COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011 - show preview

COMPOSITES EUROPE is organised by Reed Exhibitions with the support of the European Composites Industry Association (EuCIA) and Reinforced Plastics magazine. Over 300 exhibitors and 9000 visitors are expected at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011 in Stuttgart, Germany, on 27-29 September. The trade show is preceeded by the annual conference of the German Federation of Reinforced Plastics (AVK) on 26-27 September.

In this preview we look at some of the developments on display at the event. (Companies are listed in alphabetical order.)  

Advanced Composites Group (ACG) Hall 4, stand number F30

ACG will be co-exhibiting with its sister company Aerovac Systems France.

ACG, a member of the Umeco Composites Structural Materials (UCSM) division of Umeco plc, manufactures epoxy, cyanate ester, bismaleimide and phenolic prepregs for use in the automotive, aerospace, marine, alternative energy, motorsport, defence, rail transport, space, construction, sports and leisure, and construction sectors.

Aerovac Systems France, a member of Umeco Composites Process Materials (UCPM), is a manufacturer of vacuum bagging products, principally for the automotive, defence, aerospace, wind energy, marine, motorsport and general industrial markets.

Building on its motor racing and super car experience, ACG has developed a range of prepregs that meet the growing demands of the automotive industry. These use a range of high performance resins combined with woven, stitched and unidirectional fibre formats. To meet the exacting requirements of the automotive interiors industry ACG has, with assistance from its fibre weavers, developed a SVQ fabric specification maximising the aesthetic impact of carbon fibre finishes.

One of ACG’s most recent automotive advancements is the new BPSMk2 body panel system. This is targeted at the medium- to high-volume market and utilises ACG’s innovative DForm® Deformable Composite System (DCS) technology. BPSMk2 de-skills and reduces laminating time, and minimises surface preparation work.

ACG’s phenolic and epoxy prepregs are used in a variety of defence applications, ranging from ballistic and blast protection systems in armoured fighting vehicles to structural components for vehicle, naval and aerospace applications. ACG recently provided epoxy prepregs for the pod on Force Protection Europe’s (FPE) Foxhound protected patrol vehicle. Designed and developed by a team led by FPE for the UK Ministry of Defence, the Foxhound uses ACG’s materials to provide the optimum combination of lightweight protection and structural integrity.

ACG also manufactures a phenolic and epoxy prepregs for interior applications in the rail and aerospace sectors. Available on a wide range of carbon and glass fibre materials, these are suitable for both monolithic and sandwich structures. Offering extremely low fire propagation and surface spread of flame, combined with low smoke and toxic gas emission, these prepregs match the requirements of aerospace standards FAR25.853 and ABD0031, and numerous British, French and German standards set by the rail sector.

Airborne Composites BV Hall 4, stand number D16

Airborne Composites specialises in the development and production of advanced composite products and systems. Airborne has the capability to develop and produce innovative advanced composite products, structures and systems for a variety of markets such as oil and gas, marine, defence and aerospace. Airborne's capabilities include conceptual design, mechanical engineering, structural design and analyses, prototyping, testing and production of composite products and systems. Engineering services like 3D CAD modelling and Finite Element Analysis can be provided by the use of high-end software.

The company’s factory on Ypenburg, The Hague, has a working area of 4000 m², including a large clean room of 1000 m². Equipment includes two autoclaves and two ovens, a prepreg cutting machine, an Air Scan and 3D Laser Tracker NDI system, and CNC machinery. The production processes used at this facility include prepreg lay-up, RTM, filament winding (thermoset), tape winding (thermoplastic) and bonding (metals and plastics). Composite prototypes can also be tested.

The Airborne Technology Centre (ATC) works on automated fibre placement (AFP) technologies, both for thermosets and thermoplastics. For thermoplastics, a proprietary consolidation method has been developed. AFP also gives the opportunity to use fibre steering, to manufacture laminates in which the fibres follow a curved path, optimised to the structural loading of the part. Besides AFP technology for discrete parts, technologies for continuous production are also being developed. ATC recently invested in a robot for the development of automatic fibre placement.

