JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #120 - April 2018 - 34

BUlLDlNG AND CONSTRUCTlON house

interview
Justin Jin ,
CEO
AXIA Materials Co., Ltd.

JEC Composites Magazine:
Your development is based on your own
organosheet. Could you tell us more?

Justin Jin : Most engineers in Axia

are polymer and chemical engineers.
Therefore, since the company was
founded, in 2000, we have worked on
the development of a new polymer
material using SSGP (solid-state graft
polymerization) and in-situ polymerization technologies.
In early 2000, we commercialized a few
polymer groups that had a high polarity
with functional groups in their molecular chains or were thermally stable but
with a low melt viscosity.
This was fundamental for the development of our current organosheet.
We did not aim at organosheet at the
beginning but when we developed
more engineering polymer groups
with high filler contents (> 60-70%)
and high flow for high strength, our
portfolio was extended to lightweight
solutions and it was then a natural decision to start developing continuous
fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composite materials.
But because we wanted to use solid
powder resins with in-situ polymerization, the process and machinery development took longer than expected.
When we finished the development of
our organosheet products in 2012, the
market for organosheets was not growing quickly in Asia.
Therefore, to be better prepared for
multiple opportunities, we designed
our production line with a 3m width
and a continuous process to find other

applications that enable a rapid market entry such as recreational vehicles
(RV) or construction.
We now have six different types of
matrix resins, some of which are outsourced and some controlled in-house.
All are designed to be VOC free with
thermoforming capability.
Now, we run the production with
E-glass, carbon, and aramid reinforcements in our Korean factory, which has
a capacity of about 2 million m2 per
year (depending on the grade).
Hybrid prepreg (LitePreg) is one of
the unique types of organosheet we
currently offer.
It was developed for versatile thermoforming applications without pre-heating. Using hot moulding, it can produce
an inch or thicker parts with complex
shapes.
We also developed a metal-organosheet
direct bonding technology with
LitePreg for lightweight, highly structural and thermally conductive applications such as E-vehicles. LitePreg has a
shelf life of several years without need
of cold temperature storage.
Why and how did you become interested in the construction industry?

J. J.: It was a natural decision for us
to have an interest in the construction
industry because of our wide (< 3m)
VOC-free organosheet products.
While we kept developing automotive
applications with our organosheet, we
also tried to quickly enter the market
for RVs and trailers.
And soon we realized that the advantages of composites could also be used
to produce housing solutions.
In the beginning, we just aimed at the
shed, shelter, and simple/low-cost
house markets because they looked
like easy and rapid-entry markets. But
while we spent a lot of time and resources dealing with projects around
the world, we realized that this business could not be successful if we did
not offer a complete package including
all the building elements.
Customers were interested in new ma-

jec composites magazine / N°120 April 2018

terials with many expected advantages
but the lack of confidence in new materials and systems made them hesitate
to make decisions. Complying with all
the different building codes in different
project sites was not an easy job for a
composite material company.
Therefore, we stepped back and set a
new strategy that consisted in offering
to the building industry a total solution
package based on composite material
systems, including more developments
related to all the details of buildings
(e.g. how to connect to slabs, windows/
doors, panel to panel, electricity cables,
plumbing, etc.) and SFT (Smoke, Fire,
Toxicity) solutions.
After several additional years of development, we believe we are readier than
before with many well-developed packages to offer.
We also developed standard house
designs to make our LitePan composite structural insulated panel (SIP) a
standard building material.
As a material company, we aim at
large-volume projects but without sacrificing quality and performance. To
this end, we focused on the residential
house market with high energy efficiency and affordable cost.
We tried to prove the energy efficiency, cost advantages, sustainability, and
safety of these composite materials and
we believe we achieved these goals.
Now, we are proving one by one the advantages of our designs with more than
200 buildings built with our products
around the world.
We recently created the Pixel Hausbrand name for houses built using the
LitePan composite SIP.
We are not the builder nor the architect, but we help with the design and
engineering of projects as a material
expert group and we like to see the Pixel Haus grow with an image of energy
efficiency and zero-carbon house solution powered by advanced composite
materials and technologies.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #120 - April 2018