Last year we had an absolute BLAST being a part of the JEC World! This year, as you can imagine, couldn’t be different… We are thrilled to announce that we will be attending the leading international composites show once again!

Held in Paris, and organized by JEC Group, the JEC World is the “place to be” for composites with hundreds of product launches, awards ceremonies, startup competitions, conferences, live demonstrations, and MUCH MORE!

Just so you can understand the scope of what we are talking about, this year, the JEC Group is expecting 1300 exhibitors and 27 pavilions this year with many newcomers and new countries represented!

For us composites enthusiasts, being part of this amazing event, where the entire composite universe gets together, is by far the best opportunity to understand the scope of the community we are creating! Our team is looking forward to getting to know you in person and having insightful conversations about what we love the most!

Participating in this event allows us to be at the epicenter of the action and share our passion for innovation with everyone. One of the coolest features of the show is that exhibitors have access to matchmaking platform! In 2023, more than 7000 business meetings took place during the three days of the show only thanks to this platform! We are so excited to immerse ourselves in the latest trends and network with the BEST in the industry!

The event will take place from March 5th to 7th, so get READY! We hope to meet you at our booth, please don’t be shy! Let’s make this event an unforgettable experience!

The post JOIN US AT JEC WORLD 2024! appeared first on Managing Composites.

Horacio understood the high potential of composite-material-based systems and, in particular, carbon fiber while making the Countach Evoluzione at Lamborghini. He tried to persuade Lamborghini to buy an autoclave so they could extend the production of the carbon parts. They refused, saying that Ferrari did not have an autoclave, so Lamborghini didn’t need one.

He then borrowed capital to buy his own autoclave late in 1987 and then, in 1991, he broke away from the company and founded his own consultancy called Modena Design which started to make carbon fiber composites for Formula One cars and clients like Daimler and Ferrari. A couple of years later, he founded Pagani Automobili.

The result couldn’t be any different: The pulsating heart of Pagani craftsmanship is enshrined within one of its signature features and is the first thing that strikes you when you see a Zonda or a Huayra: the carbon fiber front hood with its herringbone weave pattern, a symbol not only of technical research but also a quest for aesthetics!

The post Horacio Pagani’s relationship with composite materials appeared first on Managing Composites.

original 1953 Corvette was the first »mass-produced» automobile to use fiberglass-reinforced plastic parts. Every Corvette since has featured a composite-material body.

Fiberglass was first considered for use on a GM vehicle by legendary designer Harley Earl. Besides being an exotic choice for the early Fifties and having an undeniable weight advantage, fiberglass offered an economical way to create the low-volume Corvette without the expense of large sheet metal stamping dies.

Starting with the third generation in 1968, the body parts were manufactured with a press mold process. It was a significant advancement in forming technology and laid the groundwork for a change in the body panels’ material in 1973. That year, the composition changed from conventional fiberglass to sheet-molded composite, or SMC, which was composed of fiberglass, resin, and a catalyst formed under high heat and pressure. The new material helped produce panels that were smoother right out of the mold, resulting in higher-quality paint finishes.

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Mitsubishi Chemical Europe. Has displayed a lightweight motorcycle seat support rear frame developed through joint R&D between MCC subsidiary, Gemini Composites, and Ducati Motor Holding in October 2019 at the K Show, and again earlier this year in May 2022 at JEC World.

The seat support rear frame comprises the entire aft frame of the vehicle, forming an integral part of the chassis. It is designed based on fatigue strength criteria, but also must meet stiffness, static strength, and finish requirements. The part developed replaces a cast aluminum component for the Ducati Hypermotard 939, a vehicle designed for both road and off-road racing, and constitutes the main structural support for the driver, and optionally passenger and cargo bins.

The rear frame is made from MCC’s forged molding compound (FMC) material, said to be an advanced version of carbon fiber sheet molding compounds (CFSMC) and, combined with a modified molding process and a dedicated design philosophy, is said to be capable of yielding parts with properties suitable for primary structural applications.

The forged composite part weighs 0.8 kilograms, while the aluminum one is typically 1.35 kilograms per side, which represents a total savings of 1.1 kilogram, while maintaining the same cost and rate targets for the baseline aluminum component. The total motorcycle weight is 167 kilograms.

https://www.compositesworld.com/news/ducati-introduces-lightweight-motorcycle-seat-support-rear-frame

Amazing, right?

