JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #104 - April/May 2016 - 33

Sports & Leisure

Automated production system for 3D complex,
fully recyclable bicycle components
Cross Composite developed a new material
along with a suitable automated manufacturing technique to produce complex,
precise load introduction elements that
are fully recyclable, for use in outdoor
sport applications. Unlike most advanced
composite parts, which are derived from a
layered structure and therefore are limited
in geometry, the products from Cross
Composite are based on highly complex
load-bearing components. Their production
is fully automated and the parts require no
post-processing such as machining, since
all the products are net-shape moulded. For
the first time ever, carbon composite bicycle
components are fully recyclable. After five
years of R&D, the epoxy resin commonly
used to bind carbon fibres together was replaced by an aerospace-certified thermoplastic resin. These products are best-in-class in

terms of weight and are tested according to
the safety requirements and test methods of
European standards. For recycling purposes, the classic shredding
technique was replaced by
electrical fragmentation to
avoid machinery wear and
the production of unwanted
carbon powder. Furthermore, by collecting the
products, Cross Composite
can certify a full cradle-tocradle recycling loop.
To date, Cross Composite
has developed a 69g saddle, a
105g crank and a 90g stem, all of which are
made of 100% thermoplastic composite (including the threads). No metallic inserts are
needed, thus enhancing the recyclability of
the products and fully respecting eco-design

Winner: Cross Composite AG
(Switzerland), C8 Sports (Switzerland)
Partner: Institute of Polymer Engineering
FHNW IKT (Switzerland), Toho Tenax
(Germany)

guidelines, as well as being compliant with
the new European Waste Framework Directives expected in 2020. In 2020, products
without sufficiently proven recyclability may
be impacted by eco-taxes, such as what was
established in the electronics industry.

Testing

"Continuous Peel Test Equipment":
optimising the tape winding process of thermoplastic composites
table performance of the final structure.
Facing this variety of input data
and parameters, a classical optimisation method would be very
expensive in mechanical tests
and material controls. Thus, a
method has been developed by
CETIM to save cost during the
optimization phase. This method is based on a continuous
peel-test machine. The samples
used in continuous peel test
are rings directly processed on
the winding machine, without specific
preparation. The rings are then mounted
on the peel test equipment, measuring
continuously the peel energy of the
bonding. A variation of peel energy
can be detected and correlated with a
variation of tape quality or a variation of
process parameters.
This testing equipment is able to
evaluate peel energy of thermoplastic
composites very efficiently. Because

Winner: CETIM (France)
Partner: LF Technologies (France)

this equipment can be installed directly
inside the production workshop, it is
possible to produce and test a ring in 5
minutes. On the other hand, classical
peel test method must be performed in
laboratory, and, from the time you send
the test samples, it takes generally a few
days before receiving the test report.
Time saving is not the only benefit: the
cost of the single peel test is divided by
a factor of 10 if we compare to classical
test methods.

No104 April - May 2016 / jec

Special JEC Americas 2016

The "Continuous Peel Test Equipment" has been invented by CETIM
to optimize the tape winding process
of thermoplastic composite structures.
The laser assisted tape winding process
is a growing technology, offering a promising productivity. The development
of a tape winding technology involves
the full value chain: raw material manufacturers, winding machine builders,
process developers, and composite
structures manufacturers. All of these
contributors are aware that the key of
process optimization is to know the limits of the process window. In tape winding or tape placement, time constants
are so short that it is almost impossible
to measure precisely the physical values
involved (pressure, temperature, heat
transfer). Therefore, a huge amount of
trials is required to define the acceptable
level of tape quality (surface roughness,
variation of impregnation), the acceptable process parameters and the accep-

composites magazine 33

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #104 - April/May 2016