Airtech Europe Hall 4, stand number E18

Airtech manufactures processing materials for the composites and tooling industries. The company offers auxiliary materials for the vacuum bagging, wet lay-up and resin infusion processes. Its products include vacuum bagging films, release films and release liquids, pressure sensitive tapes, peel plies, breathers and bleeders, vacuum bag sealant tapes, vacuum bag connectors and hoses, tooling materials, and carbon and glass reinforcements.

At COMPOSITES EUROPE Airtech will showcase its new CNC ply cutting machine. The machine with a 216 m² cutting bed which enables Airtech to custom cut and kit products to fit perfectly over composite parts on the mould tool. By providing custom vacuum bags and kits Airtech helps customers to reduce labour costs and speed up production cycle times.

Airtech will also show its new Beta Prepreg for composite tooling, which is based on benzoxazine resin and toughening technology. It can be stored at room temperature for up to 6 months with no loss of tack and is said to deliver superior laminate properties compared to conventional epoxy and BMI systems. High glass transition temperature (218 °C) and service stability at high temperature ensure long tool life.

Also new are Airtech's TB G48 carbon carbon fibre tooling boards with a reformulated high Tg. 247°C epoxy matrix to provide longer high temperature service life. The products can be used for mould support, jigs and fixtures.

Securlon® L750 is a multi-layer vacuum bag film designed for low cost commercial, marine, wind energy and low temperature applications. Widths of up to 7.1 m are available. Wrightlon® 3700 is an inexpensive release film for applications like wind energy and marine where good performance is needed at lower cost. Wrightlon 3700 releases easily from epoxy, polyester and vinyl ester resin systems.

Bodo Möller Chemie Hall C2, stand number A28

Bodo Möller Chemie is a distributor of speciality chemical products and bonding solutions. The company has more than 35 years of experience in its core business areas of adhesives and sealants, additives, polymers and coatings, environmental chemistry and chemistry for textile finishing.

Bodo Möller Chemie has its headquarters in Offenbach, Germany, and subsidiaries in France, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Benelux, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel and South Africa.

At COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011 the company will show a wide range of products, including raw materials, resins and additives, which are used by composites fabricators.

CAM ELYAF Hall 4, stand number A01

Glass fibre producer CAM ELYAF Sanayii AS of Turkey is highlighting its new Assembled Roving for the PU-LFI (polyurethane - long fibre injection) composites manufacturing process. The company says this roving is well accepted in the European market and is being used by leading PU-LFI manufacturers to produce roof modules, rear trays, dashboard carriers, noise shields and parcel shelves for well-known car brands.

CAM ELYAF reports that utilising its new Assembled Roving in the PU-LFI technique in the automotive industry results in increased performance of the component part accompanied by vehicle weight reduction. The process offers:

• PU - glass fibre mixing in one step;
• variable composite density (low to high);
• wide glass content range;
• high surface quality (Class A); and
• waste reduction and cost advantage.

Despatch Industries Hall 4, stand number A57

Despatch Industries, a provider of thermal processing equipment, will have its new process control system, Focal Point™, on display at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011.

Focal Point is a flexible, modular system with data logging and reporting capabilities. It provides process profile monitoring and control, and the ability to program recipes.

Despatch will also be highlighting its portfolio of equipment systems for advanced materials processing. This includes composite curing ovens and vacuum bagging systems; and carbon fibre oxidation ovens and integrated production lines.

Dieffenbacher Hall 4, stand number C36

Dieffenbacher will be focusing on innovative processes for manufacturing structural components and Class-A body panels for the automotive industry. The company supplies presses and complete production lines for manufacturing FRP parts.

One focus is high-pressure RTM (HP-RTM) technology. In cooperation with KraussMaffei, Dieffenbacher has developed an automated production line for the HP-RTM process, starting from preform manufacture and extending through to the pressing process and ancillary steps. This equipment makes series production of high-strength CFRP structural components and body panels possible.

The company will also highlight its the patented direct process for SMC (D-SMC). The Dieffenbacher technology of direct compounding permits continuous manufacture of SMC compounds, followed by manufacture of a component using the extrusion process. This means there is no need for the cost-intensive stages of wrapping, storage and logistics previously required for the semi-finished SMC part. The maturing time used to take several days, and eliminating this delay represents an immense advantage in terms of time and cost. As a result, the processing time between the raw materials stage and the finished part is reduced to a matter of minutes.