Now, let’s talk about 3D printing of composite materials! We have selected two news that cover groundbreaking projects!

Low-void, large-scale, high-volume 3D-printed composites!
Among its many composites-related projects, Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently installed its first AMCM test cell, combining extrusion with compression molding for fast, low-void, low-porosity thermoplastic composite parts.
AMCM has been in development for more than two years, and the team originally began by using the MDF’s existing large-format BAAM printer and compression press. Using this setup, ORNL was able to demonstrate initial benefits to the process combination such as low voids in the final part. However, the machines were not next to each other, and the relatively short distance of travel between the BAAM and press required an additional reheating step in a belt oven prior to compression molding to soften the preform again to the correct glass transition temperature (Tg). These five to six extra minutes of preheating per part significantly increased the overall cycle time up to eight to nine total minutes per part, says Dr. Vipin Kumar, R&D associate staff member in ORNL’s Advanced Composites Manufacturing group.
It quickly became apparent that a dedicated production cell that combines AM and compression molding into one system would be needed to demonstrate that this technology could be used in a high-volume production environment,
To produce a part in the AMCM cell, the part geometry is extruded directly onto a mold, resulting in a 3D tailored preform that travels via conveyor belt directly into the press for immediate molding (see video below). Kumar explains that the material is extruded at, or a little above, the melting temperature of the material, and that the design of the AMCM cell allows the preform to reach the press for compression before the material has cooled down below its Tg.

Interested to know more about this project? Check out this link:

https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/low-void-large-scale-high-volume-3d-printed-composites

High-performance, high-detail continuous 3D-printed carbon fiber parts!

Mantis Composites Inc.’ new technology uses a fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing system, which essentially entails extruding a filament made up of a pre-impregnated, continuous fiber/towpreg. The company also developed its own specialized design software to model and print parts with the accuracy needed to create detailed components to meet aerospace specifications. Parts can be printed on a range of commercial materials, though Dunn notes mostly carbon fiber and high-temperature thermoplastics like polyetheretherketone (PEEK) are used.

Today, operating three additive manufacturing (AM) cells with a maximum print volume of 18 x 20 inches, Mantis Composites offers custom design/engineering, printing, postprocessing, bonding and surface treatment services for each of its projects. Fiber placement accuracy is said to be within ±0.015 inch (±0.4 millimeter) tolerance, and lower after postprocessing such as machining or sanding.

https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/high-performance-high-detail-continuous-3d-printed-carbon-fiber-parts

Our last story is about dimensional issues in high-temperature cured laminates!

When it’s not the tooling, the root cause of dimensionally inaccurate composite parts often boils down to two things: fiber form(s) used and laminate symmetry!
https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/doing-the-twist-a-look-at-dimensional-issues-in-high-temperature-cured-laminates

The post July’s Top Composite News! appeared first on Managing Composites.

Let’s kick off our newsfeed with very exciting news: a project that aims to pioneer the use of natural fiber composites in the wind energy industry!

The project Green Nacelle is commissioned by DOT (Delft Offshore Turbine), a leading wind turbine R&D innovator who are part of the DOB-Academy based in Delft, Netherlands. Manufactured by NFC specialists Greenboats®, with composite materials from Sicomin and Bcomp, and engineering support from Judel/Vrolijk & Co, the Green Nacelle is reported to be the largest NFC structure built to date.

Greenboats has specialized in the engineering and manufacturing of natural-fiber composites for the last ten years, inspiring companies to rethink their composite solutions and move towards more sustainable options. With the Green Nacelle, the company and its customer DOT Power have demonstrated that the state of the art in renewable and bio-based composite materials, coupled with efficient composite processing techniques, can lower energy consumption in manufacturing and significantly improve the sustainability of large-scale wind energy components.

Based on the extensive NFC processing expertise developed in-house, Greenboats can reduce the CO2 emissions of a typical glass fiber-reinforced composite (GFRP) part by 60-80% over the product life cycle. In the case of the Green Nacelle, energy consumption in manufacturing has also been reduced by over 50% compared to a nacelle made with existing GFRP technology. These important sustainability benefits are all realized without compromising the performance, quality, or durability of the final composite structure.

https://www.jeccomposites.com/news/the-green-nacelle-pioneering-natural-fibre-composites-in-wind-energy/

Amazing, right? Definitely a step in the right direction!

