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VOL 5 N-o 8
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COLUMNS
4 From the Editor
6 Perspectives & Provocations
Columnist Dale Brosius considers the
surges of company mergers that have
affected the composites industry over
the years.
8 Gardner Business Index
20 Work In Progress
Jeff Sloan expands on the design and
benefits of a next-generation composite
fuselage demonstrator that Spirit
AeroSystems debuted at the Paris
Air Show.
24 Work In Progress
Senior editor Ginger Gardiner explores
herone's injection-forming process for
high-performance, unitized thermoplastic
structures.
» DEPARTMENTS
10 Trends
42 Applications
43 Calendar
44 New Products
50 Marketplace
50 Ad Index
51 Showcase
» ON THE COVER
Turkish company Mitaş Composites uses
an Autonational AMD SW 1000 filament
winder (pictured) to build glass and
carbon fiber-reinforced composite utility
poles. See p. 36.
Source / Autonational
CompositesWorld (ISSN 2376-5232) is published
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The information presented in this edition
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUGUST 2019 / Vol: 5 No
–: 8
FEATURES
30 2019 Paris Air Show:
Highlights
The 2019 Paris Air Show may have lacked the
20 glamour of a new aircraft program announce-
ment, but the composites industry represented
is clearly gearing up for next-generation
aerospace manufacturing.
By Jeff Sloan
36 Inside Manufacturing:
Filament wound utility
poles offer design flexibility
In Turkey, a utility pole manufacturer combines
24
filament winding, automation, glass and carbon
fiber composites to expand its product line.
By Amanda Jacob
30
36
FOCUS ON DESIGN
Study demonstrates feasibility of
thermoplastic composites, high-speed
production process.
By Peggy Malnati
accurate. In applying recommendations, however, you should exercise care and normal MEMBERSHIPS:
precautions to prevent personal injury and damage to facilities or products. In no case
can the authors or the publisher accept responsibility for personal injury or damages
which may occur in working with methods and/or materials presented herein, nor can
the publisher assume responsibility for the validity of claims or performance of items
appearing in editorial presentations or advertisements in this publication. Contact
information is provided to enable interested parties to conduct further inquiry into
specific products or services.
CompositesWorld.com 1
 @CompositesWrld

PUBLISHER Ryan Delahanty

rdelahanty@gardnerweb.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jeff Sloan
jeff@compositesworld.com
SENIOR EDITOR Ginger Gardiner
ggardiner@compositesworld.com
SENIOR EDITOR Scott Francis
sfrancis@compositesworld.com
ASSISTANT EDITOR Hannah Mason
hmason@compositesworld.com
DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC INITIATIVES Scott Stephenson
AND EVENTS sstephenson@compositesworld.com
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER Becky Taggert
btaggert@gardnerweb.com
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Susan Kraus
skraus@gardnerweb.com
MARKETING MANAGER Chris Saulnier
csaulnier@gardnerweb.com

CW CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Sara Black sara@compositesworld.com

Dale Brosius dale@compositesworld.com
Michael LeGault mlegault@compositesworld.com
Peggy Malnati peggy@compositesworld.com
Karen Mason kmason@compositesworld.com

CW SALES GROUP

MIDWESTERN US & INTERNATIONAL Dale Jackman / regional manager

djackman@gardnerweb.com
EASTERN US SALES OFFICE Barbara Businger / regional manager
barb@compositesworld.com
MOUNTAIN, WEST Michael Schwartz / regional manager
mschwartz@gardnerweb.com
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2 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 FROM THE EDITOR
» We like to think of the composites industry as one large,
cohesive manufacturing enterprise that revolves around the
design, tooling and fabrication of fiber-reinforced polymer struc-
tures. In truth, however, the massive fiber, resin and process diver-
sity of the composites industry, combined with the myriad require-
ments of different end markets, makes the composites industry
actually an aggregation of several smaller industries (aerocom-
posites, autocomposites,
wind composites, marine
National Composites composites, etc.).
For instance, let’s say
Week will be held this
you did not know anything
month, Aug. 26-30. about composite materials or
manufacturing, and I took you
to a facility making boat hulls
for recreational yachts. You would likely see some sprayup work,
infusion of large structures, extensive use of glass fiber, vacuum
bags, resin lines and a lot of manual labor.
Now, let’s say I took you to a facility making fuselage structures
for a large commercial aircraft. You would see massive automated
fiber placement (AFP) machines, extensive use of carbon fiber
prepreg, huge autoclaves, large machining centers and relatively
little manual labor (compared to the boat hull facility). Now, would
you know that both facilities enjoy membership in the composites
industry? I submit that the answer would be “no.”
So, each of us comes to the larger composites industry from a
different perspective, skewed toward the goals and expectations of
our customers. But we are united by a material that is fast-evolving
and making a meaningful impact on how the world thinks about
the things it makes.
Considering this dynamic, my next question is this: Outside of
trade shows, how often do we — either as an industry, or as compa-
nies in the industry — pause to celebrate what we do and how we
serve our communities?
With this in mind, braiding specialist A&P Technology decided
to create a new initiative designed to shine a light on the compos-
ites industry, and to help the entire composites supply chain
pause to celebrate its place in the industry. A&P approached
Hexcel and CompositesWorld with the idea and together, we are
4 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld
launching National Composites Week, and it will be held this
month, Aug. 26-30.
The goal of National Composites Week is simple: Encourage
manufacturers from throughout the composites supply chain —
raw material suppliers, convertors, designers, toolmakers, fabrica-
tors, educators, students — to celebrate and bring attention to the
myriad ways that composite materials and composites manufac-
turing contribute to the products and structures that shape the
manufacturing landscape today.
Throughout the five-day National Composites Week celebration,
participants will be encouraged to use social media, traditional
media and in-person events to shed light on their operations, capa-
bilities and products. Participants will be encouraged to host an
open house, reach out to national and local media outlets or reach
out to local schools and universities to draw attention to the value
of composites in general and the importance of composites manu-
facturing to the community in particular.
CompositesWorld will participate, and we would like you to
join us. Your participation can range from the simple (Instagram/
Twitter/Facebook outreach; letter to editor of local paper) to the
complex (in-person event). What you do and how you do it are
entirely up to you.
CW, A&P Technology and Hexcel have launched a website —
www.NationalCompositesWeek.com — that provides additional
information about the event and provides a Host Guide and other
documents you can download to help guide your participation. This
site will also become the focal point of the National Composites
Week celebration; we will post here logos of participating compa-
nies, photos, video, social media outreach and other examples we
gather of National Composites Week events. 
I look forward to seeing how you celebrate National Composites
Week with us. 
JEFF SLOAN — Editor-In- Chief
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 PERSPECTIVES & PROVOCATIONS
Merger mania, part II?
» In June, aerospace and defense giants Raytheon (Waltham,
Mass., U.S.) and United Technologies (UTC; Farmington, Conn.
U.S.) announced they will merge by mid-2020 to form a single
entity named Raytheon Technologies. If it goes forward, it will be
one of the largest aerospace/defense mergers in history with pro
forma revenues of $74 billion. Coincident with the merger, United
Technologies will spin off or divest its Otis Elevator and Carrier
(heating and air conditioning) subsidiaries, actions that were
already planned for mid-2020 following the company’s acquisi-
tion of Rockwell Collins in 2018, after Rockwell Collins’ acquisi-
tion of aircraft interiors supplier B/E Aerospace in 2017. UTC
combined Rockwell Collins with UT Aerospace Systems (which
was a combina-
tion of Hamilton
Acquisitions are again on Sundstrand and
the menu for the advanced Goodrich Aerospace)
composites materials to form Collins Aero-
business. space. UTC will also
bring Collins Aerospace
and subsidiary Pratt and
Whitney (jet engines) to the merger with Raytheon.
Are you lost yet? With so many moving pieces, it’s difficult to
keep track. Over the last several years, there have been a number
of mergers and acquisitions in the aerospace and defense arena.
UTC sold off its Sikorsky Helicopters business to Lockheed
Martin (Ft. Worth, Texas, U.S.) in 2015. Boeing (Chicago, Ill., U.S.)
acquired Aurora Flight Sciences in 2017. There was the merger of
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) with Orbital Sciences in 2014, followed
by Northrop Grumman’s (Falls Church, Va., U.S.) acquisition of
Orbital ATK in 2018. And we may not be done yet.
We’ve been here before. Back in 1993, then U.S. Defense Secre-
tary William Perry convened a dinner with executives from the
major defense contractors, an event later nicknamed “the last
supper.” With the Cold War ending, and the military procure-
ment budget falling almost two thirds since its peak in 1985, Perry
encouraged the industry to combine into fewer companies to
survive going forward.
And combine they did — by one estimate, thirty-two contrac-
tors shrunk to nine over the next five years. Lockheed bought
General Dynamics’ jet fighter business in 1993. Martin Marietta
bought General Electric’s defense and space business in 1993 and
General Dynamics’ rocket division in 1994. In 1995, Lockheed
merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin, and then
proceeded to buy the Loral defense business in 1996. After buying
LTV Aerospace in 1992, Northrop Corp. bought Grumman Aero-
space in 1994 to form Northrop Grumman, and the company
purchased the defense electronics business of Westinghouse in
1996. Boeing, later to the game, acquired Rockwell International’s
defense and space unit in 1996 and McDonnell Douglas in 1997.
Raytheon was also active, purchasing Hughes Aircraft in 1996 and
6 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld
Texas Instruments’ defense business in 1997. My head hurt just from
looking up all this stuff!
In late 1997, Lockheed Martin offered to buy Northrop Grumman
for $11.6 billion to further consolidate the industry. The deal was
blocked in 1998 by the U.S. Justice Department, ending the merger
mania in U.S. aerospace and defense. For a while, anyway.
We know that the aerospace and defense markets are important
to the composites industry, but did all these previous mergers and
acquisitions have a “knock on” effect? Did the same set of drivers that
affected defense contractors also motivate material suppliers? It’s
hard to prove definitive cause and effect, yet a similar level of consoli-
dation took place within the advanced composites supply base. It
happened around the same time frame and I was right in the middle
of it, working for industry-leading prepreg manufacturer Fiberite.
In 1993, American Cyanamid purchased the BASF advanced
composites prepreg business and adopted the name Cytec. The
same year, Hexcel entered bankruptcy, emerging in 1995 actively
seeking acquisitions. While its bid for Fiberite failed, it did success-
fully acquire Ciba Geigy’s advanced composites business in 1996,
giving it a strong position in Europe. Hexcel also acquired the
Hercules fibers and prepreg business the same year. Carlisle Enter-
prises, in concert with DLJ Merchant Banking, did buy Fiberite from
Imperial Chemical Industries in 1995, selling most of the company
to Cytec in 1997 (Hexcel bought the prepreg product line serving
the satellite market). Following the acquisition of several smaller
prepreggers, Cytec purchased the prepreg business of 3M Corp.
and the BP Amoco carbon fiber facilities in 2001. The net effect was
to greatly concentrate the aerospace prepreg market among three
major suppliers — Hexcel (Stamford, Conn., U.S.), Cytec and Toray
(Tokyo, Japan) — which held for many years.
The advanced composites materials business is rather global
today, serving a broader swath of end uses, and acquisitions are
again on the menu. Notably, Toray purchased Zoltek in 2013,
Solvay (Alpharetta, Ga., U.S.) bought Cytec in 2015, Toray acquired
TenCate Advanced Composites in 2018, and Teijin bought Renegade
Composites in 2019. While it’s yet to be seen if the Raytheon-UTC
merger gets regulatory approval, I don’t believe we’ve seen the last
of such activity on the materials side.
Dale Brosius is the chief commercialization officer for the
Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation
(IACMI), a DOE-sponsored public-private partnership targeting
high-volume applications of composites in energy-related
industries including vehicles and wind. He is also head of his
own consulting company, which serves clients in the global composites industry.
His career has included positions at US-based firms Dow Chemical Co. (Midland,
MI), Fiberite (Tempe, AZ) and successor Cytec Industries Inc. (Woodland Park,
NJ), and Bankstown Airport, NSW, Australia-based Quickstep Holdings. He served
as chair of the Society of Plastics Engineers Composites and Thermoset Divisions.
Brosius has a BS in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA.
 Image courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Defense

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 GARDNER BUSINESS INDEX: COMPOSITES FABRICATING

Employment activity leads

expansion in business activity
June 2019 — 52.7

» The Composites Index finished June at 52.7, marking more than 30 consecutive months of ABOUT THE AUTHOR
expanding composites industry activity, by far the longest stretch in the history of the Compos-
Michael Guckes is the
ites Index. The latest Index reading is 7.0% lower compared to the same month one year ago. The Chief Economist/Director
Index has reported a trend of slowing growth since reaching a peak in April 2018. Index readings of Analytics for Gardner
above 50 indicate expanding activity, while values below 50 indicate contracting activity. The Intelligence, a division of
Gardner Business Media
further away a reading is from 50, the greater the change in activity. Gardner Intelligence’s review (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.). He has performed
of the underlying data revealed that the Index was propelled by a surge of employment activity economic analysis, modeling and forecasting
followed by increased activity in supplier deliveries and production. The Index — calculated as work for nearly 20 years in a wide range of
industries. Guckes received his BA in political
an average of the components — was pulled lower by modest expansions in both backlogs and science and economics from Kenyon College
new orders, as well as contracting exports activity. and his MBA from Ohio State University.
June’s data indicated that production and new orders continue to report strong expansion mguckes@gardnerweb.com
despite the fact that most other manufacturing technologies have experienced slower activity
levels. Recent months of strong employment data may be the result of the need for
additional labor to maintain production activity levels, which remained well above long-run
levels through June.

GBI: Composites Fabricating Employment drives

growth
Employment activity has greatly
accelerated since the beginning of 2019.
It was the most significant driver of the
Composites Index in June.

GBI: Composites Fabricating — Employment and Production Spread between

(3-month moving average) employment and
production activity closes
The spread between employment and
production activity widened during the
second half of 2018 and early 2019. Recent
months of data have seen employment
activity improve, with the gap between
Employment employment and production activity closing
Products in June.

PRESENTED BY

Stay ahead of the curve with Gardner Intelligence.