Flugzeug-Union Süd GmbH (FUS) Hall C2, stand number D24

FUS, a subsidiary of EADS, will be showing the VAP (vacuum assisted process)-Technology, for which EADS holds the patent. FUS supplies a wide range of vacuum process materials, offering a complete range of VAP-certified vacuum process materials and components.

FUS' services also include:

• industrial logistics (procurement and just-in-time delivery of certified standard parts and specific components for the aircraft industry);
• spare parts for civil and military aircraft;
• specialised packaging and preservation (packaging and preservation in accordance with customer's requirements or industrial/military specifications); and
• manufacture and sale of Dry Strip plastic blast media.

FUS is located in Ottobrunn-Riemerling near Munich, in close proximity to EADS GmbH.

FORMAX Hall 4, stand number E30

FORMAX, a manufacturer of carbon fibre and specialist reinforcements, is celebrating the successful installation of its new multiaxial machine and laminating line, both of which are now in production. The specially developed, state-of-the-art Karl Mayer Carbon Malitronic® multiaxial machine has a variable width from 1000 mm to 1600 mm that allows for unique lightweight constructions to be made with minimised waste.

Alongside this, FORMAX has also recently installed a new laminating line that will combine surface veils with existing fabrics for applications that require demanding surface finishes, such as Class A surfaces for automotive panels.

New constructions now available and being showcased at COMPOSITES EUROPE include:

• laminated surface veils for Class A surface finishes;
• lightweight 0/90 fabrics;
• ply orientations from +/-30; and
• balanced biaxials (+/-/+) from 200 g/m² to ensure symmetrical fabrics.

FORMAX will also showcase its existing portfolio that includes lightweight carbon fabrics for industrial applications, specialised glass fabrics for marine and industrial applications, and heavyweight glass fabrics for infusion processes.

HELD Technologie GmbH Hall 4, stand number D54

HELD has been a supplier of isobaric double belt presses since 1975.

HELD offers customers the opportunity to hire its machines for development projects and production runs before deciding to buy their own double belt press. This gives customers the opportunity to develop new materials, optimise their processes and produce products economically.

Features of HELD's isobaric double belt presses include:

• high pressure and high temperature;
• heating and cooling under maintained pressure;
• isobaric pressure distribution;
• excellent heat transfer in the reaction zone; and
• high output with minimum energy consumption.

Specification: pressure: 80 bar, isobaric; temperature: 400°C; reaction zone: width 1.5 m, length 3.4 m.

HUFSCHMIED Zerspanungssysteme GmbH Hall 4, stand number E50

Hufschmied has over 25 years of experience in machining. Leading companies in the automotive and aviation industries rely on the company's high precision cutting tools.

Hufschmied offers products to cut materials like plastics, carbon fibre, graphite, steel or new materials like zircon. The company's aim is to help customers boost productivity, cut production costs and increase profitability.

Huntsman Hall C2, stand number B03

Huntsman will be showcasing high performance materials from its Araldite® portfolio for the automotive sector, including advanced materials for designs and prototypes, parts manufacturing and organic protective solutions.

The company reports that is has recently been involved in a number of industry ‘firsts’ for the successful application of composites in the automotive industry, including:

• the ‘U-Box’, which demonstrates the possibilities of building an electric concept car using sustainable components. Huntsman researched and developed products used in each stage of the car’s construction, including toughened, halogen free and fire resistant resins;
• an Araldite resin system especially adapted for ‘RTM-Lambo’: a cost effective out-of-autoclave technique developed to produce Lamborghini’s first production carbon fibre composite chassis;
• a toughened Araldite system to design a composite wheel for the high-performance vehicle market with better impact resistance than metal wheels and higher fatigue resistance; and
• a composite fuel tank developed by MCS using an Araldite hot curing epoxy system, providing lightweight benefits, high fuel capacity and the durability required for use by performance and endurance vehicles.

Huntsman’s SL photopolymers, machinable boards for concept design, rapid-setting polyurethanes for prototypes and resin systems for parts are used by automotive companies across the world.

