JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #45 - November/December 2008 - 39

Thermoplastics fully retained. The weight reduction requirement was fulfilled at over 40% weight saved, compared to the steel version. More information Weber Fibertech Weber Fibertech is a division of Weber Automotive. A supplier to the automotive industry since 1969, Weber entered into the fibre reinforced plastics industry in 1998. Today, the company is a high-end supplier of motor blocks, crankshafts, entire engines and fibre-reinforced plastic components. Esoro Esoro is an independent engineering company that specializes in innovation and development for industrial customers, focusing on lightweight structural composite technologies and mobility/vehicle design. Esoro has developed the E-LFT process for Weber and is also in charge of E-LFT component design and engineering. The company delivers a full service from conceptual design and FEM (crash) simulation up to the first prototype parts. Fig. 15: Results for the 2/3 rear seat prototype, (right) component after crash. Outlook The new E-LFT process developed by Esoro on behalf of Weber Fibertech enables economical high-volume production of highly loaded lightweight structural components. This opens up entirely new markets for thermoplastic fibre composite components. 30-40% weight savings can be achieved compared to steel. The first E-LFT component has been in mass production since January 2007. A number of additional E-LFT structural components are under development at Esoro / Weber Fibertech. Additional production lines are planned at the same site. The primary goal of further activities is to promote the potential of the new process in the development departments of OEMs and tier-one suppliers, and to continue with the series-oriented development of projects in the targeted component areas. More information: www.e-lft.com www.weber-fibertech.com www.esoro.com References [1] Jaggi, D., Hüsler, D., Ziegler, S., Rüegg, A., Stötzner, N.: Vollautomatischer Produktionsprozess zur Herstellung von grossflächigen Strukturbauteilen als Verbund aus LFT und unidirektionalen EF-Profilen. AVK-TV Tagung, September 2002, Baden-Baden [2] Jaggi, D., Stötzner, N., Rüegg, A., Ziegler, S.: Seat structure application – a way to employ E-LFT in the future. EATC Seminar, June 2004, Paris [3] Rüegg, A., Stötzner, N., Jaggi, D., Ayer, R.: Seating Structures and other Structural Applications with Locally Unidirectional Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites. SPE Automotive Composites Conference, September 2005, Troy [4] Jaggi, D., Stötzner, N., Ziegler, S., Ayer, R.: Endlos- und langfaserverstärkte thermoplastische Bauteile im E-LFT Prozess am Beispiel von crashbelasteten Sitzstrukturen. 7. Europäische Automobil-Konferenz „VISION Kunststoff-Karosserie 2015“, September 2005, Bad Nauheim [5] Wulf, B.U., de Cuitis, H., Mettler, A., Zogg, M.: Prozessorientierte Fertigung von Unterbodensystemen in der Fahrzeugindustrie. 4. AVK TV Tagung, October 2001, Baden-Baden [6] www.dieffenbacher.de No45 November-December 2008 / jec composites magazine

http://www.e-lft.com http://www.weber-fibertech.com http://www.esoro.com http://www.diatex.com/ http://www.dieffenbacher.de http://www.diatex.com/

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #45 - November/December 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #45 - November/December 2008