Visit the blog at gardnerintelligence.com or e-mail mguckes@gardnerweb.com

8 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 Advancing the Future of Flight
Hexcel’s HexAM™ additive manufacturing technology combines
high-performance PEKK thermoplastics with carbon fiber to produce
flight-ready 3D printed HexPEKK™ parts which are chemically resistant
and low-outgassing, they have a wide temperature performance range
and are already used by customers for crewed space, satellite, military
aviation, and defense applications. HexPEKK™ structures have also
been approved for commercial aerospace applications and offer
significant weight reduction replacing traditional cast or machined metallic
parts in highly demanding aerospace, satellite and defense applications.
Learn more online at www.hexcel.com
 TRENDS
A preview of what’s to come at CAMX 2019, coverage of the latest developments in
automotive composites from AutoEPCON, the potential for composites usage
in aircraft telecommunications and more.

CAMX 2019 preview

The Composites and Advanced Materials Expo (CAMX)
will be held Sept. 23-26, 2019, at the Anaheim Convention
Center in Anaheim, Calif., U.S. The event is co-produced by
the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process
Engineering (SAMPE; Diamond Bar, Calif., U.S.) and the
American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA;
Arlington, Va., U.S.).
The exhibit hall will be open Sept. 24-26, and is expected
to reflect nearly 600 exhibiting companies and more than
800 brands.
Alongside the exhibit hall, the conference program, which Source, all | CW photo | Heather Francis
is divided into technical paper presentations and education
sessions, is scheduled for Sept. 23-26. Campfire sessions for
learning and networking with subject matter experts will
return to the show this year at either end of Innovation Park.
Announced topics for CAMX 2019’s featured sessions
include education, large-scale additive manufacturing, non-
destructive inspection (NDI) technology, automation, tool-
ing technology, composites recycling, bonding for hybrid
systems, influences of the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI),
the future of FRP concrete reinforcement, the evolution of
transportation and its effect on material needs, and urban
air mobility.
On Monday, Sept. 23, visitors can attend a number of
more comprehensive, three-hour courses on focused
subjects. Topics will include:
• Thermoplastic Composites
• Textile Technology for Advanced Composite Materials
• Composite Processing Technology – Reduced Risk by
Using Digital Tools
• Engineering Ethics: Issues and Examples for Composites
Technologists
• Additive vs. Traditional Composites Manufacturing
• Manufacturing of Honeycomb Sandwich Structures by
Co-Cure Processing
• Troubleshooting Composites Production
• Engineering Concepts and Applications of Architectural
and Structural FRP Materials
One industry topic stealing the spotlight this year is
composites recycling. In the exhibit hall, attendees can
network with manufacturers presenting recycling technol-
ogy, and a featured display will highlight recycled parts and
showcase innovations and current trends in composites
recycling. Recycling will also be featured in various confer-
ence presentations and in a featured session.
Visit www.thecamx.org for more information and go to
CompositesWorld.com for continuing updates and show
coverage.

10 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 AutoEPCON 2019 recap

AUTOMOTIVE

AutoEPCON 2019 explores engineering

thermoplastic performance improvements

The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE, Bethel, Conn., U.S.)

met in Troy, Mich., U.S., on May 7 to hold its 14th Automotive
Engineering Plastics Conference (AutoEPCON).
Source | Katie Okonski/SPE
Persistent themes at this year’s
conference were polyamide (PA)
resins and carbon fiber-reinforced
thermoplastics (CFRTPs).

PA 6/6 shortages
Polyamides were a major focus, in
part owing to a global shortage
of PA 6/6, which, along with PA 6,
is widely used in the automotive
industry — both neat and reinforced,
for interior, exterior, underhood
and powertrain applications. Until
supply bottlenecks clear, OEMs and
suppliers are scrambling to find
other options, such as alternative
polymers or recycled PA 6/6, which
doesn’t sacrifice performance.
It was no surprise, therefore, to
see many exhibitors touting PA 6/6
alternatives in their displays, as
well as many speakers describing
virgin and recycled options. In
fact, in his keynote on “Nylon and
Polycarbonate: How We Got Here
and What Lies Ahead,” Brendan
Dooley, global director-engineering
polymers, IHS Markit (Houston,
Texas, U.S.), discussed the cascade
of unfortunate events that caused
this situation. Dooley foresees PA 6∕6
supplies starting to ease in 2020 and Booth X75
says they should be back to price
parity with PA 6 by 2022.

Carbon fiber upgrades

Carbon fiber was another big topic,
but for different reasons. Last
year, only a couple of speakers
mentioned — and only a few exhibi-
tors highlighted — CFRTPs. This year,
however, they were discussed in at
least six different sessions, and in
a keynote on “Engineering Plastics
and Additive Manufacturing” by
Kevin Quinn, director of additive
design and manufacturing, General
Motors Co. (continued on p. 12)

CompositesWorld.com 11
 TRENDS

(continued from p. 11)

(Detroit, Mich., U.S.). Additionally, several companies intro-
duced new carbon fiber-reinforced PA (CF/PA) materials
at the show.
Among these were JM Polymers (Chicago, Ill., U.S.),
which last year launched its FiberX2 line of recycled,
injection-moldable grades of short CF/PA 6/6. The fiber
is reclaimed from aerospace prepreg and the resin is
recycled from sporting goods. The initial offering was two
grades reinforced at 20 and 40 wt-%, but this year the
company was back with three new grades. Two featured
10 and 30 wt-% fiber, while a third featured a hybrid of
recycled carbon and virgin glass fibers.
• Over 40 types of
Also introducing new CF/PA grades was a newly formed
operating unit of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group
(MCHC) called Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials
Inc. (MCAM). This business combines two previous
companies purchased by MCHC: Quadrant AG (Lenzburg,
Switzerland) — which produces glass-mat thermoplas-
tic composites and thermoplastic shapes — and Piper
Plastics Inc. (Chandler, Ariz., U.S.) — an injection molder
turned compounder that produces injection-moldable,
short carbon (6 millimeters/24K tow) thermoplastics
called KyronMax. Available matrices range from PA 6/6
and polyphthalamide (PPA) through high-temperature
polyetherimide (PEI), polyphenylene
sulfide (PPS), polyetheretherketone
(PEEK) and polyaryletherketone
(PAEK). Reportedly, a combination of

W yoming
fixtures in stock, unique sizing chemistry, press modifi-
ready to be shipped. cations and excellent processing have

T est
• Expert consultation helped these compounds replace
with Drs. Dan and
not just short-glass and short-glass/
Don Adams
mineral thermoplastics and long-fiber

F ixtures
• Email or call today to
thermoplastics (LFTs) but also metals.
discuss your fixture and
MCAM also introduced its 2300 S
INC. custom design needs.
series line, which offers the mechani-
cal performance of CF/PA 6/6 with
lower moisture absorption and
REVERSED LOADING FIXTURES improved chemical resistance. The
matrix is described as polyamide but
is neither PA 6/6 nor PPA.
Standard fixtures are kept
A third product debuting at the
in stock like our small scale:
show that MCAM specifically devel-
REVERSED oped for automotive underhood
applications is a higher-temperature
FLEXURAL CF/PPA grade with both glass transi-
FATIGUE tion temperature and continuous use
temperature values as high as those
TEST FIXTURE for PEEK.
ASTM D 7774

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large scale: (The Hague, Netherlands) with the goal of
extending its thermoplastic composites ca-
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LOADING The acquisition is part of Daher’s “Succeed
FLEXURAL Together” strategic plan for 2018-2022.

FATIGUE With the new acquisition, Daher intends to

draw on KVE Composites Group’s experi-
TEST FIXTURE ence and expertise in induction welding
of thermoplastic composite components.
Dr. Donald F. Adams 2960 E. Millcreek Canyon Road This process reportedly will enable a 75%
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email: wtf@wyomingtestfixtures.com
reduction of 15%.
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12 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 Carbon fiber composite Mars rover
NEWS

AEROSPACE

Carbon fiber composite Mars rover

chassis under development
RUAG Space (Decatur, Ala., U.S.; Bern, Switzerland) has
partnered with Swiss engineering company Scheurer

20
A N NIVE
RS

Swiss GmbH (Volketswil, Switzerland) for the construc-

AR
Y
HPC
tion of the ExoMars rover.
Charter
The rover’s carbon fiber composite chassis is being Advertiser

developed by the European Space Agency (ESA; Paris,

France), under the direction of RUAG Space and Airbus
Defence and Space (Ottobrunn, Germany). According
to Dominik Scheurer, CEO of Scheurer Swiss GmbH
CEO, the company will be involved in the development
of the chassis and in choosing a laser system for its
lamination.
The rover, which is named Rosalind Franklin after a
British chemist, is expected to launch to Mars in 2020,
and the finished suspension for the chassis is currently
undergoing testing at the RUAG Space test center in
Zurich.
In addition, a brand new control center for the
ExoMars rover — the Rover Operations Control Centre
(ROCC) — has been built in Turin, Italy. It will be the
operational hub for activities and testing of the rover
once it is on the Martian surface.

CompositesWorld.com 13
 TRENDS

BIZ BRIEF

Teijin Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) has announced that it will acquire

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Benet Automotive s.r.o. (Benet; Mlada Boleslav, Czech
Republic), a Tier 1 automotive composite and component
supplier, as part of its strategy to grow its automotive
composites business.
Benet offers advanced technologies for carbon fiber-
reinforced and glass fiber-reinforced plastic molding, as
well as the painting and assembly of vehicles. The company
specializes in reinforced reaction injection molding (RRIM)
and both conventional autoclave and resin transfer molding
(RTM). Benet has three facilities in the Czech Republic and
one in Germany to serve European automotive OEMs.
According to Teijin, Benet has strategic proximity to the
central and eastern regions of the European market where
key German and other European OEMs operate production
facilities.
Teijin plans to expand its automotive composites business to
include proprietary lightweight, high-performance materials
and superior design capabilities, with the goal of becoming
a multi-material component supply partner of automo-
tive OEM customers served by Teijin hubs in Europe, North
America and Asia.

14 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 Advanced multifunctional aerocomposites
NEWS

AEROSPACE

Advancing multifunctional
composite wings and fuselage
structures
Earlier this year, Trackwise (Gloucestershire, U.K.)
shipped a 26-meter long multilayer flexible printed
circuit (FPC) — believed to be the longest ever
Source | Trackwise
produced — for distributing power and control
signals across the wings of a solar-
powered, unmanned aerial vehicle
(UAV). In fact, Trackwise supplied
more than 50 FPCs for this vehicle,
cutting weight by 60% versus using
conventional wire harnesses for
aircraft power and control.
This weight savings enables the
U.S.-made UAV to achieve higher
payload and/or improved speed
and range. Trackwise manufactures
the FPCs using Improved Harness
Technology (IHT), a patented, reel-
to-reel manufacturing technique. IHT
overcomes conventional manufactur-
ing limitations that have kept most
FPCs below 2 meters in length, and
enables Trackwise to produce FPCs
in unlimited lengths.
The FPCs that Trackwise delivered
for the 26-meter-wingspan UAV
were based on a polyimide substrate.
Their planar structure dissipates
heat better than conventional wiring,
enabling higher current-carrying
capacity for a given weight of copper
conductor. Other benefits are that
printed manufacturing ensures circuit
consistency, fewer connection points
are needed so reliability is enhanced
and the FPC is easier to install than
wire harnesses, reducing a vehicle’s
assembly time and cost.
According to Trackwise CEO Philip
Johnston, many new aerospace and
automotive applications are emerg-
ing for these long, lightweight, flex-
ible, multilayer, printed circuit boards
(flex PCBs). Both industries are
seeing a push toward electrification
simultaneous with a need for more
sensors and control.
Trackwise’s 26-meter FPC was
not embedded into a composite,
according to Neil Bartlett, direc-
tor of sales and marketing, but, he
says, “their planar nature makes them
entirely suited (continued on p. 16)

CompositesWorld.com 15
 TRENDS
(continued from p. 15)
to embedding into composites and enabling multi-
functional structures. We are in preliminary discussions
regarding incorporating flex — both power and signal
variants — across a broad range of possible applica-
tions including aerospace, defense and construction.
Trackwise is also a member of Advanced Concepts for
AeroStructures with Integrated Antennas and Sensors
(ACASIAS) — a consortium of 11 partners that is devel-
oping innovative technologies for integrating antennas
into composites and aircraft structures.”
Bartlett says that flex PCBs made using IHT
and composites are very synergistic in what they
are offering the market and the advantages of
combining∕embedding them are compelling, including:
• weight savings (elimination of fixing fixtures);
• improved ruggedness∕protection offered by compos-
ites, leading to improved reliability and reduced
maintenance;
• reduced space envelope, leading to improved
payload capability and structural efficiency; and
• improved installation, meaning less labor touch
points (improved reliability), less time and cost.
IHT revenues are up 217% with customers and devel-
opment opportunities increased from seven at the
start of 2018 to 45 by March 2019. Trackwise has also
installed two new process lines.
16 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld
Basalt fiber
launched for
continuous-
fiber 3D
printing
Source | Anisoprint
Anisoprint (Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg), a manufacturer
of continuous carbon fiber 3D printers and materials, recently
launched a basalt fiber composite for use with its 3D printing
technology.
According to the company, the material, when applied to its
3D printing technology, is 15 times stronger than plastic, five
times lighter than steel, and 1.5 times stronger and lighter than
aluminum. It also is said to significantly decrease manufactur-
ing costs.
Since basalt fiber also features radio transparency, Anisoprint
says that parts made of its basalt fiber composite do not
significantly alter the amplitude and phase of radio-frequency
electromagnetic waves transmitted through them, making it an
ideal option for non-conductive elements and isolators.
Anisoprint’s technology involves continuous composite fiber
coextrusion with thermoplastic polymers and enables varia-
tions in fiber direction, volume ratio and material density.
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 TRENDS

MONTH IN REVIEW

Notes about newsworthy events recently covered on the CW website. For more
information about an item, key its link into your browser. Up-to-the-minute news |
www.compositesworld.com/news/list

Boeing forecasts $8.7 trillion aerospace and defense market through 2028 CGTech joins NIAR to support ATLAS research
Boeing’s market outlook includes a $3.1 trillion projected demand for commercial CGTech’s AFP/ATL programming and simulation software will be used to support
airplanes, as operators replace older jets with more fuel-efficient models. ATLAS aerospace composites research at the National Institute of Aviation Research.
6/20/19 | short.compositesworld.com/BMO_2028 6/17/19 | short.compositesworld.com/CGTechNIAR

GKN Aerospace thermoplastic composites featured on Bell V-280 Valor Covestro delivers first order of polyurethane resin for wind blades
The thermoplastic composite components will be used for a demonstrator Covestro’s polyurethane infusion resin was developed to help the wind power
of the military V-tail aircraft. industry meet the growing demand for longer wind blade designs.
6/20/19 | short.compositesworld.com/CFRTP_V280 6/10/19 | short.compositesworld.com/PUR_wind

