Aircraft MROs:
THE COMPLEXITIES OF REPAIR
APRIL 2016
Low-density SMC price competitive with metals at volume/ 26
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Automated system takes aim at demand for CNG/LPG tanks / 38 Tactical antenna more transportable via conductive composites / 52 VOL 2
N-o 4
TABLE OF CONTENTS APRIL 2016
COLUMNS
/ Vol: 2 No –: 4
FEATURES
4 From the Editor
30 Aircraft Composites Repair Moves Toward Maturity
6 Past, Present and Future
New technologies seek to address the challenges maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) organizations will increasingly face as they offer services to air carriers in the age of commercial airliners with composite airframes.
26
8 Perspectives & Provocations 10 Design & Testing 14 Gardner Business Index
By Ginger Gardiner
26 Work In Progress Contributing writer Peggy Malnati covers the breakthrough result of a five-year development project, in which a proprietary sizing, a special glass roving and unique microspheres helped Continental Structural Plastics (Auburn Hills, MI, US) reduce the weight of Chevrolet Corvette exterior body panels by 9 kg.
30
38 Inside Manufacturing: Automated Filament Winding Enables Competitive Composite Cylinders This automated equipment manufacturer's carefully controlled, robust, volume processes offer fabricators of Class IV LPG/CNG tanks a means to meet increasing demand in Europe and Asia. CW got this step-by-step look at a recently installed system. By Ginger Gardiner
38
» DEPARTMENTS 16 Trends 45 Calendar 46 Applications 48 New Products 50 Marketplace 51 Ad Index
46
51 Showcase
» ON THE COVER
Lufthansa Technik’s (Hamburg, Germany) mobile robotic repair system reportedly cuts repair time by 60% while enabling bonded patch repairs previously not possible or simply too time-consuming and expensive to attempt with conventional manual methods. It's one of several new approaches to on-aircraft repair covered in our feature on p. 30.
FOCUS ON DESIGN
52 Large, Portable Antenna Goes Lightweight with Conductive Composites CFRP matches metal performance at one-third the weight thanks to innovative materials and precision manufacturing. By Ginger Gardiner
Source / Lufthansa Technik
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FROM THE EDITOR
» The JEC World show in Paris (March 8-10) is the composites
industry’s largest exhibition but also a conundrum: On one hand, it offers a vast and varied array of composite materials, equipment and technologies that cannot be found at any other single event in the world. On the other hand, that vast and varied array of composite materials, Drinking from the equipment and technologies proverbial firehose. is increasingly challenging to sift through. Walking, indeed, running the aisles of the show, there is no shortage of intriguing composite parts prominently displayed, ranging from the easily identifiable to the difficult to discern. As editors and reporters, my staff and I arrive at such exhibits tasked with separating the real from the conceptual in an effort to help you (the reader) understand where and how the composites industry is evolving. So, questions are asked: Is the part new? What is the application? Is it a demonstrator? Is it in production? How was it designed? What is the fiber type? What is the resin type? What other materials were involved? What is the tooling? What is the process? How was it finished? What is the cycle time? Who is the customer? What end markets is it targeted toward? Repeat at every stop in the buffet of new products and technologies and we’re soon drinking from the proverbial firehose. After you do this for three days, however, some themes emerge — markers of innovation and creativity. You’ll find in the May issue, next month, highlights of what we discovered at JEC, including a review of the most notable new products. Until then, however, here’s my 30-second JEC elevator speech. Multi-material automotive: JEC seemed to confirm the scuttlebutt we’ve been hearing for months regarding composites use in automotive — automakers are increasingly material-agnostic and eyeing multiple material types for future cars and trucks. Exhibit A in this category is the body-in-white structure for the BMW 7-Series, which was on the SGL Group (Wiesbaden, Germany) stand at JEC and the object of much poking and prodding by show-goers. Unlike BMW’s highly composites-intensive i3 and i8, the 7-Series features a mix of aluminum, steel and carbon fiber.
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APRIL 2016
The latter is used selectively to meet specific mechanical requirements. Expect more of this in the next few years. Thermoplastic composites: There seems to be no end to the tinkering being done with thermoplastic materials, for automotive and aerospace applications. Topping the list is Teijin (Tokyo, Japan), which finally raised the curtain on its Sereebo molding process for primary automotive structures. It combines nylon 6 with a carbon fiber mat in a compression molding process. CW also got wind of an all-thermoplastic, in-situ-cured aircraft wing under development, which we’ll dive into later this year. Getting a lot of attention was a Boikon (Leek, The Netherlands) tape layer, developed with Fokker Aerostructures (Hoogeveen, The Netherlands), depositing thermoplastic tapes and tacking them in-situ with ultrasonic welding. The Boeing 757X: Now that Boeing, Airbus and the composites industry have begun the decades-long task of digesting the 787 and A350 XWB aircraft, the aerospace supply chain is looking ahead to the Next Big Programs. Redesigns of the 737 and A320 appear to be at least 10 years away, but Boeing could decide relatively soon to redesign the single-aisle 757, mainly to compete with the longrange version of the A321neo. A 757X would, conceivably, include composite wings and possibly a composite fuselage like the 787’s. M&A: I am ill-equipped to speculate credibly about who will gobble up whom in the next few years, but I do know that the composites industry on the whole is highly fragmented and ripe for consolidation. Further, Solvay’s recent acquisition of Cytec has raised many eyebrows inside and outside the industry. