JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015 - 36

QSP

Quilted Stratum Process:
mass production of composite parts

The Quilted Stratum Process (QSP®) is a revolutionary approach
for the design and production of high-performance thermoplastic
composites and multi-material parts.
The concept used achieves the goal of combining high performance,
low cost and short cycle times. The project partners provide an
automated production line ready for developing and producing
industrial prototypes for mass markets.

By
Clément CAllens,
mAnufACturing projeCt mAnAger
dAmien guillon,
design projeCt mAnAger
Christophe ChAmpenois,
Composite depArtment mAnAger,
Cetim

T

wo years ago (see JCM No. 82 July
2013, p. 65), Cetim launched the
development of a thermoplastic
composite suspension arm together with
ONERA, and announced the development of a new process intended to meet
automotive requirements for the cost and
cycle time of composite parts. The pilot
line is now operational in Cetim's facility at the Technocampus Composite in
Nantes, France. A special event was set up
at JEC Europe on March 10th to present
the Quilted Stratum Process, or QSP®,
to composite specialists from the world
over. Cetim and its partners (Pinette,
Loiretech, Compose, ONERA and IRT
JV) are proud to receive a JEC America
Award for the QSP® process on the 2nd
of June at Houston.

A new process
for new opportunities
The outstanding properties of composites and the advantages of using these
materials in industry to lower the weight
of structures are well established. On the

Fig. 1: A new process for the mass production of
automotive composite parts

other hand, the choice of process to enable
optimized production is an issue for which
there have been no viable solutions so far.
On behalf of the French mechanical
industry, Cetim worked on many different parts to propose solutions to lower
weight in structural applications based on
continuous fibre composites. However, the
technologies compatible with small series
or high-performance (and high-cost) applications could not meet the mass industry's
needs. There have been many attempts
to optimize the productivity of existing
technologies. The German car industry, for
example, reached a high level of automation, substantially reducing the processing
time for RTM parts. Unfortunately, the
middle-class cars of tomorrow will not
use many carbon-epoxy parts because the
process concept itself generates high costs.
As part of a national platform supported by

36 jec composites magazine / No98 July - August 2015

industrial partners (PSA Peugeot Citroën,
Renault, Faurecia, Solvay) and academic
players (Ecole Centrale de Nantes), and
with the financial support of the Pays de
la Loire regional council, Cetim started
working with the IRT Jules Verne to
conceive and develop QSP®, a totally new
process based on three concepts:
- integration of the global "raw material to
finished part" process, where the maximum added value is focused on the final
part, with no semi-product procurement,
but maximum automation and maximum
raw-material standardization for a worldwide procurement capability;
- giving priority to production efficiency,
with cost and cycle time becoming the
main drivers for part design. For a given
cost and cycle time performance, the material has a reproducible quality level that
provides material characteristics, rules and
method for robust design;
- the design of multi-material, net-shape
preforms for net-shape final parts, with
the right material in the right place and a
minimum loss of material.

Cetim's process and the pilot line
QSP® provides a missing technological
brick for the composite factory of the
future. As shown in Figure 1, the process
makes it possible to produce parts with
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015