Hymmen Hall 4, stand number G62

Hymmen specialises in customer-specific production engineering for industrial mass production:

• surface finishing of board or web material;
• production of decorative and technical laminates;
• production of board or web material.

The company's product range includes double belt presses, short cycle presses, multi-opening presses, laminating plants, liquid coating lines as well as digital printing lines.

Hymmen's double belt press technology for the continuous production of decorative laminates has realised numerous applications within the composites industry. The Hymmen IsoPress® is characterised by high performance energy transfer, absolutely uniform isobaric pressure and precise process conditions. It is an excellent tool for the manufacturing of technical laminates, functional films or fibre reinforced plastics. Hymmen double belt presses are said to provide outstanding process quality, with continuous production for high output.

Hymmen offers a tailor made solution for almost every application. In conjunction with its clients it develops new applications in its technology centre and conducts extensive research work and production testing on its laboratory machines.

iREMO project / Atoutveille Hall C2, stand number E29

Launched in September 2009, the iREMO (intelligent REactive polymer composites MOulding) project is aiming to develop intelligent monitoring and control tools for the processing of liquid composite materials.

The iREMO project will hold a workshop during COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011 to provide an overview of the project and its objectives and present its latest results. The workshop programme and a registration form is available at www.iremo.eu. The workshop is free of charge to COMPOSITES EUROPE visitors.

The iREMO project involves 10 partners from 6 European countries: ACCIONA Infraestructuras; Atoutveille; BIBA; CEMCAT (project coordinator); Karnic Powerboats; Newcastle University; NTUA; SOTIRA; Synthesites; and TECNALIA.

Langzauner GmbH Hall 4, stand number C50

Langzauner started out in 1924 producing presses for the wood processing industry. In the 1970s it also became known as a manufacturer of special presses for the ski industry. Today, most ski producers have at least one Langzauner press, and the Austrian company has also developed its business in the wider composites market.

Langzauner will present its new laboratory press at COMPOSITES EUROPE. This highly flexible machine can be used in the automotive and aerospace industries, as well as R&D facilities. The press can create different pressure-, displacement- and temperature curves and the whole pressing procedure can be programmed individually.

The heart of the unit is the special developed hydraulic system which is very efficient but also extremely quiet. Only standard valves and oils are used which means that the maintenance interval is not only extremely long, it is also very cheap. The machine is highly accurate; it has a pressure deviation of about 1% and can press to size with a tolerance of +0.01 mm.

To increase flexibility, a standard interface for injection devices is part of the machine. These injection devices are also part of Langzauner’s portfolio, meaning that press, heating and injection device are all available from one supplier.

The user optimised operation system is realised by a 15 inch touch panel. A process data recording with an interface for Excel helps to visualise the process data.

The LZT-OK-130 machine has a pressing area of 800 x 600 mm, and a maximum pressing force of 1370 kN.

Lucintel Hall C2, stand number A38

Management consulting and market research firm Lucintel will present the results of its study of the global nanocomposites market. The presentation, Nanocomposites: Breakthrough Applications or Will the Cost Outweigh the Benefits?, will be given by Nigel O’Dea at the Composites Forum at 3 pm on 29 September. It will include an overview of the nanomaterials industry, nanomaterials competitiveness, market trends, costs, and property analysis of nanomaterials versus other materials.

Lucintel’s research indicates that the nanomaterials market is expected to reach US$6.1 billion by 2016 with a 23% CAGR forecast from 2011 through 2016. The overall nanomaterials market is driven by healthcare and personal care, energy, and electrical and electronics applications. Lucintel’s study indicates nanocomposites have great potential in the aerospace, wind energy, automotive and marine industries. Growing demand for strong, durable materials will create future opportunities for nanocomposites and technical developments in carbon nanotubes and decreasing nanocomposites prices will further boost the market.

Lucintel executives Alan Clark, Director of Sales, and Nigel O’Dea, Business Development Manager EMEA, will be available at Lucintel's stand throughout the exhibition to discuss any strategic growth opportunities and the range of published Lucintel markets reports.

