes together at IBEX 2012 to discover new products and process, discuss emerging trends and technologies, and explore new methods and materials.

With more than 5000 attendees from throughout the world, IBEX is where the business of boating gets done.

North America’s largest marine trade event offers an even bigger impact in 2012.

More NEW marine products, tools and technologies under one roof than you’ve ever seen before

More empowering education with 90+ seminars in the highly respected IBEX Seminar Series

More insights and best practices direct from 100+ leading marine industry experts

More seminars and workshops with targeted topics that can make a difference for all marine professionals

More opportunities to connect with potential business partners on and off the show floor at numerous networking events

IBEX is owned and produced by Professional BoatBuilder magazine and National Marine Manufacturers Association.

Visit www.ibexshow.com to register for your FREE exhibit hall badge and make plans to experience the future of marine technology.

T

*Photo courtesy Nicolas Peitrequin. Boat design by sbschmidt architecte naval sarl.

www.ibexshow.com

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Billed as a hands-on seminar, the recent Advances in Closed Molding Tool Design and Production Materials event had the feel of a full-blown tech conference. Held May 2-3, 2012, in Cape Coral, Fla., the seminar highlighted the benefits of closed molding and provided attendees with an up-close look at materials and processes used in a number of closed molding methods. The course was sponsored by the Closed Mold Alliance, a collaboration of distributor Composites One (Arlington Hts., IIl.), resins manufacturer CCP Composites (Kansas City, Mo.), infusion equipment supplier Magnum Venus Plastech (MVP, Clear-water, Fla.) and two Canada-based companies, the FormaShape div. of Whitewater Composites (Kelowna, British Columbia) and RTM North Ltd. (Vanastra, Ontario). The event was hosted by JRL Ventures Inc./Marine Concepts at the companies’ Cape Coral facility.

The course presentations were prefaced by a tour of the host companies’ 50,000-ft2 (4,645m2) facility. JRL Ventures/Marine Con-cepts specialize in the design and build of plugs and tools used to mold fiberglass parts for a variety of industries.

The event featured a number of workshops, but a key feature was an accompanying series of technology and molding demonstrations.

For example, Doug Smith, technical specialist with RTM North, re-ported to attendees that more molders are showing interest in us-ing light RTM. Unlike standard RTM, which uses two rigid tools to make a part, light RTM features a rigid A-side tool and a semirigid or flexible B-side tool. Smith contended that one of the main ben-efits of both light RTM and standard RTM, compared to open-mold linear laminating, is significantly less postmold repair and finishing, especially on complex parts. Further, RTM and other closed molding processes in general are capable of producing parts with glass load-ings as high as 45 to 60 percent, compared to glass loadings of 35 to 37 percent that are typical of parts produced by open molding.

RTM North complemented Smith’s talk with a light RTM dem-onstration, molding a miniature catamaran hull. The mold cavity was treated with CCP Composite’s IMEDGE PCT600 in-mold coat-ing (read more about this coating in “New Products,” p. 41) and then lined with a single layer of Rovicore, from Chomarat North America LLC (Anderson, S.C.), a mat reinforcement that comprises a stitched nonwoven that, in turn, combines a polypropylene (PP) core and chopped glass fibers. The resulting mat is designed to con-

Composites nEWs

Inside look: Closed molding course couples talks with concept demos

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form to deep pockets and tight radii in the mold cavity. RTM North built the mold, which consisted of a rigid A-side tool coated with a vinyl ester gel coat and vinyl ester laminating resin, both supplied by CCP, and a semirigid B-side tool made entirely of vinyl ester. The part was infused with CCP’s injection-grade CCP-040-8085 unsaturated poly-ester resin, at approximately 18 psi/1.24 bar, using full vacuum on the tool flange and half-vacuum in the cavity. The part was fully cured in approximately 30 minutes.

RTM North also demonstrated its Flex Molding process on a boat hatch, using a reusable vacuum bag produced from Wacker Chemical Corp.’s (Adrian, Mich.) ELASTOCIL C platinum-curing, one-part sprayable silicone rubber. The processing conditions, rein-forcement and resin were identical to those used in the light RTM molding of the catamaran hull. RTM North has developed a novel method of forming the bag. It involves spraying silicone over plugs made of strips of wax laid down and shaped to the dimensions of the part. The company also uses wax to shape ridges and other tex-tures in the flange areas of the bag, thus maximizing the surface area available on which to build and hold a vacuum. Smith says the wax plugs have better short-term dimensional stability than fiberglass plugs, which inevitably shrink after curing. The shrinkage translates to a loose-fitting bag, which, in turn, can produce wrinkles and folds

in the bag surface. “When you create any kind of texture inside the mold sur-face of the bag the resin will grab onto it and every time you pull a bag off a part you’re going to take a piece of silicone with it,” Smith notes.

Rick Pauer, CCP’s marketing man-ager, addressed the issue of mold shrink-age, pointing out that one of the prob-lems with traditional vinyl ester tooling

resins is postcure shrinkage that can lead to orange peel, fiber print or mold cracking. CCP Composites offers high-temperature-resistant OptiPLUS polyester resins as a substitute. Used for the fabrication of composite tooling via vacuum infusion, OptiPLUS resin chemistry is designed to counteract postcure shrinkage. Styrene monomers are reacted in the presence of a catalyst, releasing a large amount of exo-thermic heat. This heat drives up the rate of the initial cure, thereby reducing the amount of what CCP calls residual cure that remains in the mold. Residual cure, if substantial, can cause shrinkage as the mold is reheated during subsequent production runs. Pauer reported that OptiPLUS resins contain a thermoplastic filler that has a posi-tive coefficient of thermal expansion, which helps to offset shrinkage in the polyester as it cures. Vacuum-infused OptiPLUS materials ac-commodate glass loadings up to 65 percent. Pauer claims that tooling made with OptiPLUS has better dimensional stability and longer ser-vice life than tooling made with conventional methods.

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CCP demonstrated the vacuum infusion of a mold for a typical ski/wakeboard boat hull section. The vacuum-bag configuration on the approximately 3-ft./0.9m-wide plug was intended to be repre-sentative of sequential infusion of a production-scale 25-ft to 30-ft (7.6m to 9.1m) hull mold. A four-layer laminate was assembled on the plug. First down was a layer of Finishmat D7760, a nonwoven veil produced by Lantor Composites (Veenendaal, The Netherlands) and distributed in the U.S. by Baltek Inc., a division of 3A Compos-ites (Colfax, N.C.). The Finishmat, which would typically go directly behind the gel coat, forces glass fibers away from the surface of the mold to provide a smooth finish. Three layers of Vectorply glass mat,

supplied by Vectorply Inc. (Phenix City, Ala.), were then applied in the following order: Vectorply E-BXM 1715-6VC, a high-flow stitched glass mat; Vectorply E-TLYA 3612, a conformable PP media that is designed to fill tight mold radii and chines, minimizing bridg-ing in these areas; and Vectorply E-3LTi 10800, a 36-oz triaxial glass mat, used to provide a tight, flat B-side surface. Airtech International (Huntington Beach, Calif.) supplied the nylon bag. “The three Vec-torply materials were used to maximize flow [and] surface quality and for rapid bulking,” Pauer says.

Although the room-temperature viscosity of OptiPLUS at 75°F/24°C is approximately 100 cps, shop temperatures exceeded

90°F/32°C on this particular day, so Pau-er estimated the viscosity at 75 to 80 cps, which shaved about eight minutes off the normal 24-minute mold-fill time. The mold reached its maximum exothermic temperature in about 65 minutes. The part became fully white, or translucent, at 75 minutes, indicating cure.

SR Composites LLC (Henderson, Nev.) demonstrated an alternative to silicone for closed molding, its trademarked Sprayomar elastomeric materials. Sprayable silicones tend to be fairly thick, from 0.080 inch to 0.25 inch (2.03 mm to 6.35 mm), and have high viscosity, typically in the range of 8,000 cps. When silicone is sprayed, the resulting surface roughness can affect the uniformity of the film. In sprayable form, SR’s prevulca-nized, modified natural rubber has a much lower viscosity (1,500 to 3,000 cps), which enables the manufacture of a thin, light-weight bag. SR used an 0.040-inch/1.01-mm thick premade bag to mold a marine radar enclosure (see photo on p. 13). SR partner Rich Rydin claims that Sprayomar materi-als have half the thermal conductivity of silicone at the same thickness. Rydin also says the bag’s net-shaped design and flex-ibility deters bridging in mold corners. The investment in a Sprayomar bag is recouped in about 20 cycles, according to Rydin.

Course moderator and Composites One technical support manager Corbett Leach summed up the two-day event for attendees by lauding the diversity of closed molding, pointing out that a molder’s choice of closed molding process ultimate-ly depends on the design and production objectives. Although closed-molding ma-terials still cost slightly more than those used in open molding, he observed that the performance and environmental benefits of closed molding can more than offset this upfront expense.

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hen the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) gathers Sept. 11-13 for its 12th annual Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) at the Michigan

State University (MSU) Management Education Center (MEC) in suburban Detroit (Troy, Mich.), the 2012 theme will be “Unleashing the Power of Design,” and organizers say they intend to unleash some interesting changes in the ACCE format.

YEAR of CHAngES

The MEC’s excellent presentation rooms and equipment have served the needs of presenters well, but exhibitors have perennially requested more exhibit space than was available. ACCE organizers considered changing venues this year but, reluctant to move to a larger venue and lose the small, networking-friendly feel valued by attendees, they opted to stay put for 2012. The MEC facility man-agers offered a solution that doubles the exhibit space by moving lunch, previously accommodated in four rooms on the building’s west side, to outdoor tents on the Center’s north patio. Time will tell whether this option works, but the extra exhibit space will be wel-come. Reportedly, the event is already at record sponsorship, and the extra exhibit space is expected to sell out before summer’s end.

New this year will be a parts competition — an outgrowth of the event’s display area for large parts. A group of committee members and invited judges will review entries submitted by automakers, and sponsors/exhibitors will select the most innovative part for recogni-tion during the closing ceremonies. “Our large-parts display area has grown significantly over the past few years,” notes 2011/2012 conference chair Creig Bowland, a senior research associate at PPG

Industries (Pittsburgh, Pa.). “So this year it seemed sensible to ... provide recognition for the innovation we were seeing. What better way can we show automakers just what composites can do?”

Last year the conference provided attendees with free transpor-tation to an optional post-event plant tour at Romeo RIM’s (Romeo, Mich.) facility, where the world’s largest long-fiber injection (LFI) press, built by KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH (Munich, Germa-ny), is in place. Nearly 25 ACCE attendees made the 30-minute trip and watched the shuttle press turn out Class A reaction-injection molded glass/urethane roofs for John Deere vehicles, complete with a green paint finish. The success of that tour spurred organizers to offer two tours this year. After the conference ends on Sept. 13, a van will be available to take preregistered attendees to Plasan Car-bon Composites’ (Bennington, Vt.) new Wixom, Mich., center to watch as carbon fiber-reinforced composite parts are molded, using Plasan’s newly developed out-of-autoclave process, which is based on a “pressure press” built by development partner Globe Machine Manufacturing Co. (Tacoma, Wash.). A reception will follow and attendees will be returned to the conference center afterward.

A second, day-long tour is set for Sept. 14, in London, Ontario, Canada, home of the new Fraunhofer Project Centre for Composites Research (FPC@Western). A joint program of Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (Pfinztal, Germany) and Western University (formerly The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario), FPC@Western is intended as an independent research platform for North American industry, charged with evaluating the potential of lightweight fiber-reinforced composites. The three-hour trip (one way) will involve an international border crossing and in-cludes lunch. Participants will be rewarded by the sight of the world’s second (and North America’s only) direct sheet molding compound (D-SMC) inline compounding unit and a direct long-fiber thermo-plastic (D-LFT) compounding line — both of which feed a 2,500-ton compression press — all supplied by Dieffenbacher GmbH (Eppin-gen, Germany). The center’s high-pressure resin transfer molding (RTM) press also might be in place by then. Guests will be returned to the conference center early that evening.

the society’s automotive and composites Divisions expand the program to match auto-industry growth.

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this well-attended presentation at the 2011 accE was one of many indications that the auto industry was emerging from the recent recession. the 2012 conference organizers report that their three-day technical program has filled up earlier than usual and they expect to field a record number of presentations.

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Prized for its networking-friendly, intimate atmosphere, the Msu Management Education center will accommodate the accE’s growing need for supplier exhibition space — it will be doubled for 2012 — without discouraging networking, by providing daily lunches outdoors, under tents on the center’s patio.

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ACCE 2012 Attend Show ad for CT/HPC Magazine1/2pg horizontal, 7.375 x 4.875 no bleed

Attend the World’s leAding Automotive Composites ForumThe Automotive and Composites Divisions of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE®) invite you to attend the 12th-annual SPE Automotive Composites Conference and Exhibition (ACCE), September 11-13, 2012. The show – which has become the world’s leading automotive composites forum – will feature technical paper sessions, panel discussions, keynote speakers, networking receptions, & exhibits highlighting advances in materials, processes, and applications technologies for both thermoset and thermoplastic composites in a wide variety of ground-transportation applications.

interACt With An engAged, globAl AudienCeThe SPE ACCE typically draws almost 500 attendees from 14 countries on 5 continents who are interested in learning about the latest composites technologies. Fully a third of attendees work for an automotive, heavy truck, agricultural / off-road equipment, or aerospace OEM, and roughly a fifth work for a tier integrator.

shoWCAse Your produCts & serviCesMany sponsorship packages – including displays, conference giveaways, advertising and publicity,

signage, tickets, and networking receptions – are available. Companies interested in showcasing their products and/or services at the SPE ACCE should contact Teri Chouinard of Intuit Group at

teri@intuitgroup.com.

www.speautomotive.com +1.248.244.8993 ACCE-registration@speautomotive.com

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EXPAnDED TECHniCAL PRogRAM

A record number of paper offers has organizers expecting a record crowd and has prompted the addition of the following new sessions: Preforming; Opportunities and Challenges with Carbon Composites; Advances in Reinforcement Technologies; Technology Readiness: European Composites Innovations; and Business Trends and Tech-nology Solutions. These will join traditional sessions on Advances in Thermoset and Thermoplastic Composites; Enabling Technologies; Virtual Prototyping & Testing of Composites; Bio- & Natural Fiber Composites; and Nanocomposites.

Ever-lively are the event’s panel discussions (in part, because audience participation is encouraged). Two this year will deal with interrelated topics: Design and Assembly of the Multi-Material Car near the end of the first day, followed by an after-hours networking reception sponsored by Momentive (Columbus, Ohio) and Predic-tive Analysis of Multi-Composite Material Automotive Structures, in the same time slot on day two.

At press time, ACCE organizers indicated that they had invited but had not yet confirmed keynote speakers from Motive Industries Inc. (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), BMW AG (Munich, Germany), Plasan Carbon Composites, the U.S. Department of Energy (Washington, D.C.), Edison2 (Lynchburg, Va.), and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland).

“With the global automotive industry growing again after sev-eral difficult years, and with a host of tough new emissions and fuel-economy standards looming for the industry to meet,” Bowland points out, “interest in lightweight materials like polymer compos-ites is at an all-time high. The best way to keep on top of the very latest technology innovations in this field is to attend the annual SPE ACCE show.” For more info or to register, visit http://speauto-motive.com/comp | CT |

Lively panel discussions are a highlight of each conference. Last year, CT’s editor-in-chief Jeff sloan (far left) moderated a panel on “Measuring the sustainability of composites.”

ContRIButIng WRItERPeggy Malnati covers the automotive and infrastructure beats for CT and provides commu-nications services for plastics- and composites-industry clients. peggy@compositesworld.com

Read this article online | http://short.compositesworld.com/2Q9HY1ce.

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ttendance was down at the American Wind Energy Assn.’s (AWEA) 2012 WINDPOWER Conference and Exhibition (to 11,000 from 16,000 last year) as the U.S. wind industry

braced for a stall due to the lack of U.S. Congressional action to renew the Production Tax Credit (PTC). But AWEA CEO Denise Bode noted that the show, held June 3-6 in Atlanta, Ga., “met our expectations for our first entry into the South,” and added, “we’re excited now about our return next year to Chicago, which is where we held the world’s biggest-ever WINDPOWER Conference and Exhibition, in 2009.” But Henrik Hansen, business manager for Jupiter Group A/S (Bogø, Denmark), a supplier of high-quality composite nacelles and spinners, spoke for many who are interested in the U.S. wind market: “Next year will be a matter of survival,” he said. “Only the strong will make it through. Hopefully, the PTC will be renewed by 2014.”

Though attendees were not as numerous, exhibitors — particu-larly Chinese and Korean manufacturers of wind turbines and rotor blades — were abundant. Asian interest in the U.S. market is poised to increase because the Chinese market has slowed dramatically. China’s government has removed subsidies and tightened regula-tions, seeking to curb “blind expansion” of wind, because more than 15 GW (24 percent) of installations at the end of 2011 still were not connected to the grid. In his WINDPOWER 2012 presentation on the Chinese wind power market and its players, Feng Zhao, an analyst with BTM Consult (Copenhagen, Denmark), a consulting services firm of Navigant (Boulder, Colo.), estimated that Chinese turbine manufacturers face 27 GW of overcapacity in 2012, growing to 36.5 GW in 2013 (see chart on p. 18). Zhao also noted that the

average price of Chinese 1.5-MW turbines has dropped 42 percent since 2009. He states that in the past four years, 11 Chinese OEMs have exported 194 wind turbines — the U.S. is the favored destina-tion with 59 percent of the installations — while the 222 MW ex-ported in 2011 exceeded by three times the 2008 to 2010 total. Zhao says by the end of 2011, Goldwind (Beijing, China) accounted for more than 70 percent of these. Lest anyone come away with an in-correct assumption about U.S. jobs, a Goldwind USA spokeperson assured CT that “the majority of our turbines’ major components are sourced domestically.” And in his WINDPOWER 2012 presen-tation, Nurdin Bi, VP of Goldwind Capital USA Inc., indicated that more than 60 percent of the wind turbine components used in the company’s 109.5 MW Shady Oaks wind farm project (Illinois) were made in the U.S., which he claims “is higher than many non-Chi-nese projects here.” Goldwind Science & Technology Inc. is focused on aiding international expansion by building a flexible global sup-ply chain via a local sourcing model. Goldwind has sourced blades from Kolding, Denmark-based LM Wind Power’s North Dakota plant, and would consider a U.S. blade plant of its own, if there weren’t uncertainty about U.S. government wind energy policy.

Composites-specific technologies on display at WINDPOWER 2012 included a 43.5m/143-ft blade for 1.5 MW turbines, built by We4Ce (Almelo, The Netherlands). Based on the firm’s 25 years of experience in the design and manufacture of composite rotor blades,

the current reluctance of the u.s. congress to renew the Production tax credit had attendees talking in atlanta, as the american Wind Energy assn.’s WinDPOWEr 2012 event got underway in early June. Source | AWEA

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continued technology-driven performance gains are overshadowed by Ptc

gloom and predicted asian overcapacity.

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the new blade is intended for Asia’s lower-wind regions. It features a slender design, a high optimum-tip-speed ratio and a maximum chord of only 2.5m/8.2 ft.

Aeroblade (Vitoria, Spain) exhibited its designs and manufac-turing capability for 10 different blades, ranging from 37m to 80m (121.4 ft to 262.5 ft) for turbine capacities of 1.5 MW to 7 MW. Aero-

blade is a supplier to Gamesa (Zamudio, Vizcaya, Spain) and Gold-wind, among others. Although its main strength is engineering ser-vices and blade development worldwide, it also has manufacturing capability and uses epoxy resin, glass fiber and infusion, employing carbon fiber for blades longer than 68m/223 ft.

Energetx (Holland, Mich.) announced that it manufactured and shipped a set of wind blade molds to Aeroblade, based on its 2010 license of Aeroblade’s 45.3m/143-ft IEC Class IIA design. Energetx expected to ramp up production of the same blade this month, sup-plying an undisclosed North American OEM. Energetx provides design, engineering, tooling, prototype and production services, enabling a single-source solution for structural composites, and has established a manufacturing system that uses Six Sigma tools, such as Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis (PFMEA) and Control Plans, as well as an ISO 9001-2008/AS9100C-based quality system.

Wetzel Engineering (Lawrence, Kan.) offered attendees full de-sign and engineering of blades from 3m to 100m (9.8 ft to 328 ft) for turbines rated 6 kW to 10 MW. The company has developed designs for hybrid carbon/glass fiber blades that feature torsion bending-coupling, twist-bend coupling and other aeroelastic optimization.

DTU Wind Energy (Roskilde, Denmark) touted a wide array of research initiatives within its Composites and Material Mechanics section, headed by Dr. Bent F. Sørensen, including biomass-based and hybrid composites, structural health monitoring and the manu-facturing of prototype smart blades that incorporate shape-changing composite structures and embedded sensors.

BtM consult estimates chinese turbine manufacturers face 27 GW of overcapacity in 2012, growing to 36.5 GW in 2013.

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A tough time has come for domestic OEMs in China

Turbine production Capacity vs. demand in China (2006-2016)

Note: The capacity of foreign suppliers, including joint ventures, is greater than 5 GW per year in China. Source: BTM Consult, a part of Navigant Consulting, Vendors - March 2011

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Astraeus (Eaton Rapids, Mich.), a partnership between Dowd-ing Industries (also in Eaton Rapids) and machinery manufacturer MAG IAS (Sterling Heights, Mich.), will automate blade and spar cap manufacturing using carbon fiber and other composites. In what will be the first implementation of MAG’s Rapid Material Placement System (RMPS), Astraeus aims to bring integrated manufacturing with repeatable process control to wind blade fabrication, lowering the overall cost of its finished blades.

Established in 1985, BACH Composite Group (Hurup, Denmark) is a supplier of composite housings and nacelles for Vestas Wind Sys-tems A/S (Randers, Denmark) wind turbines. It has factories in Den-mark, Spain, Lithuania, India, China and the U.S. (Colorado), which use closed molding processes exclusively. One of its newest applica-tions is a 12m/39.4-ft-high deflector used in seabed mapping. These units must be very strong and rigid, spaced 1.8 km/1.1 miles apart, one on each side of expensive and fragile seismic instrument arrays. The hollow structure with an integrated cross-bulkhead is produced as one piece via an innovative one-shot process, using glass fiber, vi-nyl ester resin and gel coat for maximum saltwater resistance.

Although hand layup is predominant in turbine nacelle pro-duction, Jupiter Group has been using light resin transfer mold-ing (RTM) for 22 years. The manufacturing takes place in global low-cost regions (the largest factory is in China) and then parts are transported as needed. Modularized pod construction makes it possible to ship two entire nacelles for a 1.5 MW wind turbine in one 40-ft/12.2m container (each pod is about 2m/6.6 ft high by 12m/39.4 ft long). Each nacelle project be-gins with a unique OEM-specified outer surface definition and shape, which is very distinct and recognizable. Jupiter applies load cases and calculations to determine the laminate design, and then the nacelle is split into modules for mold fabrication. Nacelle molds are gel coated and then layed up with glass fiber chopped strand mat (a print-through barrier layer), followed by non-crimp glass fabrics and a core of polyester foam, polyurethane foam or balsa wood. The matched metal molds are closed and heated, then polyester resin is injected, with assis-tance by a vacuum, and cured. Prototypes are made and tested to meet Germanischer Lloyd (GL) and Det Norske Veritas (DNV) regulations.

After its incorporation in 2000, KM (Gunsan, South Korea) pursued wind blade design and production, where others had failed, as a government project in 2002. With GL certification of its 24m/79-ft blade for 750 kW Class I turbines in 2005, KM moved on to offer a full line of blades, each made with glass fabrics from Owens Corn-ing Composite Materials (Toledo, Ohio), epoxy resin from Momentive (Columbus, Ohio), and cores and resin infusion process-

ing from DIAB (Laholm, Sweden) or Alcan Baltek, div. of 3A Com-posites (Mooresville, N.C.). KM is now performing fatigue tests on a 48m/157-ft blade for a 3-MW Class IIA turbine and is develop-ing a 68m/223-ft blade for a 5.5 MW offshore wind turbine, both for Hyundai Heavy Industries (Ulsan, South Korea). KM has col-laborated in the past with blade design firms, such as Aeroblade and WINDnovation (Berlin, Germany).

See a sampling of new technologies designed for the manufac-ture and maintenance of wind-energy composites, including ad-vancements for automation in blade production, a fiber-reinforced core that replaces balsa, and equipment that facilitates remote, nondestructive testing of composite blades, in CT’s “New Products: WINDPOWER 2012 Product Showcase,” on p. 41) | CT |

Read more in a much expanded version of this article online at http://short.compositesworld.com/0D4CkrSX.

Contributing WriterGinger Gardiner is a freelance writer and regular CT contributor based in Washington, N.C. ginger@compositesworld.com

Join us in Seattle for CompositesWorld’s 2012 High-Performance Composites for Aircraft Interiors conference and stay up-to-date on market and technical information on aircraft interiors!CONFERENCE CHAIRMAN:

David Leach, Product Manager / Henkel Aerospace

Co-loCated with:in assoCiation with:

sPonsoRed BY:

Washington State Convention CenterSeattle, WA

sePtemBeR 25 – 26, 2012

CW_HPC_Aircraft_Spread.indd 2 7/13/12 9:01 AM

TO LEARN MORE OR REGISTER VISIT:

compositesworld.com/conferences

REGISTER TODAY!

learn!Stay a step ahead of the competition by attending CompositesWorld’s 2012 High-Performance Composites for Aircraft Interiors conference! Important topics of discussion led by industry innovators will include recent changes in FAA FST requirements for materials and potential solutions to meet the requirements, as well as developments in thermoset and thermoplastics resin systems.

networK!Network with engineers and technology personnel from companies eager to learn more about developments and supporting technologies in aircraft interior composites including materials suppliers, parts manufacturers, OEMs and more. Gain valuable leads and targeted prospects as you enjoy catered social functions at the 2012 High-Performance Composites for Aircraft Interiors conference.

Your registration includes FREE access to the Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas show floor, providing additional networking opportunities!

presentation hiGhliGhts inClUde:opportunities for Composite materials and manufacturing in Commercial transport interiors

Chris Red / Principal / Composites Forecasts and Consulting LLC

Federal aviation administration (Faa) Fire safety research

Robert Ochs / Project Engineer / FAA

Carbon Fiber reinforced thermoplastic Composites for Complex-shape metal replacement in aircraft interiors

Tim Greene / Global Product Manager - Composites / Greene, Tweed & Co.