CCS developing composite wings for Eviation electric aircraft Airbus Albatross features flapping wings made from composites
Announced at the Paris Air Show, Composite Cluster Singapore has designed Airbus demonstrates first in-flight, flapping wing-tips that could revolutionize
the wing and belly fairings for the Alice all-electric aircraft. aircraft wing and wing box design.
6/19/19 | short.compositesworld.com/CCSEviaton 6/13/19| short.compositesworld.com/albatross

SAERTEX provides material for 87.5-meter carbon fiber spar cap Triumph Aerospace Structures to design EVTOL airframe for Jaunt Air Mobility
The wind blade spar cap prototype, said to be the longest produced so far, was Triumph will help develop a lightweight design for Uber’s latest partner per its
manufactured via vacuum infusion. reduced rotor operating speed aircraft (ROSA) technology.
6/14/19 | short.compositesworld.com/CFwind_87 6/13/19 | short.compositesworld.com/JaunteVTOL

AMRC, Tinsley Bridge develop metal composite anti-roll bar for trucks and trains Gordon Murray Automotive designs composite supercar
Innovate UK project achieved 65% weight reduction via CFRP stabilizer bar and The T.50 vehicle design includes a carbon fiber composite chassis and body panels.
now tests for service performance and durability. 6/7/19 | short.compositesworld.com/GMA_T.50
6/14/19 | short.compositesworld.com/CFantiroll

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18 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 WORK IN PROGRESS
Spirit AeroSystems manufactures next-
generation composite fuselage panel
The 18-by-12-foot demonstrator
panel debuted at the Paris
Air Show features integrated
skin and stringers and offers
substantial cost savings
combined with strong
performance attributes.
By Jeff Sloan / Editor-in-Chief
20 AUGUST 2019
The future of the
fuselage?
The back side of Spirit’s ASTRA
fuselage panel, revealing the stringers.
The goal was to create a fully
composite panel that could be several
plies thinner than previously manu-
factured fuselage panels, but maintain
the same strength properties.
Source, all photos | CW photo | Jeff Sloan
» Spirit AeroSystems (Wichita, Kan., U.S.) debuted on Monday, June 17, at
the 2019 Paris Air Show (Paris, France), a new composites manufacturing tech-
nology designed specifically for next-generation, high-volume, single-aisle
fuselage production. The technology was shown at the exhibition in the form
of an 18-by-12-foot demonstrator fuselage panel — dubbed ASTRA (Advanced
Structures Technology and Revolutionary Architecture) — that features integrated
stringers fabricated using a novel material/process combination with cost savings
of 30% compared to incumbent architectures and production system approaches.
“To me, this is a great testament to what Spirit can do,” says Eric Hein, senior
director, research and technology, at Spirit AeroSystems.
Hein says that almost two years ago, the company began looking at the potential
needs of a next-generation single-aisle fuselage, and identified design and M&P
challenges that would have to be overcome to make composites a viable choice for
aircraft manufacturers.
First, he says, is the matter of rate. Boeing and Airbus estimate production
volumes of 60-100 aircraft for next-generation single-aisle replacements for, respec-
tively, the 737 and the A320. The composites-intensive Boeing 787 and the Airbus
A350 are currently manufactured at rates of about 14 and 10 per month, respec-
tively. A next-generation manufacturing technology, therefore, would have to meet
a production pace that is four to 10 times faster than incumbent technology.
Second, Hein says, incumbent composite materials and configurations
applied to a single-aisle aircraft are weight- and cost-prohibitive compared to
aluminum. Therefore, to make next-generation composite fuselage skins more
competitive, says Hein, they would have to be several plies thinner — and still
CompositesWorld
 NEWS
Spirit AeroSystems fuselage panel

meet all applicable impact and load requirements.

So, for the last 18 months, Spirit AeroSystems has performed
trade studies and developed design values for a wide spectrum
of M&P combinations, designed to assess which combination
offers the most feasible path to meeting the rate and cost targets
Hein identified. For rate, the company assumed 60 shipsets per
month. For cost, the company assumed equality with incum-
bent metallic materials. The trade studies, Hein says, assessed
autoclave-cured prepregs, liquid resin infusion (including resin
transfer molding) and thermoplastic composites. All showed
potential viability in a next-generation single-aisle aircraft. “We
believe there is a future for a composite plane that can be made
at rate cost-efficiently,” Hein says.
The combination Spirit AeroSystems picked for the ASTRA
demonstrator was autoclave-cured prepregs, because it provided
the most manageable path to the cost and rate targets identified.
Hitting these targets, however, depended on some novel thinking
about tooling configuration as well as panel architecture.
To reduce tooling costs, Spirit AeroSystems decoupled the
Next-gen composites on display
mold face from the mold support structure. In doing so, the
company opted for a lower cost metallic support structure, and Front side of Spirit’s ASTRA panel, which was debuted and on display at the 2019
Paris Air Show.
then developed a “floating” bismaleimide (BMI) mold face sheet
that rests on that structure. This allows mold investment to be
focused where it matters most — on the part-making surface.
The most innovative aspect of the panel might be the design
of the integrated skin and stringers, which represents a signifi-
cant departure from traditional composite fuselage skin/stringer
architecture. For both the 787 and the A350, fuselage stringers
are fabricated separately and then inserted into fixtures/slots in
the fuselage skin tool. These are then overwrapped with unidi-
rectional carbon fiber prepreg applied via automated fiber place-
ment (AFP) to build the skin laminate. The entire structure is
then co-cured in autoclave. The 787 design specifies the fuselage
be fabricated in barrel segments. The A350 design specifies the
fuselage be fabricated in panel segments.
Hein says that one of the challenges of current skin/stringer
construction is that each stringer, although co-cured with the
skin, is a discrete part that creates a discontinuity between
stringer locations. To overcome this, he says, often a carbon fiber
composite laminate a few millimeters thick is attached to the
inner surface of the fuselage skin to fill the gap between each
stringer, thereby providing stringer-to-stringer continuity. In
addition, at the ends of stringers, this discontinuity is commonly
addressed through the use of fasteners.
The ASTRA design bypasses this architecture with what Hein
describes as “sheet stringer technology.” With this technology,
stringers are fabricated from carbon fiber prepreg sheets placed
first on the slotted fuselage mold face. Then, using vacuum
forming, the sheet is drawn into the stringer channels, creating,
in effect, a corrugated stringer panel. Then, as is done now, the
fuselage skin is overlaid via AFP, followed by autoclave cure. The
result is a fuselage panel with a continuous inner skin featuring Integrated skin and stringers
fully integrated stringers. A close-up of the ASTRA panel stringers reveals Spirit’s continuous
With this tooling strategy and panel architecture established, “sheet stringer” technology.

CompositesWorld.com 21
 WORK IN PROGRESS
Spirit AeroSystems then embarked on a test regime in partner-
ship with the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at
Wichita State University designed to assess different fiber combi-
nations in the skin and in the sheet stringer. The company tested
for impact resistance, strength, fatigue, environmental shock,
lightning strike, FST (flame, smoke, toxicity) and damage toler-
ance. Hein says the ASTRA fuselage structure it developed passed
all of the structural tests and meets the reduced ply thickness that
the company targeted.
The ASTRA panel on display at the Paris Air Show featured a
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22 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld
skin fabricated using Toray’s (Tokyo, Japan) T1100/3960 carbon
fiber prepreg, applied using an Electroimpact (Mukilteo, Wash.,
U.S.) AFP system that also provided tow steering (6-inch radius)
around the corners of the door opening. Spirit recently completed
its own allowables program for this material, enabling Spirit to
offer a head start to customers. The stringers were fabricated
with one of two material types to demonstrate the flexibility
of the design: A&P Technology’s (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) QISO
braided, quasi-isotropic carbon fiber fabric prepregged with Toray’s
3960 epoxy resin matrix; or unidirectional tapes made with Toray’s
T1100/3960 carbon fiber prepreg.
Hein says that the ASTRA fuselage
structure Spirit AeroSystems has devel-
oped is best suited for a panel-based
fuselage architecture, but that it can be
adapted for a barrel-based architec-
ture as well. The bottom line, says Hein,
is that he feels like Spirit AeroSystems
is prepared to help aircraft manufac-
turers move forward with cost-effective
composite structures in a high-volume
manufacturing environment. Further, the
company has developed a manufacturing
layout that it says can meet the >60-ship-
sets-per-month requirement of a new
single-aisle program.
“As far as the building block for the
basic configuration, we have answered all
the up-front questions,” Hein says. “We
have something that is weight-competi-
tive with current metallic fuselage struc-
tures, and offers 30% savings compared
to current composite fuselage structures,
addressing both initial investments and
recurring costs. Obviously, our goal is to
get on something [aircraft program] early.
Acceptance is there, but we still have
some runway in front of us. Ultimately, I
think customers will demand a composite
fuselage.”
Read this article online |
short.compositesworld.com/Spiritpane
Jeff Sloan is editor-in-chief of
CompositesWorld, and has been
engaged in plastics- and composites-
industry journalism for 24 years.
jeff@compositesworld.com
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 WORK IN PROGRESS

Injection-forming
for high-performance,
unitized thermoplastic
structures
Combining braided tape,
overmolding and form-locking,
herone produces one-piece,
high-torque gear-driveshaft
as demonstrator for broad
range of applications.

By Ginger Gardiner / Senior Editor

» Current projections call for a doubling of the commercial
aircraft fleet over the next 20 years. To accommodate this, produc-
tion rates in 2019 for composites-intensive widebody jetliners
vary from 10 to 14 per month per OEM, while narrowbodies have
already ramped to 60 per month per OEM. Airbus specifically is
working with suppliers to switch traditional yet time-intensive,
hand layup prepreg parts on the A320 to parts made via faster,
20-minute cycle time processes such as high-pressure resin
transfer molding (HP-RTM), thus helping part suppliers meet
a further push toward 100 aircraft per month. Meanwhile, the
emerging urban air mobility and transport market is forecasting
a need for 3,000 electric vertical takeoff and landing (EVTOL)
aircraft per year (250 per month).
“The industry requires automated production technologies with
shortened cycle times that also allow for integrating functions,
which are offered by thermoplastic composites,” says Daniel
Barfuss, co-founder and managing partner of herone (Dresden,
Germany), a composites technology and parts manufacturing
firm that uses high-performance thermoplastic matrix materials
from polyphenylenesulfide (PPS) to polyetheretherketone
(PEEK), polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) and polyaryletherketone
(PAEK). “Our main objective is to combine the high performance
of thermoplastic composites (TPCs) with lower cost, to enable
tailored parts for a wider variety of serial manufacturing
applications and new applications,” adds Dr. Christian Garthaus,
herone’s second co-founder and managing partner.
To achieve this, the company has developed a new approach,
Unitized composite gear-driveshaft
Herone uses braided thermoplastic composite prepreg tapes as preforms for a
single-step process that consolidates the driveshaft laminate while overmolding
functional elements such as gears, producing unitized structures that reduce
weight, part count, assembly time and cost. Source for all images | herone
starting with a hollow preform “organoTube,” which is then consoli-
dated into profiles with variable cross-sections and shapes. In a
subsequent step, the weldability and thermoformability of TPCs
are used to integrate functional elements such as composite gears
onto driveshafts, end-fittings onto pipes, or load transfer elements
into tension-compression struts. There is also the option to use a
hybrid molding process — developed by ketone matrix supplier
Victrex (Cleveleys, Lancashire, U.K.) and parts supplier Tri-Mack
(Bristol, R.I., U.S.) — that uses lower melt temperature PAEK tape for
the profiles and PEEK for the overmolding, enabling a fused, single
material across the join (see Learn More). “Our adaptation also
enables geometrical form-locking,” he adds, “which produces inte-
grated structures that can withstand even higher loads.”
Braided organoTube-based molding process
The herone process starts with fully impregnated carbon fiber-
reinforced thermoplastic tapes that are braided into organoTubes
and consolidated. “We started working with these organoTubes 10
years ago, developing composite hydraulic pipes for aviation,” says
Garthaus. He explains that because no two aircraft hydraulic pipes

24 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 CFRTP injection-forming
NEWS

have the same geometry, a mold would be needed for each one,
using existing technology. “We needed a pipe that could be post-
processed to achieve the individual pipe geometry. So, the idea
was to make continuous composite profiles and then CNC bend
these into the desired geometries.”
This sounds similar to what Sigma Precision Components
(Hinckley, U.K.) is doing (see Learn More) with its carbon fiber/
PEEK engine dressing. “They are looking at similar parts but use
a different consolidation method,” Garthaus explains. “With our
approach, we see potential for increased performance, such as
less than 2% porosity for aerospace structures.”
Garthaus’ Ph.D. thesis work explored using continuous ther-
moplastic composite (TPC) pultrusion to produce braided tubes,
which resulted in a patented continuous manufacturing process
for TPC tubes and profiles. However, for now, herone has chosen FIG. 1 Braided
organoTubes,
to work with aviation suppliers and customers using a discon- tailorable TPC parts
tinuous molding process. “This gives us the freedom to make all
Braided prepreg tapes (organoTube,
of the various shapes, including curved profiles and those with
top) provide net-shape preforms for
varying cross-section, as well as applying local patches and ply herone’s injection-forming process
drop-offs,” he explains. “We are working to automate the process and enable production of various
for integrating local patches and then co-consolidating them with shapes, such as the strut (third from
the composite profile. Basically, everything that you can do with top), and bicycle handlebar (second
from top) shown here, as well as
flat laminates and shells, we can do for tubes and profiles.”
curved profiles and hollow parts
Making these TPC hollow profiles was actually one of the with varying cross-sections as well
hardest challenges, says Garthaus. “You cannot use stamp-forming as local ply build-ups and drop-offs.