Matrasur Composites Hall 4, stand number A55

Matrasur Composites is launching a robot designed for GRP spray-up applications involving release agent, gel-coat, barrier coat, chopper spray-up, low density putties, polyurethane, etc. The robot is different to other robots on the market in that it is programmed using a technology which enables the robot to reproduce all movements made by the operator. This means that any operator that is used to working with a standard spray-up machine can programme the robot without requiring specific programming skills. The robot is capable of repeating all movements with a positioning accuracy of 1 mm. The robot programming time for a part equals the time required by an operator to spray up the part.

Today, Matrasur believes it is possible to introduce robotics into small and medium size companies as an affordable and viable solution. Matrasur's expertise in the industrialisation of processes allows it to propose a standard robotic production line, featuring the latest technologies, at a low price.

Matrasur says its ROBOMAT robot range offers the advantages of robotics – raw material savings, productivity, operator safety, improved working conditions, and product quality – coupled with an easy and fast robot programming technology.

Nabertherm Hall 4, stand number G45

Nabertherm has been developing and producing industrial furnaces for many different applications for over 60 years. Short delivery times are ensured due to the company's complete in-house production and its wide variety of standard furnaces.

A variety of different laboratory and production processes is covered by the Nabertherm industrial furnace range. With respect to composites processes, the company offers a wide range of standard as well as customised ovens, furnaces and furnace systems. For curing of composites – including parts which have to be cured in vacuum bags – ovens can be tailored to individual process requirements.

Nabertherm has developed hard and software tools for monitoring, controlling and documenting production processes. The company provides customised solutions for documentation in accordance with specific industry norms like AMS 2750 D (aircraft industry) and CQI-9 (automotive).

Scott Bader Hall C2, stand number A23

Scott Bader is exhibiting for the second year running at COMPOSITES EUROPE. This year the company will showcase its new D-Iso/NPG Crystic® Permabright gel-coat and its range of Crystic® Crestomer® and Crestabond® structural adhesives and Crystic bonding pastes.

The new resin technology used for both spray and brush versions of the new Crystic Permabright gel-coat is unique to Scott Bader. It took over three years of research to develop this D-Iso/NPG resin chemistry. Long term ultraviolet (UV) weather performance testing for Crystic Permabright against ‘best in class’ Iso and Iso/NPG marine gel-coats have been conducted; sets of test panels were subjected to 1000 hours of accelerated QUV weathering testing and 12 months of natural sunlight Florida exposure. When comparing delta-E Florida colour change results, the data shows that Crystic Permabright has two times better colour stability than next best in class Iso/NPG and four times better colour stability than a standard isophthalic gel-coat. This means that even after 12 months exposure to the extremely harsh sunlight in Florida, it is very difficult to detect any colour change to Crystic Permabright with the naked eye.

This new gel-coat technology is expected to find application in markets such as leisure marine, architectural buildings and transportation, where retaining a high level of aesthetic quality in exposed gel-coated surfaces is highly desirable.

For marine applications, osmotic blister resistance is also a key performance requirement for a gel-coat. Crystic Permabright can be used below the water line for white hulls, provided it is part of a matched Crystic marine laminate system. After rigorous blister tests in de-ionised water at 40°C Crystic Permabright showed no signs of blistering, with a very low water uptake of less than 0.2 g measured after 12 months immersion.

Scott Bader will also give a presentation about the new gel-coat technology at the Composites Forum, which takes place during the three days of the exhibition.

Also at the show this year, alongside its range of speciality Crystic unsaturated polyester, DCPD and vinyl ester resins, skin coats, gel-coats, tooling products and Crestapol urethane acrylate high performance resins, Scott Bader will have a special feature on its range of Crystic Crestomer and Crystic Crestabond structural adhesives and speciality bonding pastes. Technical experts will be available throughout the exhibition to explain the significant weight saving, performance, productivity and shop floor benefits of using structural adhesives in preference to over-laminating and mechanical fixing, particularly for larger composite structures. Scott Bader's range of urethane acrylate Crystic Crestomer structural adhesives have proven long term performance in demanding marine and building applications.

The Crestabond range of methacrylate structural adhesives, launched at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2010, has since been successfully used by customers in a variety of marine and transportation applications. Crestabond adhesives are primerless, requiring no, or only minimal, surface cleaning of the substrates to be bonded. This saves both production time and assembly costs. The Crestabond range is aimed at manufacturing companies in the bus, truck and rail, construction, marine and wind energy markets, where there is need for high performance adhesives that can be bonded to a wide variety of composite, metal and plastic substrates.

