JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #111 - March 2017 - Special JEC World - 60

JEC WORLD 2017

Desmocomp®, a novel solution for composites
One of the main concerns of building
and infrastructure manufacturers regarding composite materials is their
ability to withstand environmental
degradation, and in particular UV
light. To face this issue, Covestro developed the Desmocomp® matrix material. This polymer is based on aliphatic
polyurethane (PU) and presents good
weathering and UV resistance to protect the composite from environmental influences1, thus making the use of
UV stabilisers, UV veils and protective
coatings unnecessary.
To provide a complete solution for exterior applications, composites based
on Desmocomp® can also rely on the
good mechanical properties of PU,

RAW MATERIALS

such as dimensional stability (low
thermal expansion coefficient), thermal insulation, and good chemical and
fire resistance, as well as anti-graffiti
properties.
First developed for pultrusion process, one of the main processes used
for composites in infrastructure,
Desmocomp® can be used in open
and closed impregnation system, and
thanks to an innovative single-component system, it is easy to process and
cost effective as no injection boxes,
meter-mix pumps or additional investments are needed.
1: Desmocomp® pultruded parts >
10,000 h without changes in CAM 180

Fast RTM, a collaborative project for composites mass production
This innovation is the result of a series of innovations developed by the
Research and Technology Institute
M2P (IRT M2P) with the support of
the partners of the Fast RTM collaborative project. Pinette P.E.I. (compact
press and loading and unloading device), Compose (innovative tooling for
net-shape parts), SISE (economic thermoregulation system), Chomarat (optimised reinforcement materials), Hexion
& Arkema (reactive resins), Composite
Integrity (closed mould process),
Renault, Faurecia & Hutchinson (integration and design) worked together to
provide the solutions that would make
the project a success.
All these individual developments resulted in the creation of an industrial-scale platform, invested and operated
by the IRT M2P, to demonstrate the
feasibility of mass-produced structural composite automotive parts using
reactive RTM processes. This fully-automated platform is based on C-RTM
(compression resin transfer moulding)

60

which impregnates the part faster and
better than RTM and is compatible
with reactive thermoplastic and thermoset resins, making the process flexible and adaptable to the needs of car
manufacturers.
Thanks to an automated environment
(loading and unloading) and cutting-edge equipment especially developed for the project, the Fast RTM
platform can produce large (up to 3
m2), fully net-shape, functionalised and
structural composite parts in cycle time
of 120 seconds. To ensure the traceability and quality of the resulting parts, this
platform is also fully instrumented with
automatic data acquisition, process parameter traceability, energy consumption measurement systems and on-line
non-destructive control systems.
The initial target of this innovation
being the mass-market cars, the Fast
RTM project focused on a technically
and economically optimised solution,
integrating functionalisation, net-shape

jec composites magazine / No111 March 2017

Company: Covestro Deutschland AG
(Germany)

(SAE J2527), Desmocomp® matrix only
> 20,000 h in salt spray test, both tests
still running.

PROCESS
Company: IRT M2P (France)
Partners: Arkema (France), Chomarat
(France), Compose (France), Composite
Integrity by Institut de Soudure Groupe
- Composite Platform (France), Faurecia
(France), Hexion (France), Hutchinson
(France), Pinette P.E.I. (France), Renault
(France), SISE (France)

and fully-automated process to keep the
costs and cycle times as low as possible.
Thanks to this focus, the process could
be easily adopted by other industries in
need of higher production rate, such as
the aeronautics, railways and the whole
transportation sector according to IRT
M2P.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #111 - March 2017 - Special JEC World