Composite prepregs that display Fire resistance and adhesive properties

Carl Varnerin / Chief Technical Officer / Barrday Advanced Material Solutions

Combining thermoplastic technologies and materials to achieve non-traditional results for mass reductions

George Bielert / Project Manager / Cutting Dynamics Inc.

GillFists – a novel way to Fill honeycomb Core sandwich structures with Foam

Matt Lowry / Director of Research and Development / M.C. Gill Corporation

aircraft seating design, analysis and optimization

Robert Yancey / Executive Director of Global Aerospace / Altair Engineering Inc.

hexmC® in aerospace applications

Bruno Boursier / Research & Technology Manager / Hexcel

reinventing the Galley Cart through the extensive Use of light-weight Composites and being successful at it!

Patrick Phillips / Director of Business Development / Norduyn

Fire-resistant nanocoatings for Foam and Fabric Using renewable and/or environmentally-benign materials

Jaime C. Grunlan / Associate Professor and Gulf Oil

Thomas A. Dietz Development Professor I / Department of Mechanical Engineering - Texas A&M University

september 25 – 26, 2012

CW_HPC_Aircraft_Spread.indd 3 7/6/12 12:24 PM

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ne of the more interesting entries last fall in the 41st annual Society of Plastics Engineers Automotive Innovation Awards Competition wasn’t a part at all; it was a materials

characterization process. Ford Motor Co.’s (Dearborn, Mich.) engi-neering group developed it for modeling and predictive analysis of automotive interior components. The procedure couples a number of commercial analysis codes with a proprietary materials database, enabling engineers to improve analytical modeling and prove-out of parts molded from neat or fiber-reinforced thermoplastics by injection, blow, microcellular-foam or compression molding. This enables engineers to design interior parts closer to their materials’ theoretical limits, achieving a 10 to 20 percent mass reduction. This improves fuel economy, reduces greenhouse-gas emissions, yields a 5 to 15 percent material cost reduction (averaging $10 USD per vehicle) and saves as much as $500,000 in testing costs per program. Ford also anticipates a not-yet-quantified reduction in costly late tooling changes that, historically, are made close to launch.

“Currently, plastic materials represent only 10 percent of the weight of a typical passenger vehicle,” says Jeff Webb, interior tech-nical leader in Ford’s North American Engineering – Cockpit and Trim Integration operation. “Attempts to increase that percentage in the past have either failed outright or have been implemented only to revert back to steel, later on, for cost savings.”

Because the vast majority of interior components are thermoplas-tics, designers face some challenges when they model parts molded from these materials and analyze their performance. These include lack of directly useful dynamic data on strain-rate dependence; load-dependent strain-hardening in compression, tension and shear; tem-perature dependence; creep; load-dependent fracture; and anisotropy for glass-reinforced materials, because the high-pressure injection molding process orients high-aspect-ratio fillers in the direction of melt flow into the tool.

oLD WAY vS. nEW WAY

Formerly, the modeling process for a thermoplastic part began with the supplier’s datasheet, which nearly always reported monotonic (single-point) properties measured solely in the flow direction. It assumed that properties were isotropic in the cross-flow direc-tion. Unfortunately, studies had long shown that with short-glass-

Ford Motor Co.’s advanced materials characterization process allows design engineers to improve analytical modeling and prove-out of auto interior components molded from neat or reinforced thermoplastics (pictured is the cockpit of the 2011 model year Ford Explorer SUV).

fASTER, CHEAPER, BETTERMaterials characterization

Ford couples commercial codes to analyze

auto interior parts more accurately.

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reinforced materials, this was not the case — values measured at 90° to the flow could be as much as 60 percent lower than values in the flow direction. Using datasheet properties, then, could lead to overly optimistic estimates of mechanical properties across a part, partic-ularly one with great geometric complexity. So an engineer either built in a big safety factor (e.g., thicker wall sections, which added to per-part cost and weight) or opted for the expensive and time-intensive make-and-break method to determine material usage. Similarly, everyone knew that despite the monotonic datasheet values, the actual materials were strain-rate, temperature and load dependent. So if an engineer was estimating how a part would behave at a different time, temperature, strain rate or load than was used to measure properties on test specimen via a standard ISO test protocol, there was no direct way to get the value needed to plug into analysis software.

During the mid- to late 1980s, GE Plastics (now SABIC Innova-tive Plastics, Pittsfield, Mass.) measured properties in both flow and cross-flow directions over a broad range of temperatures, loads and strain rates. Rather than report properties as a single data point, GE engineers built an extensive database with thousands of data points each for hundreds of the company’s materials. They assembled the data in a program called the Engineering Design Database (EDD). Proprietary algorithms enabled an engineer to interpolate or extrap-olate from the measured data to estimate engineering properties in different conditions. This provided a much more realistic number that could be plugged directly into structural analysis software.

The system worked well and was the best option available at the time, but it was accessible only to someone who used GE materials. For everyone else, the process involved guesstimating how a thermo-plastic material might behave under real-world conditions, which rarely were the same as prescribed under standardized test proto-cols. This information was fed into a structural analysis code, and parts were molded and subjected to mechanical testing; this likely led to costly and time-intensive design changes, which were imple-mented in the mesh or solid-model CAD data and then reprocessed.

With the new Ford procedure, the initial computer-aided engi-neering (CAE) analysis is performed using what the company calls its Material Data Cards, which are said to incorporate complete ad-vanced characterization of key materials used in its vehicle interi-ors. These proprietary data (developed by Ford using internal test-ing resources and outside contracted testing facilities) are fed into a commercial moldfilling code, such as Moldflow (Autodesk Inc., Framingham, Mass.) or MoldX3D (CoreTech System Co. Ltd., Chu-

pei City, Taiwan). This preliminary analysis gives a design direction — that is, it helps set wall thicknesses, indicates where additional structures (e.g., ribbing) might be needed to boost stiffness, etc.

A second step is used for reinforced plastics. It involves what Webb calls an “anisotropy correction” to predict fiber orientation, using the commercial package Digimat, a multiscale modeling package for multiphase composite materials and structures devel-oped by e-Xstream engineering SA (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). This enables engineers to predict anisotropic material properties at any location in the part. Results from this step are coupled with non-linear structural analysis codes, such as Abaqus (Dassault Systèmes, Vélizy-Villacoublay, France) or LS-Dyna (Livermore Software Tech-nology Corp., Livermore, Calif.), which are used to help optimize part design and process settings. Changes indicated during this step are fed back into the CAD data, and another iteration is completed.

Webb says these analysis tools can predict crack propagation, high strain-rate behavior, anisotropic properties, creep and more with greater accuracy. Further, the new procedure provides more robust tool kickoff and vehicle launches with fewer glitches in previ-ously problematic areas. This means that Ford will use more rein-forced plastics on vehicles and do so more successfully. | CT |

Read this article online | http://short.compositesworld.com/WwGmCwM3.

ContRIButIng WRItERPeggy Malnati covers the automotive and infrastructure beats for CT and provides commu-nications services for plastics- and composites-industry clients. peggy@compositesworld.com

Ford engineers used the new process to analyze the stiffness of register vanes on the 2011 Explorer suV (results shown at right). the analysis that made use of an anisotropy correction via Digimat software to predict fiber orientation in the finished part provided the best correlation to actual measured data.

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fEatuRE: automotive update

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egulation of tail-pipe emissions.As the world’s automakers emerged from the recent reces-sion, shaken to the core and, in some cases, recapitalized with

public funds, almost everything had changed but this. In the U.S., the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. (NHTSA) and the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) are in the midst of updating Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for the 2017 to 2025 time frame. CAFE standards are used by the U.S. govern-ment to establish vehicle fuel efficiency standards for all cars and

trucks sold into the U.S. The proposed 2017-2025 standard calls for a substantial increase in automotive fuel efficiency. Table 1 (p. 25)highlights what’s in store.

In the European Union (EU), the European Commission, which develops and promulgates most of the regulations that govern EU industry, is focusing on direct reduction of emissions in cars and trucks. The current emissions limit in passenger cars is 130g of CO2/km, but by 2020 that figure will drop to 95g CO2/km. Regulations in the works for the post-2020 era promise more of the same.

Faced with high fuel prices and ever-more stringent restrictions on tailpipe emissions,

automakers are taking composites into their own hands.

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Auto composites quest

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Whether a carmaker is trying to reduce emissions or improve fuel efficiency, one of the most effective strategies is weight reduc-tion, and few inside the auto industry dispute that the best tools in the lightweighting toolbox are composites — in particular, car-bon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs), which offer a strength-per weight ratio superior to any other materials, whether metal or poly-mer based. But historically automakers could not act on that knowl-edge in a significant way because they faced a threefold challenge: cycle time, cost and availability. How can carbon fiber composite structures be made at a cost and manufacturing speed conducive to high-volume automotive production? And, some automakers have pointed out, even if carbon fiber were cheaper, how could the in-dustry commit to carbon fiber composite structures with the fiber supply so volatile and unreliable?

In the prerecession auto world, auto OEMs asked these questions and appeared to be waiting for the composites industry to provide the answers. But in the glare of postrecession realities — the con-tinuing high price of fossil fuels and a recognition that to dismiss concerns about greenhouse gas effects on the environment is, at best, politically indefensible — auto OEMs are now taking the initiative.

In the area of carbon fiber availability, for example, one way to address this challenge is to develop a partnership with a carbon fiber manufacturer to create a carbon fiber supply chain designed exclusively for your vehicles. In 2010 carmaker BMW Group (Mu-nich, Germany) and carbon fiber manufacturer SGL Group (Wies-baden, Germany) did exactly that, creating SGL Automotive Car-bon Fibers, which recently commissioned a carbon fiber plant, with a capacity of 3,000 metric tonnes (6.614 million lb), in Moses Lake, Wash. BMW will need that much because those fibers will see signifi-cant use in large parts, including the passenger cell and other chas-sis structures and, possibly, body panels on the 2013 all-electric i3 passenger car and the 2014 hybrid-electric i8 sports car — the first time carbon fiber composites will have been used in chassis structures on a production passenger car.

The BMW/SGL venture also attacks the issue of cycle time. The manufacturing pace required to meet the high-volume requirements of car or truck production is generally acknowledged to be one part per minute, a cycle duration maintained for decades by auto OEMs in their metal-stamping operations. Ideally, an automotive manufac-turer would prefer a true 60-second process, something the compos-ites industry has been unable to promise, particularly with regard to thermoset composites, which necessarily consume some time to crosslink sufficiently to cure. But composites proponents have al-ways maintained that because tooling for composite molding can be built for a small fraction of the cost of metal-stamping molds, the part-per-minute expectation could be met with lengthier processes by using multiple tools and presses. And mold cycle times have been

Due out in 2013, BMW’s all-electric i3 commuter car will feature a resin transfer molded carbon fiber composite passenger cell (shown here on display at a recent trade show).

reduced incrementally as innovative molding processes have prolif-erated over the past few years.

Although the cycle time for the BMW process is unknown, what is known is that it is based on resin transfer molding (RTM) of wo-ven carbon fiber fabrics, a process much faster than the hand la-yup/autoclave-cure methods used on CFRP in low-rate supercars. At Momentive Specialty Chemicals’ (Columbus, Ohio) Cedric Ball, market development manager — automotive, says the company has developed several fast-cure epoxies for use in high-pressure RTM (HP-RTM) processes (up to 200 bar/2,900 psi and 200 g/s injec-tion rate). Ball says fast-cure RTM resins have been used by BMW since 2009 to mold the carbon fiber roof on the M3 and M6 mod-els, and by Audi since 2011 on the B-pillar side blades for the R8. Further, Ball reports that Momentive has a 5-minute cure epoxy system going into production on several unidentified vehicles, and a two-minute cure system in trial phase. The five-minute technol-ogy combines Momentive’s EPIKOTE Resin 05475 and EPIKURE Curing Agent 05443. On the process side, Momentive has worked the most with Italian machinery manufacturer Cannon (Borromeo, Italy) and KraussMaffei/Dieffenbacher (Munich, Germany and Ep-pingen, Germany). “We believe that one-minute cycle times are not out of the question for RTM with the right combination of resin system, process and tool design,” Ball says. “While the resin system is a key component, Momentive understands that all three elements have to come together to make a successful product.”

This first-of-its-kind collaboration in the automotive industry apparently set the stage for what followed — a series of similar pair-ings among carbon fiber manufacturers and carmakers looking to reduce weight and develop high-speed manufacturing processes for carbon fiber composites. One of the most interesting and intriguing relationships has been established between General Motors (GM, Detroit, Mich.) and carbon fiber manufacturer Teijin (Tokyo, Japan)

because its goal is to attack the part-per-minute challenge head on. Teijin says it has developed a true 60-second manufacturing process for production of carbon fiber composites via press forming of pre-preg. The difference? The prepregs feature thermoplastic matrices, which, unlike thermosets, need no extended time to crosslink or cure. The partnership was announced in late 2011, and the two com-panies have since established a technical center near Detroit that will serve as the research and development bed for this process. The center is assessing polypropylene and polyamide resins and in-

Table 1: proposed U.s. Cafe standards, mpg

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

passenger Cars 37.8 40.0 41.4 43.0 44.7 46.6 48.8 51.0 53.5 56.0

light Trucks 28.8 29.4 30.0 30.6 31.2 33.3 34.9 36.6 38.5 40.3

Combined 34.1 35.3 36.4 37.5 38.8 40.9 42.9 45.0 47.3 49.6

caFE standards are used by the u.s. government to establish vehicle fuel efficiency standards (measured in miles per gallon or mpg) for all cars and trucks sold into the u.s. the 2017-2025 proposed standard (summarized here) calls for substantial increases.

