JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #52 - October 2009 - 30

FEATURE g…/… JEC Asia Innovation Awards Programme 2009 compromise in the strength or stiffness of the composite laminate. Although non-woven glass tissue provides the lowest-cost fabric for the FireShield® technology, carrier fabrics of other fibres such as polyester or carbon, either woven or non-woven, can be used to meet specific engineering design requirements. Manufacturers do not need to modify processes or train staff in order to produce composite structures that meet international standards for flame, smoke and toxic gas emission. They can use their normal manufacturing processes and resins. This opens the door to companies of all sizes to participate in the fire-protection field without further capital investment. In most cases, laminate cost is lower than for alternative ways of achieving the same degree of fire protection. With increased emphasis on flame, smoke and toxicity performance of composite structural materials, particularly for mass transit and building applications, the market potential is seen to be substantial. Finalists Chismatech − Italy Name of Product or Process: A novel structural core composite materials for components of the auxetic type. Partners: University of Catania (Italy). EG Intellectural Asset Creative Development Co. Ltd - Taïwan Name of Product or Process: Reinforced composite rebar. Partner: Rockey Ho (Taïwan). Lamilux Heinrich Strunz GmbH - Germany Name of Product or Process: Lamilux’s heatable GRP . Partners: Frenzelit (Germany) and Stadur (Germany). Winner “Automation” >> A laser-assisted thermoplastic tape placement process Fraunhofer IPT (Germany) Partners: Suprem SA (Switzerland) and Diehl Aircabin GmbH (Germany) and process costs, because of its high energy consumption over several hours. The breakthrough was made possible by some key contributions from the tape manufacturers Suprem SA who optimized their tape production processes to match the requirements posed by the laser-assisted tape placement technology, enabling the company to supply continuously improved tapes. The new technique of laser-assisted thermoplastic tape placement which has been developed by the research consortium enables the fully automatic production of lightweight components from filament-reinforced plastics. Such components are required, for example, by the aerospace industry for horizontal stabilizers and fuselages and by other The Fraunhofer IPT played the key role in the development industries as well. project, having designed, developed and constructed the facility as well as the methods for the process analysis and process development and having assumed the responsibility The newly designed process delivers substantially higher of managing and coordinating the project. processing speeds (i.e. shorter production cycles) and requires a substantially smaller energy input during the manufacturing process than the conventional duroplastic A vital contribution to the increases in component quality tape placement technique which is currently used to produce was provided by Diehl Aircabin who had provided real these components. It allows the manufacturer, for example, component specifications and verified these by subjecting to dispense with the hot-setting process, required to harden component samples to technical inspections. the currently used thermosets, which incurs high investment Finalists Magnum Venus Plastech − USA Name of Product or Process: A precision injection pressure control for mould filling. Olmar - Spain Name of Product or Process: New Olmar generation autoclaves. Partner: TC Industrial (Spain) jec composites magazine / No52 October 2009

http://www.jeccomposites.com

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #52 - October 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #52 - October 2009