As application opportunities for composite materials grow, manufacturers have become acutely attuned to the need for process improvements that generate real cost savings, accelerate production and improve part quality. This is particularly true for the large-scale fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) components currently employed in industries such as aerospace, automotive, marine, and wind energy. Soheila Salehi-Schneider, Project Leader at Infiana, explains how the award-winning FlexPLAS® release film technology creates opportunities to streamline these complex processes.
Since 2015, the manufacturing experts at Infiana, one of the world's leading producers of engineered films, have been working together with scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (Fraunhofer IFAM) in Bremen and Stade, Germany, on the development and marketing of an innovative release film technology designed from the ground up to address the need for improvements in composites manufacturing techniques. Combining Fraunhofer IFAM's renowned expertise in plasmapolymeric coatings with engineered films custom-developed and produced by Infiana in Forchheim, Germany, FlexPLAS® enables the release agent-free production of FRP parts with an excellent, ready-to-paint or ready-to-bond surface finish without residue contamination.
This article appeared in the March/April 2018 issue of Reinforced Plastics.
