Technical Fibre Products (TFP) says that a new flat-bed laminator with powder scatter capability has now been fully commissioned and provides the means to add value to TFP’s Optiveil™ and Optimat® nonwovens for composites, Tecnofire® passive fire protection and thermal insulation materials. The value can take several forms; bonding of multi-layer structures, powder addition and compression.
TFP adds that the new capability provides greater flexibility in material design, enabling the production of hybrid materials made up from layers of material with different properties. Examples include stabilisation of reinforcement fabrics with lightweight nonwovens, addition of pressure sensitive adhesive or foil backing and creation of multi-functional materials with alternating conductive and dielectric layers. These hybrid materials can help simplify part fabrication or eliminate downstream processing steps as well as providing additional functionality.
A further benefit to this new technology is the capability to surface coat materials through powder scatter application of polymeric or active powders, such as thermoplastics or adhesive. Coating of materials is not limited to nonwovens and can add surface functionality to the material processed. The laminator also enables TFP to offer material compression, enhancing the drape of nonwovens to facilitate improved conformability to complex mould shapes used in composite manufacture, particularly when using thermoplastic veils.
These additional capabilities provide an ideal complement to the value add options TFP already offer, including flexibility in material supply in the form of rolls, sheets or custom cut shapes to suit customer requirements and the capability to adapt or develop new nonwovens to meet customer needs, ensuring process, performance or aesthetic compatibility. ♦