Now, let’s talk about composite materials in the automotive industry! We have selected two news that cover groundbreaking projects!

Automotive Industry:

BMW

Let’s start with a banger: 3D printing and AFP join forces in automotive demonstrator!
Bavarian auto industry and TU Munich research how to reduce molding costs by combining continuous fiber and 3D-printed composites!

In 2019, engineers from BMW began a collaboration with Technical University of Munich to investigate how to use additive manufacturing (AM) to reduce injection molding costs in such parts. TUM had been conducting various research projects on how to combine more traditional composites manufacturing like layup via automated fiber placement (AFP) with 3D printing that uses continuous fiber reinforcement. “Injection molding tools are quite expensive,” explains Franz Maidl, technology development engineer in BMW’s Lightweight Construction and Technology Center. “Our goal was a fully comparable solution to the MAI Skelett technology but much less costly via additive manufacturing.”

For this next evolution of the Skelett roof frame, two different demonstrators were built using two different AM methods combined with continuous CFRTP materials. The front roof frame demonstrated in the MAI Skelett project was revised using selective laser sintering (SLS) and injection or AFP while the part shown in this article combined extrusion-based 3D printing and AFP to produce a mid-roof frame, located at the B-pillar connection between the chassis side frames. Both frames are slightly curved and close out the chassis “box,” providing stiffness and resistance to torsion. However, the front roof frame also requires mating with the windshield and multiple attachments for interior parts.

Interested to know more about this project? Check out this link:

https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/3d-printing-and-afp-join-forces-in-automotive-demonstrator

Artura GT4

On another note, we have an excellent display of what carbon lightweight design can achieve: McLaren has unveiled the Artura GT4! A model which builds on 570S GT4 and 720S GT3 competition cars with a carbon fiber monocoque for lightweight, precise handling characteristics and enhanced durability.

The new Artura GT4 shares much of its technology with the new McLaren Artura road car, which debuts the McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture featuring a carbon fiber monocoque. This motorsport-inspired chassis design and construction is an ideal platform for a race car, McLaren notes, as a rigid structure enables a wider setup envelope for the driver as well as providing a strong and safe driving environment.

The minimization of weight is a key element of the Artura road car, and this philosophy continues in the race car — with a compact V6 engine and ancillaries including the exhaust system, all weight-optimized, the GT4 car is more than 100 kilograms lighter than the outgoing 570S GT4!

https://www.compositesworld.com/news/newly-debuted-artura-gt4-features-mclaren-carbon-lightweight-architecture

Aerospace Industry:

Aero Design Labs’s ADRS-1 kit includes revised fairings and vortex generators to save $12,000 in fuel and >40 tons of CO2 per aircraft per month!

Designed by a team led by ADL’s chief technology officer (CTO) and airframe drag-reduction specialist, Eric Ahlstrom, the modification kit was refined using proprietary computational fluid dynamic (CFD) algorithms that were tested on supercomputers in the U.K. and U.S. “Our proprietary software has embedded artificial intelligence that will significantly shorten future run times,” founder of ADL, Lee Sanders, says. “What used to take us five months to develop a product we can now get done in a matter of a few weeks.”

The ADRS-1 kit consists of a revised wing-to-body aft fairing, modified flap track fairing tips, updated wheel-well fairings, revised aerodynamics around the environmental control system (ECS) pack ram air exit duct and several strategically placed vortex generators. The modifications are particularly tailored to address areas of interference and parasitic drag around the fuselage that have never previously been tackled or only partially treated over the life of the aircraft.

Made predominantly from composite structures, the kit weighs 180 pounds but results in a net gain of only 110 pounds. after replacement of the original structure. ADL says future weight reductions are being studied but adds that the current material set is designed to “far exceed FAA standards and airline rigor.” The kit is expected to require around 150 work-hours to install. “We feel that the kit is minimally impactful from an out-of-service time perspective,” Martin says.

https://www.compositesworld.com/news/new-composites-based-drag-reduction-kit-for-boeing-737-ng-receives-faa-stc-cuts-fuel-burn

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