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termediate-modulus carbon fiber forms that include unidirectional and isotropic constructions, as well as long-fiber thermoplastic pel-lets. GM officials told CT in 2011 that integration of carbon fiber composites in a production vehicle would require “from ground up” design and engineering to optimize material use and minimize weight. How soon parts and structures from this process might ap-pear on GM vehicles is unknown. For this report, Teijin Advanced Composites America VP Eric Haiss said, “As GM announced last December, Teijin provides the opportunity to revolutionize the way carbon fiber is used in the automotive industry and that this tech-nology holds the potential to be an industry game changer for GM. We are very pleased with the progress that’s being made so far and excited about our future growth opportunities.”

In January 2011, Daimler AG (Stuttgart, Germany) and carbon fiber manufacturer Toray Industries Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) formed a joint venture based in Esslingen, Germany, to make and market car-bon fiber composite parts for automobile parts. Like BMW, Daim-

ler is using an RTM process developed by Toray called Short Cycle RTM, to make parts for Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz passenger cars.

A fourth partnership has made public its intention to directly at-tack the cost of manufacturing carbon fiber. Ford Motor Co. (Au-burn Hills, Mich.) and Dow (Midland, Mich.) teamed up in April of this year to develop cost-effective carbon fiber composite structures that will help Ford reduce the weight of new vehicles by as much as 750 lb/340 kg by 2020. Dow, which is not an established carbon fiber manufacturer, has been collaborating with carbon fiber maker AKSA (Istanbul, Turkey) and, significantly, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tenn.). The DOE has tasked ORNL with finding a way produce carbon com-posite less expensively. Derived from petroleum, the polyacryloni-trile (PAN) precursor used by most carbon fiber producers, when pyrolized, produces a carbon fiber of very high quality, especially in terms of strength, but is extremely expensive. ORNL is attempting to

develop a less-expensive, sustainable (that is, plant-based) precursor that could reduce the cost of finished fiber. Neither Dow nor Ford would comment further about their cooperation, but Ford did as-sert in 2009 at the CompositesWorld Expo that it would not consider increased carbon fiber use unless the cost for the material dropped to $5/lb. Clearly, the economic picture has changed since then. When asked what structures Ford is considering for carbon fiber use via its work with Dow, a Dow spokesperson said, “We do not disclose targets associated with the JDA [joint development agreement], but clearly the intent is a significant usage of carbon fiber composites to drive Ford’s vehicle mass-reduction aspirations.”

Also in April 2012, RTM specialist FRIMO (Lotte, Germany) and material supplier Huntsman Polyurethanes (Everberg, Belgium) signed a cooperative agreement to develop fiber-reinforced poly-urethane (PU) solutions for automotive applications. Although the Huntsman PUs are thermosets, they crosslink and cure with great speed. Huntsman has purchased a FRIMO pilot production unit for its Everburg technical center. This equipment, specifically designed for PU systems, enables Huntsman to expand testing and validation of a new range of resins for auto composites under the trade name VI-TROX, for which the exotherm curve and gel and cure times can be accurately formulated and achieved predictably. Huntsman Advanced Materials, a separate division, is promoting for auto manufacturing what it calls Fast RTM, which uses high pressure (> 15 bar/>217 psi) in mixing and molding and has reported cycle times of 5.5 to 13 min-utes, including preform set, injection, cure and demolding.

In June 2012, Umeco (Heanor, U.K.) announced its ACOM-PLICE (Affordable COMPosites for LIghtweight Car structurEs) partnership, which includes Aston Martin Lagonda (Gaydon, War-wick, U.K.), Delta Motorsport Ltd. (Northants, U.K.), ABB Robot-ics (Zurich, Switzerland) and Pentangle Engineering Services Ltd. (Grantham, Lincolnshire, U.K.) to examine the potential for using high- performance composites in mainstream automobiles. Umeco’s role in ACOMPLICE is to develop fast-cure prepregs and enable the rapid manipulation and placement of plies via robotics. Novel ma-terials formatting and molding techniques will be developed along-side these technologies to optimize component output rates. The process is based on Umeco’s Dform prepreg press-forming process.

“We have a few snap-cure resins, not just epoxy, at various stages of maturity ....,” says Nigel Blatherwick, strategic marketing director at Umeco. “Some products are already under evaluation at tier suppliers and OEMs. However, the consistent message is: we are targeting maxi-mum three- to four-minute cycle times, not only in part molding but, critically, also at the preforming stage. The point is, a snap-cure resin is only part of the equation.” He adds, “As is always the case with ad-vanced composites — part design, manufacturing process and material are inextricably linked.”

Meanwhile, Plasan Carbon Composites (Bennington, Vt.) has spent the past couple of years working with press manufacturer Globe Machine Manufacturing Co. (Tacoma, Wash.) and toolmaker Weber Manufacturing Technologies Inc. (Midland, Ontario, Canada) on a rapid-cure, out-of-autoclave system for molding thermoset-based carbon-fiber composites with a cycle times of about 17 minutes, and is targeting 10 minutes. Plasan has opened a technical center in Wixom, Mich., close to auto industry customers, and last summer, it

teijin (tokyo, Japan) used its 60-second thermoplastic composite press-forming process to mold the passenger cell on this demonstrator vehicle. teijin now is working with General Motors (Detroit, Mich.) to integrate this molding technology into passenger-vehicle production.

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demonstrated the manufacture of a six-layer carbon fiber composite test plaque with a Class A surface and excellent consolidation.

KEEPing iT in ConTEXT

If, in fact, carbon fiber composites are on the verge of widespread adoption in structural auto parts, it’s likely that, as has happened in aerospace and other industries, the initial impulse will be design and manufacture of “black metal.”

Antony Dodworth, lead composite engineer at Dodworth De-sign (Birmingham, U.K.) and former engineer at carmaker Bentley (Crewe, Cheshire, U.K.), argues that composites’ biggest hurdles in automotive aren’t material or process related. “It’s design,” he says. “Most car applications are stiffness driven, therefore it’s about sec-tion size and incorporating as much into each part as possible. New materials and processes open up new design possibilities, so the challenge is to make structures that are manufacturable in an auto-mated method and chase the material properties that you require.”

Umeco’s Blatherwick also notes that while auto OEMs focus on piece-part cost, the integration of composites into cars and trucks requires a more thorough analysis of the design process. Although cycle time is a major issue as annual volumes move from hundreds to thousands to hundreds of thousands of parts, “molded part cost will always come top of the list in terms of OEM concerns about adopting advanced composite materials,” he says. “Of course, there are a raft of other real concerns that need addressing — material characterization, simulation, scrap levels, joining technologies, re-cycling, etc. None are insurmountable if we — materials suppliers, tier manufacturers and OEMs — work in close collaboration.”

Given the relative youth of composites in automobile structures, Dodworth says the industry can expect a steady progression of de-

sign maturation as vehicles are developed to accommodate compos-ites, not vice versa. Correspondingly, this could be the dawn of true automation in automotive composites. “The big European auto pro-ducers are now looking for new composites manufacturing capability to satisfy their higher volume applications,” he says. “There are no preconceptions or prejudices regarding where this capability comes from, as long as it will be accessible within Europe. The production techniques required for this type of manufacturing are going to be heavily dependent upon automation, so it is going to be linked to the ability to invest in equipment and capacity and with a relative insen-sitivity to labor rates.”

So, where is all of this R&D leading? Blatherwick says, “Within Umeco, we are thinking about advanced composite materials as a whole and certainly planning on supporting significant growth over the next 5 to 10 years.” And even if current automotive composites development is clouded in secrecy, it’s clear that the composites in-dustry is enjoying unprecedented interest from the automotive sec-tor that appears to presage the shape of things to come. | CT |

Editor-in-ChiefJeff Sloan, CT’s editor-in-chief, has been engaged in plastics- and composites-industry journalism for 20 years.jeff@compositesworld.com

Read this article online | http://short.compositesworld.com/G651LhR0.

automotive composites veteran antony Dodworth says the biggest barriers to integration of carbon composites into cars and trucks are encountered in the design and engineering stages. a car door, for example, can be designed and manufactured with composites to use far fewer parts (left) than required when using metals (right). But there will be a period in which car parts are designed as “black metal,” Dodworth predicts, before automakers start optimizing structures for composites use.

Source | Antony Dodworth

t

the evolution

of

he use of the resin infusion process has grown significantly in the 25 years since fiberglass boatbuilder/composite materials distributor Seemann Composites (Gulfport,

Miss.) introduced SCRIMP (Seemann Composites Resin Infusion Molding Process). Closed molding in boat decks, for example, grew from 5 percent in 2000 to between 20 and 50 percent by 2005, according to Materials in Marine, a study published by JEC Group (Paris, France) in 2006. The same study predicted that by 2015, closed molding would be used for more than 60 percent of marine composites (Fig. 1, p. 26). The process has evolved with equal vigor, as evidenced by the many other acronyms and patents that followed SCRIMP since 1987 (see Learn More” on

p. 29). Early on, each new development was aimed primarily at improving laminate quality: increased fiber content, decreased voids and better surface finish. But more recently, process refine-ments include a push for faster infusion by formulating resins to lower viscosities and infusing at elevated temperatures to speed cure. Infusion also moved from hulls to more complex deck structures, and now to larger, thicker structures with integrated stiffeners, which require resins with longer working time and less exotherm. Today, the emphasis in infusion innovation is trending to process control. A number of the newer techniques and equip-ment systems are aimed, therefore, at reducing process risk and increasing quality and repeatability for novice users.

infuSionas resin infusion continues to infiltrate composites, fabricators across the market

spectrum drive materials and process developments in pursuit of process control.

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fEatuRE: Resin Infusion

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EvoLuTionARY LAnDSCAPE

Although resin infusion’s technical superiority to “bucket and brush” layup is beyond question, its adoption by molders of every stripe is driven just as strongly by concern for worker welfare. “In Europe, manufacturers of marine and industrial composites will have to look at infusion and other closed molding processes, due to the increased regulation of styrene,” observes infusion researcher John Summerscales, an associate professor of compos-ites engineering at the University of Plymouth (Plymouth, U.K.). Currently, styrene exposure limits vary by country in Europe, from 20 to 100 parts per million (ppm), with the U.K. maintaining the latter. However, in 2011, the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) proposed that the derived no-effect level (DNEL) for worker inhalation exposure to styrene should be 20 ppm (over an eight-hour, time-weighted average) and that this DNEL might be used to harmonize styrene exposure limits across the European Union.

The American Composites Manufacturers Assn. (ACMA) has re-sponded to similar pressure in the U.S. by proposing an occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 50 ppm, which it says will mean “working to-ward a target eight-hour average exposure of approximately 35 ppm.”

Resin infusion is an extremely effective way to meet these new limits. For example, during a 2009 National Institute for Occupation-al Safety and Health (NIOSH) walk-through survey of the LM Glasfi-ber (now LM Wind Power) wind blade facility in Grand Forks, N.D., the lowest personal breathing zone measurements for styrene were among the 21 workers performing infusion, all at less than 5 ppm.

Indeed, wind blade manufacturers migrated to resin infusion and other closed mold processes between 2000 and 2005 (see Fig. 2, p. 26), with production of large blades (length >30m/98 ft) re-portedly now split between infusion (65 percent) and prepreg (35 percent). Some industry pundits predicted that the use of prepreg would increase with the quest for automation through automated tape laying (ATL) machines. However, ATL has been limited to spars so far, and industry experts like Steve Nolet, TPI Composites’

(Scottsdale, Ariz.) principal engineer/director of innovation, doubt its ability to match manual placement rates of 1,500 kg/hr (3,307 lb/hr) and targeted finished product costs of $5/lb to $10/lb.

Meanwhile, the growth of infusion in aerospace composites con-tinues as manufacturers pursue freedom from the cost, size limits and workflow bottlenecks of autoclaves (see “Learn More”). Howev-er, their standards are demanding, and include fiber content greater than 50 percent by volume (not weight) and less than 2 percent void content. Driven by the need for higher service temperatures, infu-sion at this end of the composites spectrum is venturing beyond epoxies into bismaleimides (BMIs; cure at 350°F to 500°F/177°C to 260°C) and polyimides, such as NASA’s new phenylethynyl termi-nated imide (PETI) resins (cure at 300°F to 375°F/148°C to 190°C).

To this end, NASA developed a high-temperature vacuum-as-sisted resin transfer molding process (HT-VARTM) adapted from Controlled Atmospheric Pressure Resin Infusion (CAPRI, patented by The Boeing Co., Chicago Ill.). CAPRI is a variation of SCRIMP that employs vacuum debulking and a reduced pressure differential to minimize thickness gradients and resin bleeding. In HT-VAR-TM, the resin and fiber reinforcements are heated to facilitate flow and wetout. Aluminum screen is used as a flow medium because it stands up well to heat. A second bag provides redundancy in case of leaks during infusion. (See “Learn More”).