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CompositesWorld.com 25
 WORK IN PROGRESS

patented

semi finished profile

injection - forming functionalized profile

structure

35 0 without with
form-locking form-locking
300

250
torque [Nm]

200

150

100

50
FIG. 2 Increased performance from injection-forming
0 Developed in collaboration with Victrex and ILK, herone uses injection pressure during
5
overmolding to create a form-locking contour in the gear-driveshaft which allows it to sustain
torsion angle [0]
a higher torque versus an overmolded gear-driveshaft without form-locking.

or blow-molding with a silicone bladder; so, we had to develop
a new process.” But this process enables very high-performance
and tailorable tube and shaft-based parts, he notes. It also enabled
using the hybrid molding that Victrex developed, consolidating the
organosheet and injection molding in a single step.
Another notable aspect of using organoTube braided tape
preforms is that they produce very little waste. “With braiding,
we have less than 2% waste, and because it is TPC tape, we can
use this small amount of waste back in the overmolding to get the
material utilization rate up to 100%,” Garthaus emphasizes.
Developing a company and gearshaft demonstrator
Barfuss and Garthaus began their development work as
researchers at the Institute of Lightweight Engineering and
Polymer Technology (ILK) at TU Dresden. “This is one of the
largest European institutes for composites and hybrid lightweight
designs,” notes Barfuss. He and Garthaus worked there for almost
10 years on a number of developments, including continuous TPC
pultrusion and different types of joining. That work eventually was
distilled into what is now the herone TPC process technology.
“We then applied to the German EXIST program, which is
aimed at transferring such technology to industry and funds 40-60
projects each year in a wide range of research fields,” says Barfuss.
“We received funding for capital equipment, four employees and
investment for the next step of scale-up.” They formed herone in
May 2018 after exhibiting at JEC World.
By JEC World 2019, the following year they had produced a range of
demonstration parts, including a lightweight, high-torque, integrated
gear driveshaft, or gearshaft. “We use a carbon fiber/PAEK tape
organoTube braided at the angles required by the part and consoli-
date that into a tube,” Barfuss explains. “We then preheat the tube at
200°C and overmold it with a gear made by injecting short carbon
fiber-reinforced PEEK at 380°C.” The overmolding was modeled using
Moldflow Insight from Autodesk (San Rafael, Calif., U.S.). Mold fill
time was optimized to 40.5 seconds and achieved using an Arburg
(Lossburg, Germany) ALLROUNDER injection molding machine.
This overmolding not only reduces assembly costs, manufacturing
steps and logistics, but it also enhances performance. The differ-
ence of 40°C between the melt temperature of the PAEK shaft and
that of the overmolded PEEK gear enables cohesive melt-bonding
between the two at the molecular level. A second type of join mech-
anism, form-locking, is achieved by using the injection pressure to
simultaneously thermoform the shaft during overmolding to create
a form-locking contour. This can be seen in Fig. 2 as “injection-
forming.” It creates a corrugated or sinusoidal circumference where
the gear is joined versus a smooth circular cross-section. The result
is a geometrically locking form, which further enhances the strength
of the integrated gearshaft, as demonstrated in testing (see graph on
the bottom left of Fig. 2).
Tailored form-locking and wear surfaces
“A lot of people are achieving cohesive melt-bonding during

26 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 CFRTP injection-forming
NEWS

injection formed injected strut body

composite profile compound

FIG. 3 Tension-compression struts

metallic load
introduction element Injection-forming is extended to struts, where herone overmolds a metal load transfer
element into the part structure using axial form-locking to increase the join strength.

overmolding,” says Garthaus, “and others are using form-locking
in composites, but the key is to combine both into a single, auto-
mated process.” He explains that for the test results in Fig. 2, both
the shaft and full circumference of the gear were clamped sepa-
rately, then rotated to induce shear loading. The first failure on
the graph is marked by a circle to indicate it is for an overmolded
PEEK gear without form-locking. The second failure is marked
by a crimped circle resembling a star, indicating testing of an
overmolded gear with form-locking. “In this case, you have both
a cohesive and form-locked join,” says Garthaus, “and you gain
almost a 44% increase in torque load.” The challenge now, he says,
is to get the form-locking to take up load at an earlier stage to
further increase the torque this gearshaft will handle before failure.
The form-locking is tailored to the individual part and load
requirements. For example, it is circumferential in the gearshaft,
but axial in the tension-compression struts (Fig. 3). “This is why
what we have developed is a broader approach,” says Garthaus.
“How we integrate functions and parts depends on the individual
application, but the more we can do this, the more weight and cost
we can save.”
Also, the short fiber-reinforced ketone used in overmolded
functional elements like gears provides excellent wear surfaces, an
advantage that Victrex markets for its PEEK and PAEK materials.
Extending the approach to struts
Barfuss points out that the integrated gearshaft, which was

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CompositesWorld.com 27
 WORK IN PROGRESS
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Health Data Throughout
a Component’s Lifecycle
lunainc.com
28 AUGUST 2019
recognized with a 2019 JEC World Innovation Award in the aerospace category, is a
“demonstration of our approach, not just a process focused on a single application.
We wanted to explore how much we could streamline the manufacturing and exploit
the properties of TPCs to produce functionalized, integrated structures.”
Herone is currently optimizing its approach for producing tension-compression
struts. Here, the functional element is a metallic interface part that transfers loads to
and from the metal fork to the composite tube (see Fig. 3, p. 27). Injection-forming is
used to integrate the metallic load introduction element into the composite strut body.
“The main benefit we give is to decrease the number of parts,” he notes. “This
simplifies fatigue, which is a big challenge for aircraft strut applications. Form-locking
is already used in thermoset composites with a plastic or metal insert, but there is no
cohesive bonding, so you can get a slight movement between the parts. Our approach,
however, provides a unitized structure
with no such movement.”
Garthaus cites damage tolerance as
Read about Victrex’s development of
another challenge for these parts. “The hybrid molding |
struts are impact tested and then fatigue short.compositesworld.com/hybridmold
tested,” he explains. “Because we are using
Read about Sigma Precision Component’s
high-performance thermoplastic matrix braided CF/PEEK engine dressing |
materials, we can achieve as much as 40% short.compositesworld.com/CF/PEEKeng
higher damage tolerance versus thermo-
Read about Victrex’s testing of
sets, and also any microcracks from impact overmolding bond strength |
grow less with fatigue loading.” txvaero.com/news/tri-mack-bond/
Even though demonstration struts
show a metal insert, herone is currently
developing an all-thermoplastic solution, enabling cohesive bonding between the
composite strut body and the load introduction element. “When we can, we prefer to
stay all-composite and adjust properties by altering the type of fiber reinforcement,
including carbon, glass, continuous and short fiber,” says Garthaus. “In this way, we
minimize complexity and interface issues. For example, we have much less problems
compared to combining thermosets and thermoplastics.” In addition, the bond
between PAEK and PEEK has been tested by Tri-Mack (see Learn More) with results
showing it has 85% of the strength of a base unidirectional CF/PAEK laminate and is
twice as strong as adhesive bonds using industry-standard epoxy film adhesive.
New factory, new parts, new markets
Barfuss says herone now has nine employees and is transitioning from a supplier of
technology development to a supplier of aviation parts. Its next big step is the devel-
opment of a new factory in Dresden. “By the end of 2020 we will have a pilot plant
producing first series parts,” he says. “We are already working with aviation OEMs and
key Tier 1 suppliers, demonstrating designs for many different types of applications.”
The company is also working with EVTOL suppliers and a variety of collaborators
in the U.S. As herone matures aviation applications, it is also gaining manufacturing
experience with sporting goods applications including bats and bicycle components.
“Our technology can produce a wide range of complex parts with performance, cycle
time and cost benefits,” says Garthaus. “Our cycle time using PEEK is 20 minutes,
versus 240 minutes using auto-
clave-cured prepreg. We see a
wide field of opportunities, but
for now, our focus is on getting
our first applications into CW senior editor Ginger Gardiner has
an engineering/materials background
production and demonstrating and more than 20 years of experience
the value of such parts to the in the composites industry. 
market.” ginger@compositesworld.com
CompositesWorld
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 SHOW REPORT
2019 Paris Air Show: Highlights
The 2019 Paris Air Show may have lacked the glamour of a new aircraft
program announcement, but the composites industry represented is
clearly gearing up for next-generation aerospace manufacturing.
By Jeff Sloan / Editor-in-Chief
» Expectations were mixed going into the 2019 Paris Air Show
(June 17-23). Boeing, it was hoped, would lay more groundwork
for the New Midsize Aircraft (NMA), but the 737 MAX crisis has
consumed much of the company’s energy and attention. Indeed,
on day one of the air show, Boeing provided a very general
announcement regarding business conditions and issued its
20-year commercial aircraft forecast. Nothing on NMA. The biggest
splash Boeing made during the show was the news that it had sold
200 737 MAX aircraft to International Airline Group (IAG).
Airbus, on the other hand, announced the A321XLR (LR = long
range), the latest iteration of the A320neo. Scheduled to enter
service in 2023, the A321XLR will have a range of 4,700 nautical
miles, achievable through additional fuel storage capacity. Airbus
said that the plane’s range will provide airlines less expensive
single-aisle options on routes now served primarily by more
expensive double-aisle aircraft. Such routes include New York-Rio,
Shanghai-Sydney and Madrid-Dubai.
Despite the lack of NMA news, among the composites-related
companies exhibiting at the Paris Air Show, there remains a
definitive effort to develop and align materials and process
technology to meet whatever demands Boeing and Airbus
place on the supply chain in the coming decade. This includes
traditional thermoset prepregs with autoclave cure, liquid resin
infusion of dry fibers with out-of-autoclave cure, thermoplastic
30 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld
Composites on display
The composites-intensive Airbus
A400M military airlifter static display
at the 2019 Paris Air Show.
Source, all photos | Jeff Sloan
composites and additive manufacturing. The sense of expectation
throughout the supply chain is palpable.
Out on the flight line, there was the usual array of commer-
cial, military and civil aircraft, with daily flight demonstrations.
Notable in the air were demonstrations of electric-powered
aircraft, which were a stark and quiet contrast to the deafening
roar associated with the fighter and commercial jets. In the
static displays, there were a number of EVTOL (electric vertical
takeoff and landing) craft targeted toward the urban mobility
market. This aircraft type, in particular, is proving a significant
target for composite materials, which are a necessity for electri-
cally powered flight. However, the production volumes of some
of these platforms likely will number in the thousands per year,
which pushes material and process technologies more toward
an automotive-ish production model. That said, EVTOLs are in
their youth, particularly given the regulatory, qualification and
airspace management hurdles yet to be cleared.
Below are highlights from the show.
Spirit AeroSystems. The world’s largest airframer, Spirit Aero-
Systems (Wichita, Kan. U.S.), started the show off early Monday
morning with a press conference announcing the introduction
of its ASTRA fuselage panel (Advanced Structures Technology
and Revolutionary Architecture), designed to show how a fully
composite fuselage could meet the performance, rate and cost

EVTOLS on the rise
This EVTOL, from Boeing, was one of several on display at the Paris Air Show.
Next-gen composite fuselage
Back side of the Spirit AeroSystems ASTRA demonstrator fuselage panel for next-
generation, high-rate, single-aisle aircraft.
requirements of a next-generation single-aisle aircraft. The design
and manufacture of that panel are covered in a standalone story in
this issue on p. 20.
MTorres. Another composite panel of note at the show was
found at the MTorres (Torres de Elorz, Navarra, Spain) stand. This
rib-stiffened “grid/skin structure,” manufactured via resin infusion
of dry carbon fibers, actually is the brainchild of Stephen Tsai,
composites veteran and professor of aeronautics and astronautics,
emeritus, at Stanford University, who was in the MTorres stand to
explain it. Tsai said he conceived this design several years ago and
based it on the grid/skin structure deployed in the manufacture
of the Vickers Wellington, a British World War II bomber manu-
factured by Vickers-Armstrong and famous for maintaining struc-
tural integrity in crashes. To bring this design to life in a composite
application, Tsai designed the ribs in a lattice structure, with each
rib a fixed width and height, and spacing between ribs also fixed.
The challenge of his design, Tsai said, was to develop rib inter-
sections that could withstand large mechanical loads. What he
came up with was a rib architecture that uses carbon fiber tapes
CompositesWorld.com
Paris Air Show 2019
Rib-stiffened panel
Steve Tsai stands with the rib-stiffened panel he designed and MTorres helped him
fabricate. The key enabler is accurate fiber placement to build the ribs.
Multiple market applications
Close-up view of a rib joint on the MTorres rib-stiffened panel at the Paris Air Show. Tsai
says his design could have application in aerospace and automotive parts.
placed continuously in one direction (call it A), and discontinu-
ously in the intersecting direction (call it B). Then, for the next
layer, tapes would be placed discontinuously in the A direction
and continuously in the B direction. This pattern would continue
until the rib’s desired thickness is reached. In this way, each rib
joint would always be crossed by a continuous tape. Once the ribs
are built in the tool, a skin is laid over it via automated fiber place-
ment (AFP) or automated tape laying (ATL) and the entire struc-
ture is co-cured.
The advantages of this design, said Tsai, are several, but the
primary is that it is “hard for damage to go beyond the localized
area,” meaning that a crack propagated in the skin cannot easily
migrate beyond any of the ribs that border the affected regions.
Tsai also said the grid/skin structure is highly weight and material
efficient. Still, he noted, “This is easy to design but difficult to
make.” Which is where MTorres comes in.
Tsai said the limiting factor in the fabrication of his panel design
had been the placement of the rib tapes. To be fully industrialized,
they required tape placement cutting speed and accuracy that,
31
 SHOW REPORT
until recently, had not been possible. However,
Tsai approached MTorres with his design and
asked if the ATL/AFP specialist could do the job.
Iñigo Idareta, special projects department head
at the company, and the MTorres’ composites
team were put to the task and worked with Tsai
to adapt MTorres’s technologies to the applica-
tion. There were two challenges, said Idareta
at the air show: fine-tuning tape-placement
cutting speed and accuracy, where MTorres’
AFP cut-on-the-fly capability was key to keep a
constant high layup speed; and development of
tooling solutions that allowed buildup of each
rib without the rib losing stack integrity. Further,
the use of MTorres’ own dry carbon fiber format
for AFP applications was needed to make this
challenging infusion work. All were achieved, said Idareta. Also
achieved, based on Tsai’s design, is use of off-angle fiber placement
of the panel’s skin, which is four plies and about 1.2 mm thick.
The carbon fiber used was a dry 50K material from Mitsubishi
Chemical Carbon Fiber & Composites Inc. (Sacramento, Calif.,
U.S.), chosen primarily because it happened to be the material
MTorres had on hand. The resin was a “standard” industrial-grade
toughened epoxy. Idareta says the panel was tested by Alan Nettles
at NASA and performed well. Rib/skin bonding in particular, he
32 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld
Designing the ribs
Jeff Sloan’s rudimentary
drawing attempts to show how
Steve Tsai’s panel ribs are built.
Continuous fiber is first placed
in one direction (A), while
discontinuous fiber is placed in
the other direction (B). For the
next layer, continuous fiber is
placed in the B direction, while
discontinuous fiber is placed in
the A direction. In this way, the
rib joint is always covered by
continuous fiber.
said, was excellent. Tsai admitted that the panel’s weak spot is
the rib joint which is a cross-ply [0/90] laminate. The ribs were
all [0]. So the joints had about half of the uniaxial tensile strength
and a little more than half of the uniaxial compressive strength.
Even with that weakness, the grid/skin strength is more than twice
current aluminum technology of the same design, not counting
the additional lighter weight of the composites. Tsai also said that
aluminum, to achieve the same strength properties as provided by
his design, would weigh three times as much.
What’s next for this technology? Tsai
said it is “ready for application,” and listed
several possible part types: fuselage struc-
tures, space launch vehicle bodies, auto-
motive panels, battery cases. Idareta said
MTorres is working on iterating the design,
including developing a curved panel and a
full barrel panel. Both, he said, are within
reach. Also, there are several aspects of
Tsai’s design that could be modified to
meet a variety of load cases. These include
rib width, rib height, angle of intersection
and space between ribs. Although MTorres
used infusion to make the panel on display
at the air show, it could also be fabricated
using traditional thermoset prepreg.
GKN Aerospace. Commercial wing
specialist GKN Aerospace (Redditch, U.K.)
announced at the air show that it has
manufactured the first parts for its portion
of work on the Airbus Wing of Tomorrow
program, a five-year (2018-2022), multi-
company, U.K. Catapult effort to develop
materials and process technologies for
high-rate (100 per month) fabrication
of resin-infused carbon fiber composite
wings to be deployed on a next-generation
single-aisle aircraft.
Paul Perera, VP technology at GKN
 Paris Air Show 2019

