JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #119 - March 2018 - 60

Beautiful, lightweight, and tunable

Fig.2: CFRT unlocks a new class of authentic aesthetics for design - a laptop
cover with organic marble and wood grain effect

Pioneering design and
aesthetics in composites
With thermoplastic composites, engineers and product designers receive a
new platform of opportunities for design
and aesthetics. Various combinations
of resins and fibres (carbon or glass
fibres) can be used for optical effects and
designed aesthetics, while maintaining
mechanical performance. Laser-etched
patterns transfer easily from steel
moulds.
Tipping the balance
Covestro comes to the thermoplastic
composites industry from the perspective
of one of the world's largest engineering
plastics players, who also has a strong
track record in composite solutions
including short fibre reinforced plastic
composites and PU-based composites.
It is used to scaling and helping value
chains design complete solutions. It has
excellent access to market and believes
its strong material portfolio, production
technology investments, coupled with
partnerships with composite companies,
engineers and designers, could tip the

Fig.3: In mold etching creates surface textures combined with unidirectional
grains of fibre

balance in wide-scale adoption of thermoplastic composites.
From bicycles and luggage to furniture
and household appliances, the company's CFRTP are gradually finding their
way into consumer goods through open
collaborations with value chain partners.
Development is currently ongoing, for
example, on a high-end residential air
conditioner with a global brand. The
company is also helping a leading luggage brand to slim its products without
sacrificing durability. Designers at Noto,
a renowned boutique industrial design
house, have been inspired by the authenticity of CFRTP and are in the process
of designing a chair, code name ZERO,
which will be launched in design shows
later this year.
Covestro is also looking into uncharted
territories. Last year, in partnership with
Singapore University of Technology and
Design, the company invited entrepreneurs, designers, makers, engineers and
change creators to come together in a
48-hour MatHack to identify opportunities for improving products and services
in everyday life through lightweight

Fig.4: A chair prototype created by design
house Noto using
CFRTP[1]

60

jec composites magazine / N°119 March 2018

composites solutions. At the end of the
hackthon, participants were able to come
up with six working prototypes aimed at
tackling impactful problems that range
from accessibility for elderly to personal
mobility solutions for new families. The
next step will be to look into the prototyping and manufacturability of these
ideas using CFRTP.
While products and innovations may
vary, what players like Covestro bring to
the table are decades of thermoplastic
know-how, a broad material portfolio
that creates exciting new opportunities
for hybrid solutions, and a strong foundation in existing value chains (and the
ability to create new value chains), in
an all-out battle to bring continuous
fibre-reinforced thermoplastics to the
mainstream.
Investing in the future
We are at an industry turning point, where
the need for lighter and thinner (and
therefore lower energy consumption
and more sustainable) next-generation
products is going to bring a sea change
to industries, and is creating opportunities for new ways of working and new
material solutions. Covestro's CFRTP
portfolio answers this need. This is why
the company is investing in its industry-leading production technology with
the inauguration of a new thermoplastic
composites factory in Markt Bibart,
Germany, in March 2018, to support its
growth into the future.
More information :
www.cfrtp.covestro.com
http://www.cfrtp.covestro.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #119 - March 2018