BioniC infuSion

Wind blade manufacturers continue to be the major force driving resin infusion innovation. LM Wind Power’s reported four-hour infusion of its P73.5 turbine blade’s glass fiber-reinforced, balsa-cored shell was a newsworthy milestone. The infusion process, which was extraordinarily brief for the world’s longest turbine blade, owed its speed to a specially formulated polyester resin. Indeed, almost every resin supplier now has a low-viscosity product for infusion (See “Learn More”). Joining the low-viscosity polyes-ters and epoxies common in wind blade infusion is a new one that aspires to reset the game: Bayer MaterialScience’s (Pittsburgh, Pa.) new Baydur polyurethane (PU) resin for wind blades. The company claims it infuses twice as fast as epoxy, yet it achieves equivalent

infuSion

tcM composites, div. of Kenway corp. (augusta, Maine), infusion consultant andré cocquyt (GrPguru.com, Brunswick, Maine) and resin supplier ccP composites (n. Kansas city, Mo.) developed the temperature controlled Molding (tcM) system to handle thick laminates, such as this 11 ft by 17 ft by 1.5-inch (3.36m by 5.18m by 0.46m) thick solid laminate for a u.s. navy project.

tcM composites claims its tcM infusion molding system controls exotherm in laminates up to 4-inches/102-mm thick, such as that in this large component for the renewable energy sector.

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static properties. Moreover, the material is made from a sustainable soy-based polyether polyol and is being marketed as an alternative to traditional infusion resins, offering long gel times with a faster demold time than epoxy.

The latter sounds much like the snap-cure capability of the VI-TROX PU resins introduced in 2008-2009 by Huntsman Polyure-thanes (Auburn Hills, Mich., and Everberg, Belgium). Citing tun-able characteristics — such as room temperature viscosity from 150 to 2,000 cps, Tg up to 250°C/482°F, delayed onset of cure and a long pot life — Huntsman initially marketed VITROX for resin infusion, filament winding and resin transfer molding (RTM). Yet recent product and merger announcements suggest this PU formulation might have found commercial success in RTM of automotive parts and cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) liners.

Meanwhile, Bayer says its Baydur PU for infusion can reduce wall thicknesses for lightweighting without sacrificing strength. It has been demonstrated in a wind blade root ring, infusing 63 layers of Vector-ply (Phenix City, Ala.) biaxial glass fabric and a 4-ft by 1.5-ft (1.2m by 0.5m) heavy truck airfoil. Bayer says the testing showed that its PU root ring has three times greater fracture toughness vs. a comparable epoxy blade root ring, along with a ten-fold improvement in fatigue tensile

strength and better fatigue crack resistance. The truck part achieved a Class A surface finish with an in-mold polyurethane gel coat.

Also aimed at infusion of wind turbine blades, Materia Inc.’s (Pasadena, Calif.) new Proxima polydicyclopentadiene (pDCPD) resin takes viscosity to a new low. Featuring Nobel Prize-winning olefin metathesis catalyst technology (see the sidebar “Backgrounder: Proxima pDCPD,” p. 27), it has a reported viscosity of 10 to 20 cps (at 23°C/73°F). Materia claims it enables one-shot infusion of thick sections (e.g., blade root areas), reduced void content and higher fiber volume fractions of 58 to 60 percent. (It also is recommended as a so-lution for complete wetout during infusion of traditionally problem-atic carbon fiber laminates.) Infusion rates are up to 10 times faster than standard infusion resins, and cured parts weigh less but have greater fracture toughness and fatigue resistance.

Proxima may have some competition. In July 2011, inventors Maurice Marks and Gary Hunter, both chemists for Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.) in Lake Jackson, Texas, received U.S. patent 2011/0163474, which claims a novel epoxy resin formulation for use in vacuum infusion that uses a divinylarene dioxide, such as divinylben-zene dioxide (DVBDO), to achieve viscosity as low as 10 to 25 cps at 25°C/77°F, a two- to four-hour gel time, cure temperatures from 15°C to 200°C (59°F to 392°F) and a Tg of 60°C to 170°C (140°F to 338°F).

According to the patent, DVBDO is pursued as an alternative to low-viscosity epoxy resin for infusion because the typical procedure of adding a reactive diluent also reduces the heat resistance of the cured composite. To achieve the heat-deflection temperature (HDT) required by leading wind turbine certification body Germanischer Lloyd (GL, Hamburg, Germany), many formulators add cycloali-phatic amine curing agents. Dow’s patent states that this is costly and only partially effective.

If they were offered in a commercial product at a slightly lower cost than current amine-based epoxy infusion resins, the range of properties claimed in the DVBDO patent would place the Dow product head to head with Materia’s Proxima pDCPD resin. How-ever, at CT press time, neither company had set a date when its tech-nology will be available to the market.

MAnAging THE PRoCESS

Although resins with extremely low viscosities are improving wetout and reducing mold fill time, they also can place greater demands on molders for vacuum integrity and process control. Indeed, another branch of infusion’s evolutionary tree is focused on process manage-ment. “So much of the effort in infusion now is to speed it up,” says Ian Kopp, manager of TCM Composites, a new division of Kenway Corp. (Augusta, Maine). “But we have found that fast is not always better. For us, control is the key to infusion.”

For Kenway, that key is Temperature Controlled Molding (TCM), a heat-activated cure and infusion control technology, developed when the company began infusing 5- to 7-inch (127- to 178-mm) thick industrial structures in one shot, using vinyl ester resin (see photo, p. 24). Before TCM, the results were hit and miss, with periodic exotherm spikes that exceeded 500°F/260°C. To deal with the spikes, Kenway enlisted the expertise of infusion consultant André Cocquyt (GRPguru.com, Brunswick, Maine) and resin supplier CCP Compos-ites (N. Kansas City, Mo.). Together, they developed the TCM system

Fig. 1: a study published by JEc Group (Paris, France) in 2006 predicted that by 2015 closed molding would be used for more than 60 percent of marine composites.

Fig. 2: Wind blade manufacturers migrated to resin infusion and other closed mold processes between 2000 and 2005, with production of large blades (length >30m/98 ft) reportedly now split between infusion (65 percent) and prepreg (35 percent).

large Wind Blade Manufacturing evolution to Vip

Resin InfusionWet LayupResin Transfer MoldingInjection Molding

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and then opened the new namesake division to exploit Arkema Inc.’s (King of Prussia, Pa.) BlocBuilder heat-activated catalyst technology, which is designed to delay onset of cure.

“Now you have the ability to infuse very thick laminates,” ex-plains Kopp, “because the catalyst and resin can be mixed for long periods without initiation of cure.” However, controlled heating in the mold became a necessity, and cooling was just as vital to control exotherm. Kenway’s own proprietary technology enables even heat-ing and cooling across the tool surface without the hot spots that are common with conventional electrical wiring or copper tubing (see the sidebar “Temperature control heats up,” p. 28).

“For us, there have been a lot of cost benefits to using TCM,” says Kopp. He illustrates this point by describing a U.S. Navy project that involved large panels with 2-inch/51-mm thick cores. “Because of the insulative effect of the core, it would be difficult to maintain a constant temperature and flow front through the part, but TCM tools make the infusion very easy to control.” This project also used three 100-oz/yd2 (3,391g/m2) fabrics, all made to the same specifica-tion, but each affected processing differently.

Seasonal temperature changes alone can cause problems with in-fusion. “Previously, infusions like this were not repeatable in a time-ly fashion,” Kopp explains, “However, by heating the resin, mold and dry stack materials, we are keeping everything at a constant tempera-ture, which enables us to achieve the same processing characteristics and infusion times on a repeatable basis. Thus, we are able to control our laminate quality and produce very consistent parts.”

Other benefits include greater fiber content — as much as 70 percent by volume — and improved cosmetics. Moreover, these re-sults can be achieved with polyester, vinyl ester, epoxy and, most recently, phenolic resins. Currently, Kopp and team are infusing light rail and other transportation structures with phenolics to meet flammability and smoke regulations. He acknowledges, “Without TCM we wouldn’t be in this market at all.” To date, the company has manufactured molds good to 200°F/93°C, and distributor Compos-ites One (Arlington Heights, Ill.) now includes the TCM process in its Closed Mold Alliance composites trade show demonstrations. But even better performance is on the way. In TCM’s work with the University of Maine to investigate thermoplastic composite wind blades, it is exploring capabilities up to 400°F/204°C.

ConTRoL iS THE goAL

The double-bag infusion technique has incited much debate since its coverage in CT, with multipage threads on both CompositesCentral.com and LinkedIn’s Composites Industry Forum (see “Learn More,” p. 29). Those who use the technique claim it helps them achieve consistently higher fiber content and lighter weight laminates. Naysayers decry the alleged physics and claim improved results are merely a result of improved infusion procedures. Process developer Russ Emanis (Dexell Composites, Keller, Texas) describes double-bag infusion as merely one means of process control for those new to infusion. “I understand there are experts who doubt the tech-nique,” he says. “My goal isn’t to become an ‘industry expert,’ but simply to help companies use infusion to produce lighter weight, stronger parts more consistently and with less risk.” Emanis says double-bag infusion does not fit every part or fabricator, but he

BACkgrouNdEr: ProxIMA pdCPd

Materia Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.) is a privately held company, founded

in 1998 to commercialize a Nobel Prize-winning ruthenium (RU)

catalyst chemistry, which enables ring-opening olefin metathesis

polymerization (ROMP) of pure dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) monomer,

a petroleum byproduct. The result is Proxima, a completely new type

of polydicyclopentadiene (pDCPD) thermoset resin that is said to offer

the same mechanical properties as, and better long-term durability

than, epoxy at a 10 percent lower density and a lower initial purchase

price. Developed at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech,

Pasadena, Calif.), this evolving catalyst technology, now in its second

generation, has enabled formulators to fine-tune Proxima for resin

infusion. Proxima is reportedly very different from previous pDCPD

products that use DCPD oligomers, tungsten or molybdenum catalysts,

and it is processed by reaction injection molding (RIM). Notably, all of

the other RIM-processed pDCPD products — brand named Metton,

Telene and Pentam — have been acquired, and are now sold by,

Tokyo, Japan-based RIMTEC Corp.

Materia maintains that Proxima’s unique resin chemistry delivers

the ductility and fracture toughness associated with thermoplastics;

the chemical resistance and low moisture absorption of fluoropoly-

mers; and the static properties, creep-resistance and processing

capability of thermosets. Its low viscosity of 15 to 20 cps at room

temperature (most low-viscosity resins are 150 to 400 cps, and water

is 1 cps) enables dramatically reduced infusion times vs. infusion

epoxies or, alternatively, the same infusion time with no flow media,

which saves time and money because significantly fewer consumables

are used.

As of July 2012, the production capacity was 2,000 metric tonnes

(4.4 million lb) from a single pilot plant in Huntsville, Texas, but

Materia says new industrial-scale capacity can be brought online in

months, anywhere in the world.

— Ginger Gardiner

Materia inc.’s Proxima pDcPD resin system gives a molder a rough match for epoxy’s relatively low shrinkage and high tensile strength while it improves on epoxy tensile strain and water absorption, at a lower density than epoxy, unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester.

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ener at the point of infusion so the feed line becomes the hot pot, eliminating wasted resin. Emanis explains, “Often, multiple 5-gal [19-liter] pails of resin will be mixed at one time to service a me-dium-sized infusion. Because of the reaction chemistry and limited pot life, gallons of resin end up being thrown away.”

The Accu-Fusion delivery head has one feed line placed in the resin reservoir and another in the hardener. These components are drawn separately into the head via vacuum, then mixed and deliv-ered into the part at low pressure. Emanis estimates that this alone saves as much as 30 percent of infusion labor costs, because mixing time is eliminated and no personnel are required to stand idle while waiting to blend and pour. This system also eliminates the risk of mix-ratio error, which can prevent the epoxy from curing properly or reaching its full strength, as well as the risk of runaway exotherm from mixing too much epoxy at once. The Accu-Fusion head is de-signed to deliver the amount of resin required by the infusion at the right time. Codeveloper and SYBO CEO Dana Greenwood says that when his company infuses an 18-ft/5.5m hull for customer Chit-tum Skiffs (St. Augustine, Fla.), “we have, at most, 12 oz [340g] of [mixed]resin outside of the bag.”

Vectorworks CEO Jeff Gray notes that the method would have been ideal when his company infused 18 large parts for the Swift megayacht’s 325-ft/99m long superstructure (see “Learn More”). “If we had the Aero-Fusion system in place, we could have not only eliminated the bucket mixing, we could have used the mate-rial lines again for each subsequent part since no catalyzed materi-als run through the feed lines up to the Accu-Fusion head.”

Greenwood got involved during the second stage of development: the Pro-Fusion pump. Emanis recalls, “At first, I had a vacuum-only system, which worked fine for small parts, but we couldn’t maintain the level of accurate mixing required for infusing large parts.” Emanis and Greenwood worked together to develop a system that could han-dle high-viscosity epoxy resin while mixing in low-viscosity harden-ers and still maintain accurate ratios from 1:1 to 6:1.

