JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015 - 22

resin
ether-ketone-ketone) production capacities in France and the
United States. PEKK is used in
particular in carbon fibre-based
composites and 3D printing. For
PEKK, Arkema should double
its production capacities in
France by mid-2016, and will be
constructing a production plant
in Mobile, Alabama, due to come
into operation in the second
half of 2018. Solvay, for its part,
announced in late February the
expansion of its PEEK production capacities in the United
States, at Augusta in Georgia,
and at Panoli, in India. The total
investment amounts to $85 million and should increase Solvay's
capacities to 2,500 metric tons.
The new Augusta unit should
be operational in mid-2016,
and the Panoli unit has already
begun its expansion. Still with
regard to high-performance
thermoplastics, Victrex - a PEEK
specialist - announced, again in
February, the construction of
its Polymer Innovation Centre
in northern England. Victrex
considers the project to be worth
$24.6 million, with $2 million in
local subsidies. In 2014, Victrex
invested more than $23 million
in R&D, equating to 6% of its
sales. This project should create
80 direct and indirect jobs in
the coming decade. At the end
of April, Toray announced the
creation of a marketing and distribution company for its highperformance resins products at
Neu-Isenburg in Germany, called
Toray Resins Europe. Toray also

announced the expansion of
its Shelbyville Resin Technical
Centre in Indiana, USA, with
new facilities for developing its
compounds. Toray aims thereby
to provide a better service for
automotive Tier 1 suppliers in
Europe and the USA, as it has
already done in Japan. The Toray
Group operates 12 compounding sites worldwide (Japan (2),
China (4), Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Republic of Korea,
USA and Mexico), and produces in particular the following
thermoplastics and compounds:
ABS, PA, PBT, LCP, PPS, PLA,
CFRP (thermoplastics).

and certain resin suppliers that
today propose solutions for
the mass production of certain
hot engine parts in place of
New hybrid
aluminium. The objective is
to make the engine lighter and
matrix developments
Evonik announced in early April expand the virtuous circle of
that it had succeeded in creating weight reduction.The Fraunhofer
a material offering the best of
project group for new drive sysboth worlds: the processability of tems (NAS) of the Fraunhofer
a thermoplastic and the properInstitute for Chemical Technolties of a thermoset. In cooperaogy (ICT), in collaboration with
tion with the Karlsruhe Institute SBHPP, the high-performance
of Technology, the company
plastics business unit of the
developed a hybrid polymer
Japanese Sumitomo Bakelite, has
system capable of crosslinking
developed cylinder casings made
without the use of a catalyst,
of 55% glass fibre and 45% phein a fully reversible process.
nolic resin, which are 20% lighter
Heating enables de-crosslinking than their aluminium counterThermoplastics require differand shaping. Cooling enables
part (Figure 2). The institute
ent fibre sizing compared to
crosslinking once again. In Febchose glass fibre for reasons of
thermosets, and glass and carbon ruary L&L Products, launched
cost, but carbon fibre could also
fibre manufacturers are adapting its thermoformable epoxy adhe- be used in this application.
to the boom in thermoplastics. In sive films which offer, according The Polimotor 2 project
March, therefore, Johns Manville to the company, better adhesion sponsored by Matti Holtzberg
announced that it was increasing and strength. This new product
and his company, Composite
the capacities of its Etowah, Ten- requires no refrigeration and
Castings, intends to improve on
nessee site (go-live in mid-2016) has a long shelf life. Composites
the first polymotor of the 1980s,
for serving the engineering
produced using film stacking
which was already intended to
thermoplastics industry (PA, PE with this type of product can be
replace metal with polymers.
and PP). Likewise Jushi, in the
envisaged for the future. In fact,
The Polimotor 2 engine is due to
same period, stated that it was
the Japanese company, Kobe installed in the Norma-M20
increasing the capacities of its
matsu Seiren, has just launched
concept car, for a race at Lime
Egyptian site and constructing a a carbon fibre-reinforced therRock Park in Connecticut, USA,
plant in the USA. The Egyptian
moformable epoxy system that
in 2016. Solvay, IDI Composites
site dedicated to the European
behaves like a thermoplastic with International and Toho Tenax
market is highly thermoplastics- the properties of a thermoset,
are stakeholders in this project,
oriented. Its capacities should
and also requires no refrigerated which they hope to be able to
increase from 80,000 to 160,000 storage.
take to market in the future.
metric tons in Q1 2016 and to
Hexion (formerly Momentive)
200,000 metric tons in 2017.
The engine: the next step has developed, together with
The first Jushi plant in North
Ford Motor Company and WGS
in composite penetration
America should go live in Q1
Global Services, a phenolic-main automotive
2017, with a production capacity For several years, composites
trix cam carrier that could soon
- not least by virtue of their
be used in the Ford I3 EcoBoost®
weight-saving properties - have
engine. The developed material
gone from being used in bodymaintains its dimensional propwork parts to chassis parts, on
erties at over 200°C and offers
certain mass-produced vehicles. 30% weight savings compared to
Under the bonnet, many small
the solution currently in place on
parts are already made out of
this engine. n
composites, in particular glass/
More information:
polypropylene and glass/polyFig. 2: The aluminium cylinder casing (left) next to its composite replacement
www.jeccomposites.com
amide. Yet there are R&D centres
mounted in the engine (right)

22 jec composites magazine / No98 July - August 2015

of 80,000 metric tons for serving
the thermoplastic and thermoset
markets.

http://www.jeccomposites.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015