To arrange a meeting with Scott Bader during the show visitors should contact their local Scott Bader sales representative or Sarah Dyas, Scott Bader Composites Marketing Department; e-mail: sarah_dyas@scottbader.com.

RAMPF Tooling GmbH & Co KG Hall C2, stand number A03

RAMPF Tooling, manufacturer of liquid systems, pastes and board materials for model, mould and tool engineering, is showcasing its solutions for lightweight construction at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011. RAMPF will present its comprehensive RAKU-TOOL® tooling product range. This comprises epoxy and polyurethane systems which can be used for the various processes, including hand/wet lay-up, vacuum bagging, resin infusion, prepreg, autoclave, wet compression moulding and RTM, and they cover a wide application temperature range.

The company will showcase various processes and materials for lightweight construction, including the working board RAKU-TOOL WB-0700 and the RAKU-TOOL Close Contour products CC-6507/CB-6507 and CC-6503/CB-6503 for the production of tools.

Close Contour Casting has a number of advantages, RAMPF explains. The materials are supplied as ready to machine, three-dimensional castings already close to the shape of the final shape. As a result, less waste is generated, and the final shape can be milled faster and with less cutter wear. The Close Contour products can be used for mould and tool production and feature a fine, seamless surface, excellent machinability, minimal handling of liquid materials and good dimensional stability.

RAKU-TOOL infusion systems EL-2203/EH-2970-1, EI-2500/EH-2971 and EI-2504/EH-2974 are suited to impregnating dry fibre packages in a single process step. The materials exhibit very good wetting and flow characteristics.

Resin infusion is one of the seven production processes for fibre reinforced composites which RAMPF Tooling specializes in. Show visitors will see an overview of various RAKU-TOOL infusion systems and their impregnation characteristics as well as parts produced in resin infusion.

SGL Group Hall 4, stand number A11

Carbon fibre manufacturer SGL Group will be displaying a CFRP spindle carrier for machine tools which was developed in partnership with engineering company Roschiwal + Partner GmbH.

The CFRP spindle carrier consists of a rectangular CFRP profile with a hard foam core. It is constructed using several layers of multiaxial and unidirectional carbon fibre prepregs based on SGL’s SIGRAFIL® C carbon fibre (50k).

The resulting CFRP spindle carrier weighs 50 kg compared with 185 kg for a cast iron spindle carrier. This weight reduction means the drives can accelerate and decelerate faster while maintaining the same performance, which reduces processing time and thus also production costs.

Weiss Chemie + Technik GmbH & Co. KG Hall C2, stand number D04

Weiss specialises in adhesives and sandwich panel technologies, offering quality, service and reliable delivery.

The company’s portfolio currently includes more than 300 different surface and structural adhesives, superglues, as well as special adhesives for most fields of application. A comprehensive assortment of cleaners, special products and accessories are also available.

Weiss heat- and sound-insulating sandwich panels consist of high-quality components and are bonded with the company’s proven adhesive systems. The variety of surfaces and core materials available, and the possibility to combine them in various ways, offers countless creative options.

Wolfangel GmbH Hall C2, stand number C24 and Product Demonstration Area

Wolfangel is a supplier of injection and RTM plants, covering the requirements of polyester as well as epoxy materials. Depending on the customer’s requirements, products range from simple, manually operated plants to complex, customer-specified systems with electronic control.

Today, quality control and documentation play an ever more important role with the production of composite components, even for small and medium sized companies, which supply different industries and have to invest in these areas. With the iJect touch for epoxy and polyester processes, Wolfangel offers a plant that meets these requirements. The electronic control takes over the control of important parameters. The parameters for each mould are easy to configure and can be selected via touch panel. If required, the configuration can be done via desktop PC, which can also control the processes. The iJect touch can be integrated in to the company’s network. This new plant offers all producers of RTM components optimised and controlled processing.

Wolfangel will be carrying out live daily demonstrations at the Product Demonstration Area during COMPOSITES EUROPE.  

If your company is exhibiting at COMPOSITES EUROPE 2011 and would like to be included in our preview, please send us your information; RP@elsevier.com.