“This is the challenge,” says Emanis, noting, for example, that CPD 2110/9260 room-temperature infusion epoxy (Endurance Technologies, Minneapolis, Minn.) uses a 1200-cps resin and a 30-

Faster infusion is one way to reduce cycle time, but another is faster

cure, which typically requires an elevated temperature. The wind

industry has infused layups in heated molds for years, most com-

monly using electrical elements or fluid conduits. Tooling with built-in

ducts that heat and cool molds with forced air has been used in the

aerospace industry for decades. Using heated and cooled liquids for

molding composites first started gaining traction with VEC Technology’s

(Greenville, Pa.) Floating Mold technology patent application in 1999,

and more recently with QuickStep Technologies’ (North Coogee, West-

ern Australia), “balanced pressure fluid molding” (patent application in

2002). At the JEC Composites Show in 2011, Techni Modul Engineering

(Coudes, France) exhibited its self-heated tooling that features a fluid

circulation system for oil, water or metal-based fluids. Although VEC

describes its Floating Mold processing as resin transfer molding (RTM),

and QuickStep markets its process as being adaptable to liquid resin

infusion, resin film infusion or light RTM, all three companies can use

a variety of fluids to impart temperature control and each describes its

composite tooling shells as thin, lightweight and less costly than the

traditional metal tools used in RTM.

— Ginger Gardiner

TEMPErATurE CoNTrol hEATs uP

sees value in it, even if it merely increases the number of companies that can access infusion and use it with confidence.

His advocacy of double bagging aside, Emanis recognizes that infusion process control needs to be more automated. Toward that end, he has worked with SYBO Composites (St. Augustine, Fla.) and Vectorworks Marine (Titusville, Fla.) to develop Aero-Fusion, an automated system that not only controls vacuum but delivers precisely mixed epoxy resin and hardener at a controlled rate dur-ing infusion, eliminating pails of mixed resin and mix ratio errors. The mobile unit reportedly will cost about half the price of existing equipment in a significantly smaller footprint.

The first step toward Aero-Fusion was Emanis’ development of the Accu-Fusion delivery head, which mixes epoxy resin and hard-

this light sport aircraft engine cowling was the first carbon composite part made using russ Emanis’ double-bag techniques. roughly 42 inches by 50 inches (1,067 mm by 1,270 mm), it replaces a fiberglass part.

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cps hardener to produce a mixed resin with a viscosity of 300 cps. “Epoxy infusion resins can be very sensitive to mix ratios,” Emanis notes. “For example, ±3 percent deviation per component is unac-ceptable for many of these systems. Aero-Fusion is designed to get the margin of error down to as close to zero as possible.”

Greenwood adds, “I have an RTM gun, which cost $26,000 and was designed specifically for modified infusion and RTM light, but it can’t handle resins with viscosity greater than 1,000 cps. The Aero-Fusion system easily handles materials in excess of 5,000 cps, but we had to develop unique technology to enable this.”

“A lot of shops will infuse using an RTM gun,” Emanis points out. “However, frequently the vacuum bag gets overinflated, so they will turn the pump off and let the vacuum pull the resin into the part. This can be made to work, but it can also fail if not correctly con-trolled. With our system, you are balanc-ing the flow of resin into the part with the flow front inside, preventing the part from being overloaded.”

Aero-Fusion prototype systems were field tested in 2011 and then refined. De-signs for the second-generation are out to manufacturers for quotes and should be available later in 2012. And Emanis is working with a variety of companies to refine the Aero-Fusion system.

Currently, the Aero-Fusion system can infuse multiple parts in series. However, Emanis will be testing its capability to run parts simultaneously, using a manifold. Greenwood explains, “For large infusions, the ideal would be to have a manifold on the resin and hardener reservoirs and then run lines to multiple Accu-Fusion heads, one at every point where a resin feed is re-quired, so that there is no volume of mixed

Contributing WriterGinger Gardiner is a freelance writer and regular CT contributor based in Washington, N.C.ginger@compositesworld.com

Read this article, accompanied by debate links; four additional charts that detail the growth and extent of resin infusion techniques; the currently available infusion-capable, low-viscosity resin systems; and NASA Langley’s H-VARTM system; online | http://short.compositesworld.com/BoqHww50.

Read about double bagging in “Double-bag infusion: 70 percent fiber volume?” | CT December 2010 (p. 54) | http://short.compositesworld.com/s2RIkexJ.

Read more about the Swift megayacht in “From frigate to luxury gigayacht” | CT October 2009 (p. 32) | http://short.compositesworld.com/yzqjbIz1.

compositesworld.com

resin pooled in the lines.” They also see the eventual development of a system for unpromoted vinyl esters, promoting at the head as the resin is introduced into the part. The system is expected to offer the same drop in cost vs. currently available vinyl ester dispensing systems while eliminating surging. | CT |

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omposite materials have a tendency to show up in unexpected — and sometimes surprising — applications when one steps outside of the typical design space of aerospace, marine, archi-

tectural or industrial markets. In fact, they have been embraced by designers and role-playing game cosplayers (short for costumed role players), performance artists who recreate and wear the trappings of their favorite characters in video games, comic books, graphic novels and, especially, manga and anime (comics and animated videos, respectively, created in artistic styles that originated in Japan).

Cosplayers compete for prizes and recognition at conventions that cater to fans of same, including Comic-Con, Katsucon and Otakon.

MAngA MASTERPiECES

The fantasy recreations require considerable design and execution skill, as well as a range of materials. Spencer Composites Corp.’s (Sacramento, Calif.) Zack Spencer, a composites engineer and cofounder of the Sacramento-based collaborative builder’s group Mantium Industries Inc., recently helped coordinate a Mantium-supported costume design project for the Katsucon anime confer-ence in early 2012.

“This was a huge learning experience,” says Mantium member Meagan Marie, a well-known cosplayer and former editor at Game Informer magazine, who works in the video gaming industry and writes a popular gaming blog. Marie and fellow cosplayer Linda

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Composites as costume

sophisticated design meets composite materials and manufacturing in cosplay application.

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composites’ design flexibility was put to the test for an application in which cosplayers Meagan Marie (left) and Linda Le (right) created the costumes they needed to replicate the characters of claire and teresa, respectively, from the manga claymore.

the characters as they appear in the manga. teresa (top) has long, flowing hair. clare’s (bottom image) is short.

MAngA MASTERPiECES

Le, better known as Vampy, a cosplay veteran famous for her anime costuming skills and appearances, teamed with Spencer and others within Mantium to design and fabricate the costume elements of the characters Teresa and Clare from the manga Claymore.

BRinging CHARACTERS To LifE

“I’ve always been a big fan of comic books and video games, and started going to conventions about five years ago,” says Marie, noting that “the cosplay community is a very serious and committed group of people.” She and Le were invited guests at the 2012 Katsucon event in Washington, D.C. The pair selected

the Claymore characters because they both liked the story line and thought the costumes would be unique. In conversations with Spencer, they determined that composites would be the best option for the costumes’ external armor because the lightweight elements would be more comfortable yet durable enough to pack and transport to the show. And, given the design freedom of

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1 an action figure and 2-D art from the manga were carefully scanned and reviewed to ensure costume accuracy. Marie (shown here viewing a claymore art scan) and Le collaborated with members of Mantium industries in the design of the costume elements.

2 Molds for all of the costumes’ armor elements were milled from billet aluminum by spencer composites. Pictured is a mold for a “petal,” one of the pieces that make up the armor skirts worn by both characters.

3 a finished aluminum mold for a wing part, which attaches to the backpack.

5 Finished layup of a backpack part. 6 Layup of one of the shoulder armor elements.

7 Layup of one of the smaller of the two shoulder armor elements.

9 the petals were made with a spencer- developed p-DcPD resin. the petal molds were first loaded with a flexible stainless steel wire mesh.

10 a technician pours p-DcPD resin into one of the petal molds.

11 the filament-wound sword handles, after wet winding with 12K carbon fiber tow and application of a clearcoat finish.

14 all of the costume parts, after final painting.

15 the petals were heated to allow bending so that they could be shaped to each woman’s body.

13 sanding one of the shoulder parts. all prepreg parts were sanded, faired and painted.

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4 Layup of one of the backpack parts, using woven carbon/epoxy prepreg.

8 When completed, all part layups were vacuum bagged and then oven-cured.

12 One of the finished backpack parts, after demolding.

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composites, they would also provide the best way to achieve a “screen-accurate” design.

The process began with the purchase of a Claymore action figure, approxi-mately 12-inches/305-mm high. Spencer Composites’ three-dimensional laser scanner was employed to scan the figure in detail, and the data were converted to a 3-D model using SolidWorks software from Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. (Waltham, Mass.). The composite elements were to include the shoulder armor and attached backpack with wings, the “petals” or armor pieces that form a skirt, and the shafts of each character’s massive claymore sword, modeled after the long two-handed 17th Century Scottish broadsword of the same name, and from which the manga takes its title. Using the Solid-Works program, each element was modeled and drafted in three dimensions and scaled dimensionally to fit the two women. Then the information was converted to CAMWorks, a program within SolidWorks, that automatically transforms the model shape information into CNC machine code for machin-ing the part molds.

The group decided to filament wind the sword handles in carbon fiber and chose carbon/epoxy prepreg for the shoulder and backpack pieces. To accommodate a flowing cape, the backpack’s wings were designed in two pieces, which would be joined with metal fasteners so the fabric could be held in place.

The petals were a challenge. In order to achieve a natural drape and a skirt-like look, similar to the comic’s design, the petals had to have some flexibility. To achieve this, the Mantium team opted for an innovative Spen-cer-patented poly-dicyclopentodiene (p-DCPD) resin, an engineered low-viscosity thermoset that processes easily but, when cured, offers properties similar to a thermoplastic, including high elongation and “give.” Because of its low initial viscosity, the resin also could deliver the high-quality surface finish and reproduce the level of detail that Marie and Le wanted. Two sets of petal molds were required to accommodate the height difference between Marie and Le. Each set required three molds to create the different petal shapes that make up the skirt.

The CAMWorks files were input to Spencer’s CNC milling machine, man-ufactured by Cincinnati Milacron (now Milacron LLC, Cincinnati, Ohio), and the female molds for the shoulder pieces, backpacks, wings and petals were machined from flat billet aluminum over the course of several weeks. Materials selected for the shoulder armor and backpack pieces included a 2x2 woven twill (NB301) 3K prepreg fabric supplied by Newport Adhesives and Composites Inc. (Irvine, Calif.). Material for the filament-wound shafts was 34-700 12K carbon tow, supplied by Grafil Inc. (Sacramento, Calif.), wet out with an epoxy resin from Momentive (formerly Hexion, Colum-bus, Ohio) that was formulated with a catalyst from Lindau Chemicals Inc. (Columbia, S.C.).

MoRE THAn MEETS THE EYE

When the tooling was complete, the Mantium team began the process of laying up the costume parts. With virtually no composites experience, Marie and Le learned on the fly with instruction from Spencer and other team members. The first parts made were the shoulder armor pieces, consisting of two nesting hemispheres on each shoulder. As with the petals, two sets of tools were created, one for each woman. The mold surfaces were prepared with Release All mold release supplied by Airtech International Inc. (Huntington Beach, Calif.). Because of the double-curved hemispherical shape, layup was tricky. The four plies of prepreg required considerable cutting, darting and overlap-ping to get them into the molds. A similar layup process was repeated for

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the backpack and backpack wings, again using darting and cutting to correctly shape the material to the complex mold contours. The layups were vacuum bagged, a vacuum was pulled to evacuate air and provide consolidation and the parts were oven-cured at 250°F/121°C, in accordance with the material specifications.

The petal skirt pieces were created by first cutting stainless steel wire mesh to the approximate mold shape, then laying the mesh in the mold cavities, which were prepared with a proprietary Spencer-developed mold release that is chemically compatible with the p-DCPD resin. After mixing the resin, the liquid was simply poured into the molds. The parts were processed by waiting overnight for the cure to progress. “The embedded wire mesh enabled us to shape the petals, after heating them up in an oven, so that they would hang properly during wearing,” says Marie.

Spencer, meanwhile, created the two sword shafts, approximately 4 ft/1.2m in length and 1.5 inches/38 mm in diameter, by winding a single carbon fiber tube on a 1-inch/25-mm steel mandrel on the company’s 2-axis, single-spindle winding machine and cutting the wound shaft in half. The handle parts were clearcoated to give them a smooth finish. Then they were fitted with decorative aluminum pieces, also CNC-machined by Spencer, to replicate the Claymore design. The massive sword blades were CNC-machined from alu-minum slabs and engraved with the appropriate insignia for the

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the finished swords were tested (on watermelons) and found to be quite effective by Marie and Le prior to their first cosplay appearance.

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characters. Spencer notes that the swords were quite lethal. “We tried them out on watermelons, just to see what would happen,” he reports, quipping, “We decided we’d better file down the edges so that Meagan and Linda wouldn’t get hurt during the convention.”

After the composite parts were cured and demolded, the te-dious process of hand sanding, fairing and painting began. After careful sanding, a fairing compound was applied to eliminate the print-through caused by the fabric prepreg. After the compound was cured, a second sanding was required to make the parts as smooth as possible for painting. An automotive-grade paint was applied to the parts for a Class A finish.

Marie and Le then set to work to assemble the parts into the finished costumes. The petal shaping was followed by riveting the pieces to belts that would be hidden under bodysuits sewn by Le. The wings were attached to the backpacks and white fabric was secured to the wings, then metallic links were fashioned to se-cure the shoulder armor in front. Balance issues, which caused the backpacks to slip downward, were solved, and aluminum leglets and wrist pieces were fabricated as final touches. Le used her wig cutting skills to create the characters’ hairstyles.