Aerospace, was at the air show and provided

further details about the program. He said GKN
currently has 60 people working on the spar and
ribs for the wing, with the bulk of the work being
done out of GKN’s Global Technology Center,
which is moving into new facilities in Filton,
U.K., later this year.
The spar will be dry fiber placed by GKN and
then infused. The ribs will be fabricated from
both thermoplastic composites and aluminum.
The National Composites Centre (Bristol, U.K.)
is working on several technologies for Wing of
Tomorrow, including iCAP (digital capability
acquisition programme) to develop data-based
automation solutions, as well as automated All-electric Alice coming soon
fiber cutting and placement systems developed Omar Bar-Yohay, CEO of Eviation, stands in front of the Alice, an all-electric, all-composite, nine-seat
by Loop Technology (Poundberry, Dorchester, aircraft that is expected to enter the market by 2021.
U.K.) that will be employed in wing fabrica-
tion. Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK,
Clearfield, Utah, U.S.) is developing stringers for the program. quality requirements of next-generation aircraft. Marc Doyle,
Lower wing skins will be fabricated by Spirit AeroSystems at its Solvay’s executive VP aerospace, says the company’s new facility in
Prestwick, Scotland, facility; upper wings skins will be fabricated Wrexham, Wales, U.K. is symbolic of this effort. That plant, which
by Airbus. The goal is delivery of three shipsets to the Airbus wing opened in September 2018, produces just two product numbers
plant in Broughton, U.K., for assembly in the next 18 months, with (adhesives), but in a highly structured, highly optimized, auto-
the first in June 2020, the second in late 2020 and the third in early mation-dominant environment designed to meet the just-in-time
2021. Ultimately, if the program progresses
as planned, it will prove resin infusion as
a viable process for high-rate production
of a composite wing for a next-genera-
tion single-aisle. Perera says 1-meter spar
sections produced and assessed at the GKN
facility on Isle of Wight, U.K. show that the
materials and process are a good fit for the
application.
Perera noted that a major portion of the
Wing of Tomorrow program will revolve
around automation development. In fact,
he said, automation will be a key enabler
of resin infusion for next-generation aero-
space manufacture.
Solvay Composite Materials. If you are
looking for evidence of how the focus on
aerospace manufacturing industrialization
and production efficiency is trickling down
to materials suppliers, look no further than
Solvay Composite Materials (Alpharetta,
Ga., U.S.), which is in the middle of a multi- CARBON/EPOXY PARTS PARTS WITH CORE PRODUCTION TOOLING
year effort to re-assess where and how it
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CompositesWorld.com 33
 SHOW REPORT
3D-printed tooling Supersonic flight
This layup tool was made by Boom Aerospace using a Boom Aerospace’s composites-intensive Overture aircraft will offer supersonic flight at Mach 2.2.
Stratasys additive manufacturing system. Mold material is
unreinforced ULTEM (PEI).
requirements of its customers. The company expects to follow this
model with all new facilities, and will attempt to convert legacy
plants as well.
On the materials innovation front, Solvay highlighted two
notable efforts — one focused on thermoplastics and the other
on carbon fibers. Mike Blair, executive VP of research and innova-
tion, said one of the biggest challenges/opportunities of thermo-
plastics is their high temperature delta; that is, the high process
temperatures of thermoplastics can cause coefficient of thermal
expansion (CTE) problems in parts as they cool, particularly large
parts. The goal? Modify polyketone chemistry to reduce process
temperatures, without affecting glass transition (Tg) temperature.
The company also is looking at ways of boosting the processibility
and handling of its thermoplastics. “Our standard PEEK and PEKK
materials actually work well,” Blair said. “We just need to modify
them to make them more adaptable.”
The innovation surrounding carbon fibers is similarly intriguing.
In 2017, Solvay acquired large-tow polyacrylonitrile (PAN) manu-
facturer European Carbon Fiber GmbH (Kelheim, Germany),
which gave Solvay a new and healthy supply of PAN for 50K tow
carbon fiber. Given this, the challenge was posed: Can a large-tow
carbon fiber be formatted to provide the performance character-
istics of an intermediate modulus (IM) small-tow carbon fiber?
Blair said the idea is thought-provoking, but not trivial. He noted
that just handling 50K tow fiber can, in and of itself, damage the
fiber. So, without revealing too much about what Solvay has in
mind, Blair said the company is working on handling technology
designed to avoid fiber damage. “An aggressive schedule for this,”
he said, “would be 18 months.”
Toray Advanced Composites. The former TenCate Advanced
Composites has now been fully absorbed by Toray and, since
March, goes by Toray Advanced Composites (Morgan Hill, Calif.,
U.S.). Steve Mead, managing director, says the EVTOL market is
a particularly active one for the company right now (thermosets
34 AUGUST 2019
and thermoplastics). He noted that “we are supplying material to
emerging EVTOL programs,” adding that “composites are a true
enabler because of the parasitic battery weight on these aircraft.
Non-composite materials are not an option.” The combination of
aerospace quality fabrication at automotive rates is intriguing, he said.
Eviation. Among the higher profile introductions at the Paris Air
Show was Alice, an all-electric, all-composite aircraft introduced
by Eviation (Kadima-Tzoran, Israel). Alice is a nine-seat regional
transport aircraft that has a range of 650 miles/1,000 kilometers
at a cruising speed of 240 knots. The plane features one primary
pusher propeller at the tail and two additional pusher propel-
lers at the wing tips to reduce drag and create redundancy. Omar
Bar-Yohay, CEO of Eviation, introduced the plane and said flight
testing would be done in Moses Lake, Wash., U.S., followed by U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification in late 2020 or
early 2021. The plane will have a list price of $4 million and Bar-
Yohay said that the company is fully funded through certification
and early production.
The craft on display at the show was a non-flying prototype
assembled just the week before. Where and how this plane will be
ultimately produced remains to be seen. The prototype, for its part,
was assembled from composite structures fabricated by several
suppliers. One is Multiplast (Vannes, France), part of Carboman
Group SA (Vannes), a five-company roll-up that also includes
Decision (Ecublens, Switzerland), SNE SMM (Lanester, France),
Plastinov (Samazan, France) and Plastéol (Samazan). Multiplast,
which has a history in marine structures manufacturing, fabricated
the fuselage for Alice out of autoclave (OOA) using a sandwich
structure with Nomex honeycomb core. The fuselage was built in
two halves based on a starboard/port centerline configuration,
with the two fuselage sections bonded/fastened together. Multi-
plast does not know if it will win the contract for series production
of the craft, but the company says it is assessing what would be
required from a materials and process perspective to industrialize
CompositesWorld

fabrication. Wings and belly fairings for the Alice were supplied by
Composite Cluster Singapore (CCS).
Stratasys. Additive manufacturing (AM) machine specialist
Stratasys (Eden Prairie, Minn., U.S.) was at the Paris Air Show
emphasizing its ability to use AM for parts and tooling produc-
tion. For composites manufacturing, the emphasis was on tooling.
The company had on its stand two molds made using Stratasys
machines. The material is SABIC’s ULTEM 1010, an unreinforced
polyetherimide (PEI) that is conducive to autoclave processing.
The first mold was for fabrication of a carbon fiber wing leading
edge and features in-mold electrodes to boost prepreg heating
capacity and reduce cure time from 1.5 hours to just 10 minutes.
The other part was a layup tool made by Boom Aerospace for
production of small parts for the Overture supersonic commer-
cial airplane the company is developing. Scott Sevcik, VP manu-
facturing solutions at Stratasys, said Boom has two Stratasys
machines in use already, with a third being delivered later this
year. Sevcik said Stratasys is expected to introduce two new
chopped carbon fiber-reinforced materials for AM use later this
year; Stratasys, he said, is also working on continuous fiber rein-
forcement for AM.
Boom Aerospace. Another splashy announcement at the Paris
Air Show came from Boom Aerospace (Englewood, Colo., U.S.),
which, as noted, is developing Overture, an all-new supersonic
passenger aircraft. Boom CEO and founder Blake Scholl said
in a press conference that Boom is nearing completion of the
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Paris Air Show 2019
composites-intensive XB-1, a subscale prototype of the Overture
that is expected to be rolled out by the end of 2019 and test flown
sometime in 2020. These test flights, said Scholl, are designed to help
Boom assess design and engineering principles of the aircraft, and
apply lessons learned to final design and production of Overture,
which is expected to enter service in the mid-2020s. This is a longer
schedule than first anticipated by Boom. “This is an ambitious
project,” said Scholl. “In the early days, it’s easy to be too optimistic.”
Overture is expected to have a maximum speed of Mach 2.2, a
cruising altitude of 60,000 feet (19,354 meters) and will take passen-
gers (55-75) from Sydney to Los Angeles in just 7 hours, or Wash-
ington D.C. to London in just 3.5 hours. Scholl stated that ticket cost
on Overture is expected to be competitive, on a seat-per-mile basis,
with current airline pricing. Scholl also said that Overture is expected
to use a technology called Prometheus Fuels, which converts atmo-
sphere carbon into gasoline or, in Boom’s case, jet fuel, using elec-
tricity sourced from renewable resources. In this way, he said, the
plane will provide zero net carbon supersonic flight.
Jeff Sloan is editor-in-chief of CompositesWorld, and has been
engaged in plastics- and composites-industry journalism for
24 years. jeff@compositesworld.com
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35
 INSIDE MANUFACTURING
Filament wound utility poles
offer design flexibility
In Turkey, a utility pole
manufacturer combines
filament winding, auto-
mation, glass and car-
bon fiber composites to
expand its product line.
By Amanda Jacob / Contributing Writer
36 AUGUST 2019
» Mita Group (Ankara, Turkey), a manufacturer Filament wound
utility poles
of steel towers, distribution and transmission poles,
and substation structures for the energy market, Mitaş Composites can filament
has invested in a filament winding production line wind composite lighting poles
for manufacture of composite utility poles. The up to 12 meters long and 800
millimeters in diameter.
automation-ready equipment, with a manufacturing
Source | Mitaş Composites
capability of 1,000 poles per month, makes Mita one
of Turkey’s first manufacturers of composite utility
poles and is enabling the group to grow and diversify its existing product range.
A competitive differentiator
Mita was established by the Turkish government in 1955 to help build the coun-
try’s energy infrastructure. Over the subsequent years public ownership progres-
sively declined, and by 1990 the fully privatized Mita had embarked on a strategy
of international expansion. Today, the group operates nine production facilities at
four locations in Turkey and Italy and exports to North America, Europe, Africa and
the Middle East. The Mita Poles factory in Ankara has an annual manufacturing
capacity of 30,000 metric tons and produces galvanized steel poles 12-50 meters
long for power transmission and distribution lines, lighting, aerial cable cars, tele-
communications, signage, flags and other applications. Enhanced aesthetics and
ease of installation are key customer priorities for new pole designs.
The decision to invest in composites production facilities was formalized
about three years ago. “Mita is essentially a 60-year-old steel company, but for
some years it was always in mind to look for alternative materials offering easier
CompositesWorld

