JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #103 - March 2016 - 43

awards

official partner

JEC Innovation Awards Program 2016
Once again, the submissions for the JEC World 2016 Innovation Awards program were particularly
impressive, both in quantity and diversity, but more importantly in quality. The choices that had to be
made to reward to best projects were only rendered more difficult by the incredible range of projects
presented this year.
More specifically, an especially important number of submissions came from the Automotive industry,
thus perfectly illustrating the current market trends. Mobility and sustainability were also main recurring themes, with public transportation and "greener" processes and materials being focused on.
With 24 categories ranging from raw materials to processes, to applications in various fields such as
Aeronautics, Automotive, Medical, Consumer Goods and Better Living, the winning projects offer a
complete overview of the composite value chain. The winning projects originate from Europe, America
and Asia, demonstrating the international added value of the program.

Structural epoxy parts with autoclave quality in less than 1 minute
Combining the new fast-cure Araldite® epoxy chemistry with a novel
compression moulding process
enables the simplified manufacture of
structural composite parts with cycle
times as low as one minute without
any further post-curing. For high-volume applications such as automotive,
this makes cost-efficient manufacture
of high-performance structural parts
using thermoset technology a reality.
The new rapid-cure Araldite® epoxy system is not only faster but also displays a
higher Tg enabling robust processing up
to 150°C. These factors combine to give
a cure time of only 30 seconds at 140°C,
meaning that a press cycle time of only
1 minute is possible without any further
post-curing of the part.
The novel compression moulding
process can remove the need for a
complex fibre preform and enables a

Thermoset resins

fibre volume content in excess of 60%
to be easily achieved. The process offers
high design freedom, including complex
deep-draw parts, and
generates very little
wastage compared
to classical compression moulding.
The novel process
also ensures a very
low void content,
with a composite
quality comparable to RTM or autoclave-prepreg
processes. A press equipped with an
industrial demonstrator mould repeatedly produced high-quality parts in
only one minute per part, even when
heavy-tow industrial carbon fabrics
were used.
Regarding the market, the primary
focus is on transportation, especially

Winner: Huntsman Advanced Materials
(Switzerland)
Partners: Compose SA (France), INDAC
AG (Switzerland), THERMOFLUX
(France)

in automotive, but consumer goods
are also an area that will benefit from
this innovation. In conclusion, the
high fibre volume coupled with low
void content offer outstanding mechanical performance. It is ideal for highvolume production of CFRP parts to
enable the adoption of lightweight
composites as a metal replacement.

No103 March 2016 / jec

composites magazine 43

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #103 - March 2016