The project was capped by Marie and Le’s attendance at Kat-sucon 2012, where their costumes were featured in videos and professional still photos. “It was really satisfying to merge com-posites engineering with artistry in this project. It was the most intensive and complicated costume project that Linda and I have ever worked on,” concludes Marie. The Mantium collaborative, in addition to costumes, has embarked on other novel projects involving composites, including sculpture and a composite repro-duction of the R2-D2 robot of Star Wars fame, a project so true to the movie prop that it has received many positive responses from members of the R2-D2 Builders Club (www.astromech.net). Indeed, the Claymore project has demonstrated the endless versa-tility of composite materials in an almost unlimited range of mar-kets — even comic character costumes. | CT |

Marie (front) and Le during their appearance at Katsucon 2012 in Washington, D.c.

Read this article online | http://short.compositesworld.com/ncyNSX2J.

For more about the process of creating the costumes, check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coeWo0vFHRI.

To see many of the costumes on display at Katsucon, including those created by Marie and Le, check out this video: http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2012/02/28/the-best-of-katsucon-2012-video/ or visit www.katsucon.org.

technical EditorSara Black is CT’s technical editor and has served on the CT staff for 12 years.sara@compositesworld.com

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applications

ApplicationsCoMPosItE BootH ATM delivers “green” in more ways than one

Recently, Edra Equipamentos (Ipeuna, Brazil) joined the National Recycling Program of the Brazilian Composite Mate-rials Assn. (ABMACO, Sao Paulo, Brazil). As one result, it tapped its 15-year history of designing and producing banking industry hardware and displays to develop an auto-mated teller machine (ATM) enclosure that is not only attrac-tive and functional, but also environmentally sustainable.

Dubbed the Contemporary Bank Project, the effort took ap-proximately one year and required more than $300,000 (USD), says company president Jorge Braescher. “After surveys with several banks and approximately 500 users, we defined the concept of the ATM booth and promoted a contest among several architects,” he recalls. The company opted for a composite design. “Then, we en-tered into agreements with the suppliers of raw materials.”

Owens Corning Composite Materials (Toledo, Ohio) supplied reinforcements for the enclosure’s curved walls and flat ceiling in the

form of Advantex glass-fiber mats. They were wet out with a poly-mer derived partly from renewable sources, such as oilseed plants, produced by Sao Paulo-based Elekeiroz SA. “To make this resin,” Braescher notes, “Elekeiroz also includes recycled postconsumer polymers — for instance, PET [polyethylene terephthalate] bottles.”

The booth is molded in five parts, using light resin transfer mold-ing (light RTM), and the five elements are bonded with a structural adhesive manufactured by Lord Corp. (Cary, N.C. and Sao Paulo). Also sustainable, the floor is made from a wood/plastic composite that contains more than 90 percent discarded packaging waste.

To reduce energy consumption at night, photovoltaic panels on the booth’s roof power interior LED lamps. Daylight is provided by a Solatube skylight (Solatube International Inc., Vista, Calif.). Win-dow films from 3M (St. Paul, Minn.) block more than 80 percent of infrared energy, which greatly reduces cooling requirements. Top-ping the structure is a layer of grass (see photo) that “improves ther-mal and acoustic comfort for users,” adds Braescher.

Full-scale production began in June. Although it is priced 20 to 30 percent higher than ATM booths currently operating in Brazil, the new concept stands out for its environmental aesthetic, Brae-scher says, and is compliant with Brazil’s NBR 9050, which requires an automatic door and wheelchair access ramp — items typically not included in ATM structures.

Weber Manufacturing Technologies IncTel 705.526.7896 • Midland, ON

www.webermfg.ca

Precision Tooling and CNC Machining

for the Composites Industry

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Gel coat for epoxy infusionCCp Composites (Kansas City, Mo.) has developed trademarked IMEDGE ECT 120, an in-mold coating based on new polymer technology that sprays like a polyester gel coat and provides the same environmental protection, but actually improves the surface finish. Notably, it enables adhesion to epoxy laminates without a tie coat. The company insists that the new coat-

ing — “IM” for in-mold, “EDGE” for cutting-edge technology and “ECT” for epoxy-compatible technology — is not an epoxy gel coat and report-edly offers easier application than the epoxy gel coats developed thus far. Further, it requires no special equipment or handling. Its adhesion to epoxy has been tested by CCP and also by epoxy formulator pro-seT inc. (Bay City, Mich). In the PRO-SET test, CCP ArmorPlus 963 gel coat with a POLY-COR tie coat was applied to one panel, and IMEDGE ECT 120 in-mold coating without a tie coat was applied to another. Plies of 1708 glass fiber biaxial fabric mat, wet out with PRO-SET 125 resin/229 hardener, were hand layed at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 24 hours after gel coat was sprayed, totaling five test panels for each of the two systems. An initial adhesion test was followed by accelerated environmental exposure testing for degradation of the coating-to-laminate bond with in-service conditions. Joe Parker, PRO-SET product manager, summarizes the test results: “The ECT 120 coating/PRO-SET epoxy combination had fiber tear and no interfacial failure with every pull throughout all of the environmental cycles and is recommended as a coating that is compatible with PRO-SET epoxy.” Reports from customers reportedly indicate that the coating performs as advertised. Walrus Kayaks (Winooski, Vt.) indicates that elimination of the tie coat has reduced part weight by more than 12 percent, and labor has been cut by 20 percent because of the elimination of postmold paint-ing of epoxy hulls. In SYBO Composites’ (St. Augustine, Fla.) recent trials of ECT 120 on the Islamorada 18 high-performance flat boat (pictured) for Chittum Skiffs (St. Augustine, Fla.), the material was successfully sprayed like a standard gel coat, using the same equipment and procedures, with a weight reduction closer to 20 percent. SYBO predicts it will reduce epoxy construction cost to a level near that of vinyl ester and polyester. The coat-ing also is in use by Hodgdon Defense Composites (Portland, Maine) on Jet Ski military rescue craft and by two helmet manufacturers, one military and one recreational. www.ccponline.com; www.prosetepoxy.xom

WINDPOWER 2012 Product Showcase

Comoldable blade root bushing inserts for infused turbine bladesAs part of Denmark’s Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP), pultruder fiberline Composites (Middelfart, Den-mark) conducted the Innovative Blade Root Joint program and has developed an Integrated Pultruded Bushing Insert, comprising glass fiber and polyester resin pultruded onto a threaded steel bushing. Fiber-line engineers explained at the recent WINDPOWER show that the finished product can be comolded into a composite wind turbine blade's root sec-tion and then receive the bolt used to connect the root to the turbine’s

Protective coating for wind blade surface remediationEngineered by Howard Grote & sons (McFarland, Wis.) for rapid repair of aging wind blades, trademarked Bladeskin coating technology was offered to the wind-blade repair market at WINDPOWER 2012. The cured coating is said to be capable of 427 percent elongation, enabling it to absorb blade flex without cracking and to resist abrasion. The coating also provides pro-tection from UV degradation and freeze/thaw damage. Coating preapplica-tion procedures involve blade removal, sandblasting, patching and surface preparation. Prepped and applied correctly, the spray-coated Bladeskin material forms a seamless, monolithic whole-blade coating. The company claims that its coating has extended the life of blades in an Iowa wind farm without any failure or degradation issues after eight years of service. www.bladeskin.com

Core kitting service for wind blade manufacturersCreative foam (Fenton, Mich.) supplies what it calls "value-engineered" core kits designed to minimize layup time in automotive, aerospace, medical and wind-energy composites applications. Touted at the recent WINDPOW-ER event, its HybriCortz kits can contain core materials from different sourc-es, with complete traceability. The kits are optimized for cost, availability, shape and weight, based on customer specifications, and may include balsa, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and/or urethane foam cores. Kits also may include TYCOR fiber-reinforced foam core materi-als from Milliken (Spartanburg, S.C., see item on p. 42), which incorporate a variety of foam and preformed materials. www.creativefoam.com

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Integrated laser projector/flatbed cutterAt WINDPOWER 2012, Gerber Technol-ogy (Tolland, Conn.) announced that it has integrated its computer-controlled flatbed cutting systems and CAD nesting software with subsidiary Virtek Vision interna-tional’s (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) laser projection technology to automate nesting, cutting and layup of wind blade materials. According to Dean Kirby, direc-tor of Virtek sales for the Americas, “Our integrated solutions enable blade manufacturers to nest plies for maximum material utilization, to cut with extreme accuracy every time and to lay up plies faster and more accurately by eliminating conventional templates and projecting laser templates onto molds.” www.gerbertechnology.com | www.virtek.ca

hub. According to the company, the bushing’s sinusoidal exterior helps the root insert to achieve an 1160 kN pull-out strength. This is sufficient to guarantee that failure will occur in the bolt rather than at the bushing-to-composite interface. The insert also will eliminate current drilling and glu-ing steps, enabling technicians to quickly position 40 to 60 modular inserts per blade root section prior to infusion. www.fiberline.com

Remotely operated wind blade inspection system

In booth space shared with How-ard Grote & Sons (see item on p. 41), Helical robotics llC (Oregon, Wis.) demonstrated for WINDPOWER 2012 attendees its HR-1000LL portable climbing ro-bot, which can provide remotely operated blade inspection. The system can be coupled with non-destructive testing (NDT) equip-ment, such as ultrasonic arrays. The robot's magnetic adhesion system maintains accurate control on the tower without touching its

surface. The robot self-aligns to the work surface by adjusting the distance from 0.030 inch to 0.25 inch (0.76 mm to 6.35 mm). The robot’s Meca-num wheel drive system — developed by Mecanum Innovation AB (Umeå, Sweden) — is capable of moving in any direction, offering flexible maneu-verability. The robot’s nominal size is 57 inches long by 22 inches wide by 20 inches high (1,448 mm by 559 mm by 508 mm), with mass that varies from 90 lb to 145 lb (41 kg to 66 kg), depending on optional equipment configurations. (Multiple chassis sizes and capacities can be engineered to customer specifications.) The robot breaks down for transport into in-dividual detachable segments that each weigh less than 50 lb/23 kg. A water-resistant aluminum casing allows operation in adverse weather. Its payload capacity ranges up to 100 lb/45 kg. www.helicalrobotics.com

Fiber-reinforced core materialsHaving acquired the core-related assets of WebCore Technologies (Miam-isburg, Ohio), Milliken (Spartanburg, S.C.) announced at WINDPOWER 2012 that it has consolidated vertically fiber-reinforced cores into Web-Core’s former TYCOR brand. Targeted to replace balsa core in wind blades, TYCOR reportedly reduces cost and weight while increasing energy har-vest. There is said to be a 4 and 5 percent cost savings in 55m/180-ft and 65m/213-ft blades, respectively. Swapping 180 kg/397 lb for an additional 0.5m/1.6 ft of length on a 40m/131-ft blade results in a 2 percent power increase; similarly, exchanging 600 kg/1,323 lb for an extra 1.0m/3.3 ft of length on a 55m/180-ft blade results in a 3 percent power increase. Awarded a Germanischer Lloyd certificate of approval, TYCOR has been proven in a fully cored 55m blade and is already in production for one turbine model. www.tegris.milliken.com

Cutting tool for wind turbine manufacturersWINDPOWER 2012 was the stage for the North American debut of seco Tools inc.’s (Troy, Mich.) new 335.25 Disc Milling Cutter. Designed for large cut widths (1 inch/25 mm), the cutter’s coated and hardened body re-portedly maximizes tool life, reliability and accuracy, and it is available with integrated coolant holes. Inserts developed for the cutter feature positive-geometry edge preparation to reduce cutting forces and improve chip flow, while a built-in wiper flat maximizes the surface finish. A full range of insert geometries and grades ensures easy and productive application to all types of materials used in wind turbines. www.secotools.com

Sanders for wind blade finishingdynabrade (Clarence, N.Y.) introduced at WINDPOWER 2012 a new series of air-powered vacuum disc sanders. The product line features 2-, 3-, 5- and 7-inch (51-, 76-, 127- and 178-mm) diameter sanders, each with a unique vacuum shroud that diverts dust and debris from the workpiece. The tool's right-angle design features a rubber overmold on the housing for smooth operation and less vibration transfer to the operator. Each tool powers abrasive discs for efficient material removal on nonferrous surfaces, such as carbon fiber, fiberglass and painted aluminum. Additional vacuum products are available, including portable vacuum systems and downdraft tables. www.dynabrade.com

Calendar

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Calendar

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g Aug. 7-9, 2012 ICNFA 2012 – International Conference on Nanotechnology: Fundamentals and Applications Montreal, Canada | http://icnfa2012. international-aset.com/index.html

sEPt

sept. 10-15, 2012 IMTs 2012 Chicago, Ill. | www.imts.com

sept. 11-13, 2012 sPE ACCE (see preview on p. 15) Troy, Mich. | www.speautomotive.com/comp.htm

sept. 12-13, 2012 *TrAM3 2012 – Trends in Advanced Machining, Manufacturing and Materials Chicago, Ill. | www.tram-conference.com

sept. 18-20, 2012 sAE 2012 Aerospace Manufacturing and Automated Fastening (AMAF) Conference and Exhibition Ft. Worth, Texas | www.sae.org/events/amaf

sept.24-26, 2012 2012 Polyurethanes Technical Conference Atlanta, Ga. | www.americanchemistry. com/polyurethane

sept. 25-27, 2012 Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas Seattle, Wash. | www.aircraftinteriorsexpo-us.com

sEPt

sept. 25-27, 2012 2012 high-Performance resins for Aircraft Interiors Seattle, Wash. | www.composites world.com/conferences

dec. 4-6, 2012 Carbon Fiber 2012 La Jolla, Calif. | www.compositesworld.com/conferencesD

EC

Nov. 7-9, 2012 ***JEC Americas Boston, Mass. | www.jeccomposites.com/ events/jec-americas-2012n

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t oct. 2-4, 2012 IBEx 2012 Louisville, Kentucky | www.ibexshow.com

oct. 9-11, 2012 Composites Europe 2012 Dusseldorf, Germany | www.composites-europe.com

oct. 15-17, 2012 sAMPE China 2012 Beijing, China | www.sampe.org

oct. 22-23, 2012 **CompositesWorld 2012: Materials, Markets, Manufacturing North Charleston, S.C. | www.compositesworld.com/events

*part of IMTS Show **co-located with SAMPE Tech Conference ***co-located with IFAI Expo Americas

CompositesWorld 2012: Materials, Markets, Manufacturing will provide you with an overview of the key market opportunities for composite materials business followed by sessions on new process and product developments and manufacturing technologies.