installation and lower maintenance,” explains Sezgin Üstün,
director of operations, Mita Composites Inc. “We saw a growing
market trend towards lightweight composite poles in North
America and Europe, and in mid-2016 we decided to enter the
composites market.”
Mita also saw composite poles as a differentiator in the
fiercely competitive steel pole market. Composite poles also
aligned with the company’s focus on innovation as a route to
global business growth.
Drivers for composites use
The first utility poles were made from wood, but concrete, steel
and composite poles have been introduced to provide improved
performance and durability. Steel is now the dominant material,
as steel poles provide higher performance and a longer service
life than wood, and eliminate concerns over the environmental
impact of the preservatives used to treat wood poles. However,
steel poles are still relatively heavy and expensive to transport and
install, and are galvanized or coated to improve their corrosion
resistance, increasing initial and through-life maintenance costs.
Composite poles offer benefits in installation, reliability, main-
tenance and service life over alternative pole materials, and
are especially cost-effective for limited-access sites and where
corrosion is a primary concern. Composite poles typically weigh
35-50% less than wood and steel poles, resulting in lower trans-
portation costs and easier, faster installation. Composite poles
can be carried and assembled by hand — with no need for heavy
lifting equipment — leading to big savings for installations in
tight urban spaces, remote locations or challenging terrain with
no road access. Composite poles are designed for a service life
of more than 70 years and typically require no scheduled main-
tenance. They are coated to provide UV protection, do not rot
or corrode and are immune to natural threats that often plague
wood poles, such as termites and woodpeckers. They are not
affected by salt air and humidity in coastal and wet environments,
where steel can need regular recoating, and do not leach any
chemicals into the environment. Composite poles benefit utility
grid hardening strategies by providing greater resilience under
extreme loads generated by severe weather. With a high dielec-
tric strength, composite poles are also safer for workers, and they
absorb more energy under impact than steel or wood, resulting in
less damage to vehicles in road traffic accidents.
Despite these benefits, composite poles currently account for
less than 1% of the overall utility pole market according to market
research firm Lucintel (Dallas, Texas, U.S.), but their share is
expected to grow from $228 million in 2018 at a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% to reach $318 million in 2024. This
will be driven by increasing demand from infrastructure projects,
replacement of wood poles, and the performance benefits of
composite poles over wood, steel and concrete. Power transmis-
sion and distribution currently accounts for approximately 71% of
the global composite pole market, but the lighting segment (23%)
is likely to experience a relatively higher growth rate, fueled by the
replacement of traditional materials.
CompositesWorld.com
Filament wound utility poles
NEWS
23%
Lighting & Others
6% Telecommunications
71%
Power Transmission
and Distribution
Pole market by application
The global fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) pole market by end use industry in 2018.
Source | Lucintel
Lucintel predicts filament winding will remain the dominant
process used to manufacture composite poles over the next five
years because of its suitability for high-volume production, ability
to work with multiple thermoset resins, and flexibility to manufac-
ture cylindrical, oval and conical poles. Pultrusion, which is limited
to the manufacture of poles with constant (or near constant) cross
section, is expected to witness the highest growth due to its higher
productivity and lower cost, while centrifugal casting, which offers
good aesthetics, is restricted to applications requiring relatively low
mechanical performance.
Design flexibility
For Mita , filament winding met the company’s requirement for
manufacture of conical poles.
“For conical poles there are only two production methods in
composites — filament winding and centrifugal casting,” explains
Üstün. “We chose filament winding because it uses continuous
fibers and we can obtain the high stiffness and strength required
for utility poles. Filament winding also gives us the flexibility to
manufacture other products — tubes, pipes or other structures — so
we are not restricted to the pole market. Following discussions with
suppliers in China, Europe and North America, we chose to work
with Autonational because of their advanced technologies, flexibility
and adaptation to future automation.”
Autonational Composites B.V. (IJlst, Netherlands) was founded
in 1977 by two engineers who specialized in designing industrial
production lines. Filament winding was frequently employed, and
five years ago it was decided to focus the business around this tech-
nology. Today, Autonational employs approximately 60 people,
supplying filament winders, auxiliary processing and testing equip-
ment, and integrated production lines and automated solutions
37
 INSIDE MANUFACTURING
1 The Autonational AMD SW 1000 three-axis filament winder is suitable for
manufacture of conical and cylindrical poles up to 12 meters long.
Source | Mitaş Composites
2 The fiber delivery tool on the Autonational AMD SW 1000 filament winder.
Source | Autonational
for the automotive, aerospace, infrastructure and other markets.
According to marketing and sales manager Harry Fietje, Autona-
tional is seeing increasing demand for automated lines, which
now account for 75% of sales. Requests for quotations for utility
pole lines are also increasing, he says.
“The Mita production line took around three months to design,”
he notes. “It was not a difficult line for us, but as Mita was new
to composites, we worked closely with them on part design and
materials selection. We proposed a two-phase approach to fit their
investment plans and anticipated production ramp up.”
The first phase involved the supply of an integrated production
line to allow manual or semi-automatic manufacturing, based on
two mandrel lengths to reduce the complexity and cost of future
automation. This enables the manufacture of glass fiber-rein-
forced polyester composite conical poles with minimum diameter
100 millimeters, maximum diameter 600 millimeters and a length
38 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld
3 The basic winding geometry for a glass fiber polyester pole.
Source | Mitaş Composites
4 The machining station is used to drill holes, cut out inserts and finish the
surface of the pole in preparation for coating.
Source | Mitaş Composites
of 12 meters; and carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composite cylin-
drical poles with diameters up to 600 millimeters and a length of
6 meters. The line has a manufacturing capacity of 1,000 poles per
month. The second phase of the project will address additional
functionality and automation.
After a two-month build, Autonational installed and commis-
sioned the equipment in the new Mita Composites plant in
Ankara in April 2018, and trained Mita staff in machine opera-
tion. The 17,750-square-meter factory also houses a pultrusion line
and an R&D laboratory.
Production sequence
The production line consists of modular equipment to perform
filament winding, curing, mandrel extraction, machining and
coating. An overhead crane transports mandrels and poles
between machines, which are started by an operator and then run

5 From left to right, a Mitaş Composites ‘smart’ pole, a 3-meter carbon fiber
flagpole, and a decorative lighting pole. Several modules are integrated
into the smart pole to enable radar, camera, Wi-Fi and other functionality.
The decorative pole is designed for use in natural areas such as parks and
gardens. Lights (available in different colors) are fitted inside the pole to
illuminate the shaft. Source | Mitaş Composites
automatically under their supervision.
Production starts with transport of a steel mandrel, manu-
factured by Mita , to the filament winder, where it is cleaned
and prepared. (A separate mandrel preparation station could be
added in future to allow increased production capacity.)
To deliver fiber to the winder, Autonational supplied two creel/
tensioning units. A pallet creel suitable for up to 16 tows and 64
bobbins, delivering fiber tensions of 2-20 Newtons, is suitable for
high production output with glass fiber. For higher performance
applications with carbon or glass fiber, a dynamic creel with
servo-controlled tensioning allows for accurate fiber tensions of
5-50 Newtons. This creel, based on a modular configuration of two
sets of four stacked bobbins, is positioned on a rail connected to
the carriage of the filament winder.
Mita obtains glass fiber materials from i ecam (Istanbul,
Turkey) and carbon fiber from DowAksa (Istanbul, Turkey).
CompositesWorld.com
Filament wound utility poles
NEWS
6 Mitaş Composites light poles on display at the Ankara factory. The red pole
is 12 meters high with diameters of 120-273 millimeters and the grey pole
10 meters long with diameters of 120-253 millimeters. The top fittings are
bolted to the pole. The base of the red pole is composite; the grey pole has
a steel base plate. A carbon fiber flagpole is shown on the left.
Source | Mitaş Composites
Polyester resin is also available from Turkish suppliers, but epoxy
resin has to be sourced from international companies.
Autonational supplied equipment to store, pump, mix and dose
the resin to the winder via a resin dip tray. The fiber is fed from
the creel to the resin tray, which is suitable for use with glass and
carbon fiber. Each resin has its own fiber guide insert, based on 16
tows for polyester and eight tows for epoxy. The resin tray features
automatic level measurement and temperature control and is
designed to provide good fiber impregnation and a consistent
resin fraction.
Impregnated roving is guided to the mandrel via a standard
fiber delivery tool on the Autonational AMD SW 1000 three-
axis, single-spindle filament winder. The winder uses a Siemens
Sinumerik 840D CNC controller which is compatible with most
filament winding software. According to the selected program,
the winder lays the resin-impregnated roving onto the rotating
39
 INSIDE MANUFACTURING

mandrel using a carriage that travels back and forth along the axis
transported to an input buffer — a shuttle table — in front of an
of the mandrel to build up successive layers of reinforcement.electrically heated batch oven. When the required number of
The program defines the orientations of the fibers to achieve the
mandrels is reached, the shuttle is moved into the oven. The oven,
required pole strength, flexibility and thickness. The winding oper-
capable of a maximum temperature of 150°C, can accommodate
ation lasts approximately 1 hour. up to four poles of 600 millimeters in diameter or 16 poles of 100
In addition to this three-axis winder, Mita uses a four-axis
millimeters in diameter. After cure, which lasts around 8 hours,
machine (Autonational AMD SW 800 RD) for the fabrication of the shuttle is moved back out of the oven to a cool-down zone.
poles up to 6 meters long, as well as for carbon fiber tubes and
When cool, the wound pole is separated from the mandrel using a
complex parts for R&D projects. hydraulic mandrel extractor. This system can process pole lengths
Once winding is complete, the mandrel and pole are from 6 to 12 meters and mandrel diameters from 100 to 600 milli-
meters. The maximum extraction force is
100 kiloNewtons and the operation typi-
cally takes up to 20 minutes.
VISIT US AT The pole is next transferred to a

CAMX machining center, which is a modifica-

tion of the AMD SW 1000 filament winder.
23-26 SEPT The winder’s fiber guide is replaced by a
BOOTH N30 milling/sawing unit, the head and tailstock
are fitted with revised tooling, and turning/

ADVANCED NONWOVENS FOR milling software installed in the CNC

controller. The unit is capable of drilling,

COMPOSITES
milling, grinding and cutting conical and
cylindrical poles. The required drilling,
cutting and surface finishing operations
FROM TECHNICAL FIBRE PRODUCTS INC. generally take 1 hour and the pole then
returns to the AMD SW 1000 filament
MULTIPLE BENEFITS FROM USING A SINGLE MATERIAL!

HIGH QUALITY SURFACE FINISH

EMI SHIELDING Read this article online |
short.compositesworld.com/fw_poles
ADHESIVE CARRIER
RESIN FLOW MEDIA
ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY winder for coating. For this operation, the
FIRE PROTECTION winder’s fiber delivery tool is replaced by a
FRACTURE TOUGHNESS IMPROVEMENT spray gun and the resin supply is switched
GALVANIC CORROSION PREVENTION over to a pigmented topcoat that imparts
UV protection to the pole. This process
ABRASION RESISTANCE
takes 1-2 hours and the coating is allowed
CORROSION RESISTANCE to cure in the factory. For automated
WWW.TFPGLOBAL.COM production, a separate coating station
TFP IS PART OF JAMES CROPPER PLC

would be added.

Developing the market

Mita started filament winding poles in
May 2018 and now manufactures a variety
of products including power distribu-
tion poles, antenna masts and decorative
lighting poles. Standard glass fiber conical
light poles range from 12 meters long (top
inner diameter 120 millimeters; bottom
inner diameter 273 millimeters) to 4 meters
INQUIRIES@TFPGLOBAL.COM • 1 518 280 8500 long (top inner diameter 62 millimeters;
bottom inner diameter 102 millimeters).

40 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 Filament wound utility poles
NEWS

Poles can be supplied in a range of colors, with opaque or illu- and they are concerned about vandalism. We are getting these
minated shaft, and with steel or composite base and access door. sorts of reactions from the clients — they just see composite as
Carbon fiber is being employed in flag poles as well as some sports a plastic and it will take some time to convince them. We plan
applications such as sailing masts. to continue our marketing development activities by attending
“We have a lot of flexibility,” notes Üstün. “We can produce exhibitions, presenting papers and, most importantly, working to
poles up to 12 meters in one segment, with diameters from convince authorities in target countries.”
60 millimeters to 1,000 millimeters. We already have a good One initiative intended to increase confidence in composite
amount of mandrels for our standard designs, but if the client poles was recently announced by the American Composites
needs different options, as a steel producer we can easily adapt Manufacturers Association (ACMA, Arlington, Va., U.S.). The
mandrels in-house.” ANSI-approved Standard Specification for FRP Composite Utility
The poles have mainly been installed in Turkey, although small Poles, published in May, was developed by ACMA’s Utility and
numbers have been sent to other countries including Ukraine and Communication Structures Council to provide a single point of
Qatar. Customers are so far requesting small orders, up to several reference for electric utilities. Its objective is to promote a greater
hundred poles, for demonstration purposes. understanding of the differences between composite, wood,
“Autonational designed the equipment for a manufacturing concrete and steel poles and explain the manufacture, assembly
capacity of 1,000 poles per month, but we have not reached this and correct installation of composite poles.
value yet,” Üstün explains. “Up to now we have produced maybe
1,000 poles as we are in the market development stage. If in one to
two years we have high enough demand we can add automation.”
Automation options include adding logistic systems such
as monorails, manipulators and mandrel buffer systems
Located in Oxford, U.K., Amanda Jacob is a journalist and
to automatically move mandrels and products around
marketing communications consultant with more than
the production line. Track and trace functionality can be 20 years of experience in the composites industry.
incorporated into products to record manufacturing variables.
“The Mita production line could work in a similar way, with
transport between stations automated
and manipulators moving the mandrels
and poles to the machines,” says Autona-
tional’s Fietje. “The entire production area
could be fenced off with one operator over-
seeing everything. It could be possible to
produce a finished pole every 20 minutes
rather than the 80 minutes or so currently
possible.”
Feedback on Mita ’ composite poles
has been positive, according to Üstün:
“Customers like their appearance. The light
weight of the poles is also very interesting
for them because they could just raise a
6-meter pole with one man. A 6-meter
glass fiber pole weighs approximately 15
kilograms compared with a similar steel
pole of 35 kilograms or more.”
However, Mita is facing barriers
relating to price and customer misconcep-
tions about composites.
“The initial cost is higher than steel, so
if the customer is focused on price they
always check the initial cost,” he says. “We
try to convince them by focusing on the
full life cycle cost and the sustainability
aspects of composite poles.”
“One other concern we have heard from
clients is that composite poles are brittle

CompositesWorld.com 41
 APPLICATIONS

Natural fiber › With rising concerns about air pollution and urban congestion, there is a rapidly growing market for
enables e-bike zero-emissions vehicles. A new British manufacturer, Electric Assisted Vehicles Ltd. (EAV, Oxford, U.K.), has
unveiled its new eCargo bike project with the goal of helping to transform urban package transport. The
for package company assembled a team of engineers from the automotive, motorsports and aerospace industries to
create the bike — actually a quadracycle — that will be used to deliver products while addressing sustain-
delivery ability and urban mobility concerns.
The eCargo bike, which the company calls Project 1 (P1), is made from flax natural fiber composites.
SHD Materials (Sleaford, U.K.) produces a custom prepreg for EAV using natural fiber from Bcomp Ltd.
New parcel delivery (Fribourg, Switzerland). EAV has some experience with the material, as it has been producing natural fiber
vehicle concept composite parts for ProDrive Motorsports (Banbury, U.K.) for use on the Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
employs a natural fiber Adam Barmby, founder and technical director at EAV, says that depending on design requirements,
prepreg for low weight, natural fibers work as well as glass or carbon fiber. In addition to offering weight savings, the inherent
vibration dampening, properties of the natural fiber, which is non-conductive, vibration-damping and flame-retardant up to
non-conductivity and 300°C, are a good fit for electric vehicles such as the P1.
flame retardancy. “The bike offered a natural opportunity to use [natural fiber],” he says. “It lends a green priority to
manufacturing that hopefully people are going to want to see in the future.”
EAV says it approached the project with a light commercial vehicle (LCV) concept in mind rather than
conceiving it as an up-engineered bicycle. The resulting vehicle weighs 12-15 kilograms, can be steered
and pedaled like a traditional bicycle, and is narrow enough to fit on a bike path yet can hold up to a
150-kilogram payload. The P1’s chassis design is modular and can be widened or extended for a range of
applications. The goal is to give operators many of the elements of a delivery van with increased efficiency
and zero emissions.
A thumb switch on the P1 allows it to accelerate up to 9.7
kmh. Peddling the bike turns a crank that provides electric
assistance for longer journeys or for uphill travel. The bike
is reportedly compatible with all charging stations and is
designed with removable battery packs that aid in charging,
replacing and updating.
With the design engineering for the bike completed,
EAV has turned its attention to the aesthetics of the P1. In
collaboration with industrial design company New Territory
(London, U.K.), the company is exploring a flax finish concept
similar to that of the Tesla Model S.
“We would like to re-educate the population on common-
sense vehicle design and intelligent methods of mobility that deliver a sense of purpose and place for
urban populations,” Barmby says. “We’re already thinking about how we can extend the technology for
other uses.”
Source, both images | Electric Assisted Vehicles Ltd.