DAY ONE: The Business of CompositesDAY TwO: Composites Manufacturing Technology

Enter new markets and streamline your processes with the information you take home with you from CompositesWorld 2012: Materials, Markets, Manufacturing!

http://short.compositesworld.com/MMM2012 REGISTER TODAY! TO LEARN MORE OR REGISTER VISIT: Join us in Charleston. S.C.

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Your registration includes free access to the SAMPE Tech show floor, providing additional networking opportunities!

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COMPOSITE CHILLERSPerfect for controlling resin viscosity in composite forming by cooling lay-up during cure cycle. Also, effectively used for reducing tack on pre-preg dur-ing lay-up. Low Global Warming formulation avail-able. We also offer a complete line of EPONTM Epoxy Resins/Curing Agents and PTFE Release Agents.

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MILLER-STEPHENSON CHEMICAL COMPANY, INC.California-Illinois-Connecticut-CanadaEmail: support@miller-stephenson.comwww.miller-stephenson.com 203-743-4447

A&P Technology Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Airtech International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

CCP Composites US . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chem-Trend Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Composites One LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

DIAB International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

IBEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Interplastic Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

JRL Ventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

LMT Onsrud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

McClean Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Mektech Composites Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. . . . .Inside Cover

North Coast Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Precision Quincy Ovens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Pro-Set Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Reed Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Saertex USA LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Back Cover

SPE Automotive Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

TRAM3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Weber Manufacturing Technologies Inc. . . . . . . . . .40

Wisconsin Oven Corp. . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover

Wyoming Test Fixtures Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

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Plant-based polyamides break high-cost/low-performance paradigm to meet

the demands of a challenging toyota underhood application.

Bio-BASED EnD TAnK

utomakers worldwide are scrambling to improve vehicle energy efficiency and reduce or offset greenhouse-gas emis-sions. Composites are a proven means to trim part weight, a

key strategy in the quest for fuel savings, and they also can reduce greenhouse emissions if bio-based monomers are used to formulate the resin matrix. The use of annually renewable plant-based chem-istry helps greatly with carbon mitigation. Because growing plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) — one of the most common green-house gases — during their lifecycle, plants harvested for use in bio-polymers or for natural fiber reinforcements help offset the emis-sions released both during production of the part and the vehicles on which the part will be installed. If the usage is significant enough, some OEMs claim, plant-based matrices and reinforcements will offset a portion of the emissions released during the vehicle’s life. If the U.S. and other big greenhouse gas emitters begin strict enforce-ment of carbon caps, then the practice of trading emissions credits, earned through renewable energy generation and the use of prod-ucts like bio-polymers and natural fiber reinforcements, could move beyond “green buzz” to something with serious economic value.

Bio-BASED HiSToRY

Although Henry Ford is credited with the first use of bio-based polymers in auto parts on his Soybean Car demonstrator in 1941, their use in commercial passenger cars dates from the 1990s. Much modern usage was pioneered by Toyota Motor Co. (Aichi, Japan)

and, later, Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, Mich.). Initially, the focus was polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable thermoplastic polyester similar to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) but with lower thermal performance. That meant that applications were confined to small parts, with primarily decorative functions, located below the beltline (below seatbelt level, where sunlight is less likely to heat the plastic). Early on, biopolymers earned a reputation for being more expensive and less durable than conventional polymers, which slowed market acceptance. As with biofuels, much of the early work involved feed-stocks from food crops (e.g., corn or soy) that otherwise could feed humans or livestock. This drew criticism for its potential to drive up food prices in the developing world, thereby negating the social and environmental benefits gained by offsetting petroleum products.

However, in the past decade, more applications of a broader range of chemistries have been introduced as resin suppliers have identified plants that can be coaxed into producing chemicals that are useful in formulating resins capable of higher performance. These have piqued the interest of automakers and systems suppliers.

One of the most innovative and challenging bio-composites applica-tions to date is found in radiator end tanks that debuted on the 2010 model year (MY) Toyota Camry sedan. The application was jointly developed by systems supplier, toolmaker and molder DENSO Corp. (Kariya, Aichi, Japan) and resin supplier DuPont Automotive (Troy, Mich.). The parts are injection molded from a 30 percent short glass-reinforced blend of polyamide (PA, also called nylon) 6/10 resin formu-

Cleaner & greener

One of the most innovative and challenging bio-composites applications to date is found in radiator end tanks that debuted on the 2010 MY toyota camry sedan. Jointly developed by tier supplier DEnsO corp. (Kariya, aichi, Japan) and resin supplier DuPont automotive (troy, Mich.), the end tank is injection molded from a 30 percent short-glass-reinforced blend of a Pa 6/10 resin formulated with 40 percent bio-based monomers obtained from caster beans, a nonfood agricultural crop.

Source | SPE Automotive Div.

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lated with 40-percent bio-based monomers obtained from castor beans, a nonfood crop with medicinal, insecticidal and ornamental uses that also was used as a motor lubricant during World War I. The Camry’s ra-diator end tanks are a compelling illustration of the fact that bio-plastics can meet demanding mechanical, thermal and chemical requirements.

BioPoLYMERS in THE HoT SEAT

When DENSO and DuPont began their four-year collaboration (circa 2005), the goal was to find a plant-based material that could be used in radiator end tanks. The tanks were a difficult application for conventional plastics and typically required heat-stabilized, hydro-lysis-resistant grades of PA 6/6, a blend of 6/6 with 6/12, or 6/10. Mounted directly onto the metal radiator core, the tanks form part of the radiator’s circulatory loop. Tank materials are in constant contact with often hot ethylene or propylene glycol — chemicals not known for kindness to polymer backbones, especially that of PA. They also are exposed to salt spray kicked up from the road.

Tank materials, then, require hot-chemical resistance. Further, they must endure a broad range of use temperatures and pressures,

maintaining integrity as engines and radiators heat up during use and then cool down when vehicles are parked. Because the tanks are exposed on the car’s underside, they also must resist stone impinge-ment lest they crack and leak coolant, which is toxic to humans, ani-mals and the environment. Moreover, the complex shapes of tanks tend to be unique for each platform based on available packaging space, so injection molding is the preferred forming process. Be-cause additional caps or rings/circular disks are often welded onto the tanks after molding to seal off specific areas, good weld strength is critical. Given the limited space in vehicle front ends, mechanical integrity and the ability to hold dimensional tolerances are key ma-terial characteristics. To top it off, DuPont Automotive had a grow-ing family of renewable products sourced from agricultural feed-stocks, including wheat, corn, soy, sugarcane and castor beans, but at the beginning of this project its bio-based PA 6/10 was primarily used to make filaments for many types of brushes. It had no history in high-temperature, chemically aggressive environments.

Given these engineering challenges, the punishing underhood environment, the fact that a radiator is crucial to safe engine

Illustration | Karl Reque

Positioning pins

PA 6/10 end caps welded to tank fitting to ensure no leaks

Coolant inlet

Positioning pin

Coolant inlet (hose attachment location)

PA 6/10 tank is joined to aluminum core (elastomeric packing ensures seal)

Positioning pins (top & bottom, four total) aid in vehicle assembly

Upper end tank (PA 6/10)

Aluminum core

Lower end tank (PA 6/10)

Upper radiaTor end TanK

(view from vehicle front)

Upper radiaTor end TanK

(view from engine side)

DEnsO’s biO-bAsED CAMrY rADiAtOr EnD tAnKs

Positioning pin

EnginEEring ChAllEngE:

Develop a new radiator end tank that can perform better than previous designs and reduce both the part’s cost and the automaker’s contribu-tion to greenhouse-gas emissions.

DEsign sOlutiOn:

Engineer a new bio-derived polyamide resin from plant-based monomer chemistry that offers twice the durability of conventional polyamides at a lower cost.

Radiator pressure cap location

(coolant check/refill)

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Read this article online at http://short.compositesworld.com/VZOnisBN.

operation and keeping in mind the less-than-stellar reputation of many previous bio-plastics, the team focused a lot of attention on durability. This was defined by DENSO’s specific internal targets for impact strength, chemical resistance, creep resistance and long-term heat-age performance. An additional challenge was the perception that bio-plastics cost more but perform worse than the conventional polymers they replace — a lose/lose proposition, especially after the global economic crash of 2008, when automakers were sitting on product and drastically curtailing production. Although this was DENSO’s first foray into biopolymers, the tank engineering team was convinced that if the high-cost/low-durability paradigm could be reversed, then the impact of this application would be great and could spur greater use of more environmentally friendly materials.

Using the company’s previous radiator end tanks in both PA 6/6 and the blend of PA 6/6 with 6/12 as benchmarks, the team worked to formulate the new bio-based PA 6/10 polymer for long-term du-rability and manufacturability. Because DENSO also would mold the parts, the company wanted to ensure that the new formulation could be fabricated in the same way as the formulations used in

the other end tanks. Throughout the development process, formu-lations were subjected to DENSO’s standard testing procedure for evaluating new materials, with particular emphasis given to proto-cols that included ISO-527-1,2 and ISO-179-1,2, as well as a careful assessment of quality and durability.

According to Shinya Goto, manager of the Non-Metallic Materi-als Department in DENSO’s Materials Engineering R&D Div., the new bio-PA 6/10 formulation bests the conventional PA 6/6 and the 6/6 with 6/12 in elongation and fatigue-resistance: “We were able to obtain twice the durability with the new bio-PA 6/10 material vs. what we had previously achieved with our conventional blend of PA 6/6 with 6/12. Moreover, cost has also been reduced, so our devel-opment goals were all successfully met.” Reportedly, PA 6/10 is fully recyclable, just like ordinary thermoplastics.

Having broken the high-cost/low-performance paradigm, and with a viable, proven material in hand, DENSO approached its customer, Toyota, and proposed the first commercial application, which was released on a new version of the Camry. The DENSO/DuPont team’s careful work in development paid off in the smooth changeover to the new radiator end tanks.

ToWARD A gREEnER fuTuRE

So successful was this first bio-based radiator end tank that DENSO and DuPont continued their collaboration. Earlier this year a new-generation radiator, featuring bio-based end tanks made of the same material, was announced on Toyota’s luxury Lexus GS. This time around, thanks to a clever but proprietary new design, the radiator system is reportedly 40 percent smaller and lighter, yet it is 10 percent more efficient than DENSO’s previous units.

According to Akio Shikamura, senior executive director of DENSO’s Thermal Systems Business Group, “The radiator’s reduced size translates into greater design flexibility for installation in the engine compartment. This also helps make the vehicle safer in the event of a frontal collision because the smaller size allows for a larger impact or crash zone.”

Since then, DENSO has been evaluating the bio-based PA 6/10 for other uses and is looking at other bio-based materials to use in its operations. The big-picture potential for bio-composites and other bio-based polymer applications was perhaps best summed up by Goto: “The society independent of oil would be ideal,” he says. “The dream would be to build a car of the future using plant-based materials.” | CT |

radiator end tanks are a difficult application because they are in constant contact with often hot ethylene or propylene glycol engine coolant, require excellent chemical resistance because they are exposed to salt spray kicked up from the road, and must endure a broad range of use temperatures and pressures, maintaining their integrity as engines and radiators heat during use and cool when

vehicles are parked. Given this reality DEnsO and DuPont focused a lot of attention on durability as it formulated its glass-reinforced Pa 6/10 compound.

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ContRIButIng WRItERPeggy Malnati covers the automotive and infrastructure beats for CT and provides commu-nications services for plastics- and composites-industry clients. peggy@compositesworld.com

0512 Wisconsin Oven.indd 1 4/5/12 9:44 AM

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SAERTEX China E-Mail: info.china@saertex.com

WIND ENERGYBOAT AND SHIPBUILDING

RAILWAYAUTOMOTIVE

AEROSPACEPIPE RELINING

CIVIL ENGINEERINGRECREATION

MULTIAXIALS CLOSED MOULD REINFORCEMENTS

SELF ADHESIVE FABRICS KITTED-FABRICS

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CLCLOSOSEDE MOULDSEELFLF

Bringing strength on the road.

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