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42 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 CALENDAR

Composites Events
Aug. 11-16, 2019 — Melbourne, Australia Sept. 10-12, 2019 — Messe Stuttgart, Germany Oct. 22-23, 2019 — Oxford, U.K.
ICCM22 — The 22nd International Conference on Composites Europe and ICC 2019 Composites in Motorsport
Composite Materials composites-europe.com compositesinmotorsport.com
iccm22.com Oct. 30-31, 2019 — Birmingham, U.K.
Sept. 23-26, 2019 — Anaheim, Calif., U.S.
Aug. 20-21, 2019 — Detroit, Mich., U.S. CAMX 2019 Advanced Engineering UK 2019
8th Annual Global Automotive Lightweight Materials thecamx.org thenec.co.uk
Summit Nov. 13-15, 2019 — Seoul, Rep. of Korea
Sept. 24-26, 2019 — Birmingham, U.K.
global-automotive-lightweight-materials-detroit.com JEC Asia 2019
TCT Show 2019
Aug. 21-22, 2019 — Detroit, Mich., U.S. tctshow.com jec-asia.events
IACMI SMC 101 workshop Oct. 1-3, 2019 — Tampa, Fla., U.S. Nov. 19-21, 2019 — Knoxville, Tenn., U.S.
iacmi.org/smc IBEX 2019 Carbon Fiber 2019
Aug. 27-29, 2019 — Austin, Texas, U.S. ibexshow.com CarbonFiberEvent.com
Additive Manufacturing Conference and Expo Oct. 7-9, 2019 — Orlando, Fla., U.S. Nov. 20-21, 2019 — Vienna, Austria
additiveconference.com 2019 Polyurethanes Technical Conference Composites in Building & Infrastructure Summit
Sept. 3-5, 2019 — Birmingham, U.K. polyurethane.americanchemistry.com techtextil-india.in.messefrankfurt.com
ACIC 2019: Advanced Composites in Construction Oct. 8, 2019 — Enschede, Netherlands Nov. 20-22, 2019 — Mumbai, India
acic-conference.com Future of Thermoplastics Conference World of Composites at Techtextil India
Sept. 3-5, 2019 — Shanghai, China tprc.nl/events vonlanthengroup.com/en/events
China Composites Expo 2019 Oct. 8-9, 2019 — Novi, Mich., U.S. Nov. 26-28, 2019 — Copenhagen, Denmark
chinacomositesexpo.com Lightweighting World Expo 2019 WindEurope Offshore 2019
Sept. 4-6, 2019 — Novi, Mich., U.S. lightweightingworldexpo.com windeurope.com/offshore2019
SPE Automotive Composites Conference and Oct. 9-10, 2019 — Munich, Germany
Exhibition (ACCE) 3rd Munich Technology Conference on
speautomotive.com/acce-conference Additive Manufacturing
oerlikon.com/mtc-event See more events at:
Sept. 5-7, 2019 — Guangzhou, China short.compositesworld.com/events
UTECH Asia 2019 Oct. 16-23, 2019 — Düsseldorf, Germany
puchina.eu K 2019
k-online.com

August 22, 2019 • 2:00 PM ET

PRESENTED BY Coatings Make Machining Easier:
Innovative Finishing Solutions for
3D Printed Molds, Tools and Parts
www.compositesone.com EVENT DESCRIPTION:
Presented by Tru-Design, Polynt Composites and Composites One, this informative
webinar will take attendees from an overview of current polymeric 3D printing to an
PRESENTERS in-depth presentation of proven finishing methods for enhancing surface cosmetics,
ensuring vacuum integrity of 3D printed tools and parts, and filling in defects due to
start/stops, bead break-outs, flow issues and air voids. Among these finishing methods
are innovative high build coatings that can be more easily machined than the original
print material, especially in situations where significant detail, class A cosmetics or
post-print modifications are required.

PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN:

• Surface issues resulting from fast, large format 3D printers
JOHN MILLER RICK PAUER NEIL SMITH
Vice President of Applications Technical Support • How to fix defects and overcome issues
Operations, Specialist, Polynt Manager,
Tru-Design Composites USA Composites One • Coating options for 3D printed parts, molds and fixtures
• Thermoset coatings to address CTE concerns in high temperature applications

REGISTER TODAY FOR WEBINAR AT: SHORT.COMPOSITESWORLD.COM/COMPONE822

CompositesWorld.com 43
 NEW PRODUCTS
New Products
» GUIDES & LITERATURE
Grid/skin structures explained
in new guide
Composites expert and veteran Stephen Tsai and automated tape
and fiber placement specialist MTorres (Torres de Elorz, Navarra,
Spain) have published “Composite Double-Double and Grid/Skin
Structures: Low Weight/Low Cost Design and Manufacturing,” a
design and manufacturing guide for the fabrication of grid-stiffened
composite structures. The book outlines the design principles of a
grid-stiffened structure, modeling and simulation, the concept of
double-double laminate construction, parameters of fabrication, and
mechanical performance of finished parts and structures. The book
also discusses potential applications of grid-stiffened structures,
including aircraft fuselage panels and other components. Authors
are Tsai, professor research emeritus, Aeronautics & Astronautics,
Stanford University; Naresh Sharma, CEO and founder of light
aircraft manufacturer NASHERO; Albertino Arteiro, assistant
professor at the University of Porto; Surajit Roy, assistant professor
at California State University Long Beach; and Bob Rainsberger,
founder of XYZ Scientific Applications Inc. The book, published by
Stanford University, is 112 pages long and makes extensive use of
photos, diagrams, charts, drawings, tables and graphs. It is available
as an e-book for $19.00 and can be purchased at compositesdesign.
stanford.edu. mtorres.com
44 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld
Source | Fresmak
» FASTENING/WORKHOLDING
Reversible adhesion clamping system
for aerospace parts
Fresmak’s (Gipuzkoa, Spain) F-GRIP is a clamping system based on
reversible adhesion for use with manufacturing aerospace parts. Under
development and expected to be available in 2020, F-GRIP is designed
as an alternative to traditional clamping systems and is said to perform
better than current technologies for aerospace-quality parts.
The solution comprises three parts: an adhesive, a base fixture and an
activation system. The adhesive consists of a biphasic polymer with
different adherence phases that are activated by heat — between 80°
and 150°C according to the selected F-GRIP range. The adhesive has
the shape of solid discs (Ø25mm) and is said to be easy to handle. It
is recyclable and will be supplied as a consumable. The base fixture
is designed according to the part shape and the machining loads. It
includes cavities to locate the necessary adhesive discs and ensure the
reference of the workpiece. On demand, it may include 0-point nipples
to fix it quickly on the machine. Heating and cooling devices are included
into the base fixture to activate the adhesive as fast as possible.
The system is said to provide up to 1,000 N/cm2 of clamping force for
use with a variety of materials. Its reversibility makes it easy to remove
(at 50°C) without damaging the clamp surface.
Three key benefits to F-GRIP, when compared to traditional clamping
systems, are said to be precision, optimized machining times and
material saving. F-GRIP is said to be more precise than traditional
clamping systems, reducing the number of setups and minimizing the
number of references while eliminating risk of workpiece deformation.
Machine time is optimized by its ability to perform multiple operations
in one setup. It also is said to enable machining with more severe cutting
conditions, even on high-performance materials. The system does not
require oversized initial blocks of material like other systems that use
vices or screws, thus saving material. fresmak.com
 NEW PRODUCTS

» PREPREG MATERIALS
Prepreg enables OOA cure,
extends storage life
Airtech Advanced Materials Group (Huntington Beach, Calif., U.S.) has
introduced a new product in its out-of-autoclave (OOA) Beta Prepreg
brand, a benzoxazine composite tooling system that can be cured
out-of-autoclave or in the autoclave. The prepreg is said to enable
long-term storage at room temperature, offer low resin shrinkage
during cure and has a high glass transition temperature.
Airtech offers three weights:
• OOA Beta Prepreg TMBG-3 is lightweight for surface plies.
• OOA Beta Prepreg TMBG-6 is a medium-weight prepreg for
cauls and machined laminates.
• OOA Beta Prepreg TMBG-12 is a heavyweight prepreg for
bulk ply build-ups.
Benefits are said to include a reduced cost of manufacture and an
increased flexibility with OOA processing, toughness for a long life in
a composite shop environment, improved surface finish and reduced
need for finishing due to low resin shrinkage. Low moisture absorption
eliminates tool drying after storage and reduces risk of porosity in
parts. The product’s longer prepreg outlife is also said to enable easy
shipping and more time available for mold fabrication.
airtechonline.com

August 21, 2019 • 2:00 PM ET

PRESENTED BY Bonding and Joining Composites
and Multi-Material Parts:
The Structural Adhesive Advantage

www.3M.com/compositebonding EVENT DESCRIPTION:

The joining of thermoset and thermoplastic composites is a challenge when designing
and manufacturing multi-material assemblies. There are many different types of joining
PRESENTER methods for these types of assemblies, which include: mechanical fastening, fusion or
sonic welding, and structural adhesive bonding. With the trend to adopt fiber-reinforced
thermosets, low surface energy thermoplastics, and engineered thermoplastics in new
products, using 3M adhesive solutions can provide many advantages. The focus of this
webinar is to review various structural adhesive chemistries and provide an overview of
the selection criteria of adhesively-bonded multi-material assemblies.

PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN:

• Trends for adopting multiple materials in new products
GREG MORIARTY
Structural Adhesive
• Advantages of adhesive bonding in composite applications
Application Engineer • Factors to consider when bonding multi-materials
• Advances in bonding to low surface energy thermoplastics

REGISTER TODAY FOR WEBINAR AT: SHORT.COMPOSITESWORLD.COM/3M0821

CompositesWorld.com 45
 NEW PRODUCTS

Source | METYX
» SURFACE POLISH/PASTE
Water-based pastes, polishes promote
high gloss, prevent overheating
METYX (Istanbul, Turkey) has introduced a new product group consisting
of three water-based pastes/polishes for use on a variety of end
products. METYPASTE 100 is the company’s standard paste product,
METYPOL 200 is a thin paste and polish product, and METYFINISH300 is
a high luster polish.
The three products, designed to be complementary to the company’s
current package system, are said to provide high gloss and high-quality
surface smoothness in products.
According to METYX, using its water-based products — as opposed
to products that contain solvent components — benefits occupational
health and safety, and also prevents machine overheating caused by high
speeds, which can lead to combustion of the gel coat or paint surfaces.
metyx.com

September 4, 2019 • 11:00 AM ET
PRESENTED BY Engineered Solutions for
Pultrusion Processing of Glass
Reinforced Polymer Composite
www.sartomer.com
EVENT DESCRIPTION:
PRESENTER Since its development in 1950s, pultrusion has gained interest and popularity in
the composite market. Today, it is a commonly used manufacturing process for
uni-directional fiber reinforced high performance composites.
During this webinar, Sartomer will present new engineered solutions compatible
with pultrusion process for both thermal and UV polymerization.

PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN:

• Pultrusion process
DR. MARASINGHE
Technical Service and • (Meth)acrylates solutions performance
Development Manager
• Thermal & UV curing

REGISTER TODAY FOR WEBINAR AT: SHORT.COMPOSITESWORLD.COM/SARTOMER09

46 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 NEW PRODUCTS

» FASTENING/WORKHOLDING
Fastening system designed system avoids cutting the glass or carbon
for FRP parts fibers by guiding the fiber tows around either
Adhesion Technologies Ltd.’s (ATL; a metal- or plastic-threaded Spida bolt/stud,
Lymington Hampshire, U.K.) Fiba Spida maintaining the maximum reinforcement
is an all-in-one fastener and tow-steered strength from the fibers.
reinforcement fabric fixing system, designed Next, injection of a compatible resin
primarily for boosting productivity and encapsulates the Spida bolt/stud and locks
design freedom with fiber-reinforced in the glass or carbon fiber fabric option
polymer (FRP) composites. to produce the final Fiba Spida fixing;
The system is based on ATL’s Spida depending on the application, either a single
fixings and proprietary adhesion or double fabric layer for interleaving can
enhancing technologies. The Fiba be produced. The overall result is a high-
Source | Adhesion Technologies Ltd.
Spida fixings are said to enable applied performance “hybrid” fixing system with
stresses to be spread across a larger a built-in quadraxial fabric reinforcement
part of the substrate, so smaller and fewer fixings can be speci- system, said to handle high tensile and torsional loads as point loads
fied in some applications in order to reduce the overall weight of and cluster stresses in the fabricated component are dissipated over
an assembled component. The new range of Fiba Spida fixings, a wider area.
with glass and carbon fiber options, are intended to offer design, Fiba Spida fixings are supplied fully assembled and are suitable
productivity, production, cost-reducing and performance-enhancing for new build components or for upgrading fixing requirements as
benefits, suited for applications in the rail, mining, automotive, part of a maintenance, repair or refurbishment project. Fiba Spida
marine, medical equipment and industrial market sectors. has been designed so that a fixing can be quickly and accurately
Fiba Spida combines ATL’s Spida stud and parabolic base fixing positioned in a mold during the dry layup pre-molding stage without
system and patented AdMax base surface area enhancing treatment additional preparation. Alternatively, it can be bonded or overlami-
with a new “tow-steered” technology. The tow steering production nated to the surface of an existing molded part. spidafixings.com

Additive Manufacturing
Workshop for Composites

SAVE THE DATE!

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA
CO-LOCATED WITH

This workshop is the best place to learn how

3D printing will complement and compete
with composites.

PRESENTED BY

Additiveconference.com/composites

CompositesWorld.com 47
 NEW PRODUCTS

» ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
Flame-retardant composite
developed for additive
manufacturing
CRP Technology’s (Modena, Italy) Windform FR1 is
a carbon fiber-reinforced flame retardant
Source | Anaglyph Ltd. material designed for
» TESTING, MEASUREMENT & INSPECTION SYSTEMS use with laser sintering,
Updates to composites structural the latest addition to the
design software company’s Windform
Anaglyph Ltd. (London, U.K.) has released version 4.9 of its Laminate TOP-LINE family.
Tools software for composites structural design. New features include Windform FR1 is said to
implementation of tensor plots for principal element forces ∕ moments, be one of the first flame-retar-
additional ply pools and element set pools, the enabling of basic dant (UL 94 V-0 rated) materials Source | CRP Technology

geometric feature creation and enabled import of additional finite
element analysis (FEA) result entities.
Laminate Tools is a stand-alone Windows application that
reportedly addresses the entire geometry process for composites
structural design, from import through design, analysis, check
and manufacture. The program is designed to communicate
original data between team members across disciplines, saving
time for the team. Laminate Tools is said to interface with most
computer-aided design (CAD) and FEA applications for a flexible
workflow. Anaglyph says it is used currently by composite
structures designers and stress analysts in the automotive,
aerospace, marine, energy and leisure industries. anaglyph.co.uk
for additive manufacturing to be
reinforced with carbon fiber. The material has also passed the FAR
25.853 12-second vertical and 15-second horizontal flammability
tests as well as the 45° Bunsen burner test.
Windform FR1 is a halogen-free polyamide-based material, said
to combine high stiffness with light weight. It is designed for a
variety of high-performance applications where flame-retardant
qualities are required, including aerospace, automotive, transporta-
tion, consumer goods or electronics parts. Windform FR1 is also
reportedly suitable for the manufacturing of components with
detailed surface resolution. crp-group.com

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 MARKETPLACE / ADVERTISING INDEX

MANUFACTURING SUPPLIERS

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ADVERTISING INDEX

A&P Technology Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Front Cover Design Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

www.braider.com www.designconcepts-us.com

Abaris Training Resources Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Elliott Company of Indianapolis Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

www.abaris.com www.elliottfoam.com

Airtech International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 General Plastics Manufacturing Co. Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . .5

www.airtechonline.com www.generalplastics.com

Asheville Composite Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Hexcel Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 27

www.ashevillecompositetechnologies.com www.hexcel.com

Beckwood Press Co.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 IBEX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

www.beckwood.com www.ibexshow.org

CAMX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Industrial Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

www.thecamx.org www.industrialtech.info

CGTech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing

www.cgtech.com Innovation (IACMI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
www.iacmi.org
Chem-Trend L.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
www.chemtrend.com Janicki Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
www.janicki.com
Composites One LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover
www.compositesone.com LEWCO Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
www.lewcoinc.com

50 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 ADVERTISING INDEX / SHOWCASE

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Luna Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Renegade Materials Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

www.lunainc.com www.renegadematerials.com

Magnolia Advanced Materials Inc. . Inside Back Cover Technical Fibre Products Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
www.magnolia-adv-mat.com www.tfpglobal.com

McClean Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Teijin Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

www.mccleananderson.com www.teijincarbon.com

Michelman Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Thermwood Corp.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

www.michelman.com www.thermwood.com

Mitsubishi Chemical America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Toray Advanced Composites USA Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

www.us.mitsubishi-chemical.com www.toraytac.com

OMAX Corp.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Torr Technologies Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

www.omax.com www.torrtech.com

Orbis Machinery LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Trinks Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

www.orbismachinery.com www.trinksinc.com

Pacific Coast Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Wyoming Test Fixtures Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

www.pccomposites.com www.wyomingtestfixtures.com

Pro-Set Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
www.prosetepoxy.com

CompositesWorld.com
51
 FOCUS ON DESIGN

Artist impressions of
different surface textures
and looks, such as plain
weave, twill, jacquard, etc.

Consumer
electronics:
hybrid composite
covers 3D effect
weave

Study demonstrates
feasibility of thermo-
plastic composites, Nonwoven

high-speed production
process. Smooth
painted

By Peggy Malnati / Contributing Writer

» Consumer electronics is a dynamic market with quite short
cycle times between product generations. From their smart-
phones, smartwatches, tablets and notebooks/laptops, consumers
want faster operating speeds, longer-lasting batteries, greater
durability and more features at lower cost and weight. To meet
consumer demand, OEMs ask suppliers for materials with high
aesthetics and design freedom, excellent impact resistance and
high stiffness — which connotes quality in this market — at low
weight and thin wall sections. They also want cost-effective, highly
repeatable processing methods that meet global production
demand in the tens-of-millions of units annually. These pressures
have pushed the market first to lightweight metals for covers/cases
and frames, and now is driving it toward metal/composite and
fully composite solutions.
A feasibility study conducted by SABIC (Bergen op Zoom, Neth-
erlands) involved use of two types of thermoplastic composites
to produce a 1-millimeter-thick notebook-computer/tablet cover.
The study showed the hybrid thermoplastic composite design
could be a viable solution for the challenging consumer elec-
tronics market.
Test case
Since 2012, SABIC has made a series of investments to develop its
own unidirectional (UD) fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite
tapes, which extended the company’s core competency in short-
fiber injection and long-fiber thermoplastic (LFT) materials, and
A thinner, stronger laptop cover
SABIC demonstrated in a recent study that a 1-millimeter thick cover could meet all
relevant industry performance specifications for very thin notebook computers or
tablets. Source, all images | SABIC
allowed SABIC to expand into higher performance thermoplastic
composites. In 2015, the company purchased majority share in
tape maker Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics B.V. (FRT, Lelystad,
Netherlands) and in 2017 it partnered with and became a minority
investor in Airborne (The Hague, Netherlands), a machine maker
and developer of composite processing lines.
As SABIC and Airborne designed and built technology to rapidly
and cost effectively produce net-shape, high-quality thermo-
plastic tape-based laminates for truly high-volume markets, the
team began looking for a test case. This demonstrator would be an
important marketing tool to prove out design concepts for ther-
moplastic composite laminates produced from composite tapes
overmolded with discontinuous fiber-reinforced compounds.
It also would be important to test predictive engineering tools
the team had developed for both materials technologies and to
showcase the high-speed manufacturing process evolving in the
Netherlands.
“We decided to specialize in consumer electronics applica-
tions,” explains Gino Francato, SABIC global composites leader.
“That market is very interesting because there is a real ambition to

52 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld

 Composite laptop cover

Consolidated, net-shaped laminate Preformed laminates ready for Notebook/tablet cover with laminate
produced from unidirectional overmolding insert overmolded with short-glass/
thermoplastic tapes (carbon fiber/ polycarbonate copolymer
polycarbonate)

Thermoplastic composite notebook/tablet cover

› 1-millimeter thick all-thermoplastic › Continuous carbon fiber-reinforced › Overmolding compound (discontinuous

composite cover passes all required polycarbonate laminate insert provides high short-glass/polycarbonate copolymer)
industry performance requirements. stiffness and strength at low weight and provides 3D design features and high
thickness. aesthetics.

Karl Reque / Illustration

move into lightweight materials to make our mobile phones and
notebooks lighter and thinner. And since they make millions and
millions of them, we decided to take the challenge this market
offered.”
“We decided to start with something that was reasonably
complex but not too complex,” explains Scott Davis, SABIC staff
scientist-global application technology. The top cover of a very
thin notebook computer or even a tablet — which the team hoped
would eventually translate to smartphone components — seemed
a good place to start. “We were working with a simple overall
geometry, a rectangle, that still had to maintain high aesthetics
and offer lots of complexity on its B-side, including attachment
features,” continues Davis. “We had to keep the cover very thin,
but still meet challenging deflection requirements common in
the industry. And, of course, we had to deliver a very consistent
product via a complex new manufacturing process.”
Since they weren’t working with an actual customer design,
and were only creating the protective cover for a screen, they used
generic geometry. In fact, Davis notes, when they started cutting
injection tooling for internal development, they weren’t even sure
if they would be making a tablet or a notebook cover, so the cover
was designed to work for either. “There were lots of challenges to
get a composite solution ready for high-volume production,” Davis
adds. “In fact, there was a lot happening simultaneously — tape
development, laminate development and process development —
and we couldn’t wait until all those things were finalized to begin
our tooling, which is how we ended up with that design.” With
basic design complete, the team focused on other details, such as
the best way to gate, what kinds of overlaps were needed between
laminate insert and overmolding compound, how to handle auto-
mated placement inside the tool, how to deal with the coefficient
of (linear) thermal expansion (CLTE or CTE) mismatch between
the two composites and how to create an easily repeatable part.
Meeting challenging requirements
The goal was to develop a 1-millimeter-thick upper cover that
provides high stiffness and passes all performance and aesthetic
requirements — especially the center-point deflection test applied
broadly to laptop covers to evaluate the loads required to damage
the underlying screen. Load/deflection requirements vary by

CompositesWorld.com 53
 FOCUS ON DESIGN

Predictive modeling OEM, device and model, but typically no more

SABIC has developed predictive models to simulate laminate type and architecture (with and without than 3-5 millimeters of deflection are allowed
overmolding compounds) vs. molded part performance and reports that strong correlation between under 40-120 Newtons of pressure — a situation
predictions and experimental results has been achieved. The predictive engineering tools are said to
accelerate material development.
that simulates the loads exerted by a finger or
elbow pressed into the cover as a human user
stands up. In many industries, the strategy for
1.00 passing such tests would be to increase section
Experimental 54.2% Vf / 230 GPa fiber
Experimental 61.9% Vf / 250 GPa fiber thickness, but this market values thinner designs
Experimental 64.3% Vf / 250 GPa fiber that free up space for larger batteries and
Poly. ( 50% Vf / 230 GPa fiber) other components without increasing device
0.90
Normalized deflection (mm/mm)

Poly. (55% Vf / 230 GPa fiber) size or weight. Hence, the team needed to use
Poly. (60% Vf / 230 GPa fiber) a different design strategy to prevent screen
Poly. (65% Vf / 230 GPa fiber}
damage — namely selecting stiffer materials
(via a laminate insert) and using geometry (for
0.80
example, ribbing via injection overmolding).
But, first, they had to specify materials.
One of these materials, polycarbonate (PC),
0.70 is already widely used in this industry for covers
and other components, owing to its excellent
aesthetics and high impact strength. The poly-
mer’s biggest weaknesses are chemical resis-
0.60 tance and surface scratching, but the coating,
Composite layup variations paint or combinations of both applied to most
covers generally overcome these potential
problems.
“Because ultralight computers are so thin,
package space inside is at a real premium, so
deflections and mechanicals become really
critical,” Francato points out. “While you would
want to use glass [reinforcement] from a cost
perspective, we had to use carbon [fiber] to
get the stiffness we needed.” As a result, all
tape-based laminates evaluated were varia-
tions of carbon fiber-reinforced polycarbonate
— grades then under development with SABIC
subsidiary FRT.
The overmolding compound required a
different approach. Initially, the strategy was
to use a longer-fiber LFT compound, but for a
number of reasons — including high aesthetic
requirements, part size and gating strategy
— short-fiber compounds better met project
requirements. Another issue was the type of
fiber to use. “Short-carbon injection compounds
are really difficult to work with and still get high
aesthetics,” continues Francato, “so for our
overmolding material, we looked at short-glass-
reinforced grades.” SABIC subsidiary LNP Engi-
The final product neering Plastics, Inc. (Exton, Pa., U.S.) offers
many glass fiber/PC grades with good aesthetics
Front and back sides of the final laptop/tablet cover, which was produced using a carbon fiber-reinforced
polycarbonate tape-based laminate insert overmolded with short-glass/polycarbonate-copolymer
and stiffness that are popular among device
compound, a combination that met all relevant mechanical and aesthetic requirements in a 1-millimeter OEMs, so the team focused on those.
thick part. While fully amorphous PC is less prone to

54 AUGUST 2019 CompositesWorld


warpage than semi-crystalline polymers, still the team worried
about CLTE differences between the highly reinforced and aniso-
tropic UD carbon fiber tapes and the more isotropic, discontin-
uous short-glass fiber overmolding grades at lower fiber loadings.
“In such thin walls, there’s very little room for error, so the slight
differences in CLT were things we had to carefully consider,”
explains Davis. “And that doesn’t even touch on all the normal
issues you’re concerned with when injection molding, like gate
locations, fill patterns, packing pressures and knitlines. All these
factors were simulated and verified with physical testing.”
Once the materials were chosen, SABIC engineers conducted
multiple iterations of mold filling, structural analysis and warpage
simulation to evaluate laminate layup, geometry and materials
combinations to optimize stiffness for the load/deflection test,
plus other performance
and cost requirements.
The company says it has
Read this article online | developed comprehensive
short.compositesworld.com/CFlaptop
and accurate composites
Read more about SABIC’s
modeling tools (available
thermoplastics technology |
short.compositesworld.com/SABIC_TP to customers and running
Read more about the DCML project | in common structural
short.compositesworld.com/DCML and processing codes)
that can rapidly model
and simulate laminate
architecture, overmolding compound composition and various
processing and tooling options versus as-molded part performance.
These tools are said to achieve strong correlation between predic-
tions and measured performance and are ideal for accelerating
custom materials development.
Ready for prime time
The final demonstrator features a laminate insert produced
from seven layers of developmental UDMAX carbon fiber/PC
tapes (55% fiber volume fraction), then consolidated, trimmed,
preformed and trimmed again to final net-shape, before being
CompositesWorld.com
Composite laptop cover
Testing deflection and distortion
A key criterion for the demonstrator to pass was a challenging and widely used
center-point deflection test applied to laptop covers (left) to evaluate the loads
required to damage (i.e. cause permanent distortion or fracture to) the underlying
display/screen (right).
injection overmolded with 40% fiber-weight fraction THERMO-
COMP D452 short-glass fiber/PC-copolymer (a grade optimized
for high flow and high aesthetics and already widely used in this
segment). The combination produces a cover with high stiffness
and strength at low mass and section thickness while including
numerous 3D design details, attachment features and good
aesthetics, thereby harnessing the best of each material. The cover
reportedly passed all requisite industry tests and currently is being
evaluated by device OEMs.
Work between Airborne and SABIC also has borne fruit for
SABIC’s consumer electronics market goals. The partnership was
announced in 2018, and this year further detail has been provided
about what both companies call their Digital Composites Manu-
facturing Line (DCML), which can produce four net-shape consol-
idated laminate inserts from thermoplastic composite tapes per
minute or 1.5-million laminates per year from a single production
line. The system is said to be flexible (in terms of layup architec-
ture and materials) and fast. Beginning in 2020, Airborne will use
the line to manufacture laminates for commercial use in consumer
electronics, becoming a resource that both companies hope will
greatly increase penetration of thermoplastic composites in this
highly competitive and fast-paced segment.
Contributing writer Peggy Malnati covers the automotive and
infrastructure beats for CW and provides communications
services for plastics- and composites-industry clients.
peggy@compositesworld.com
55
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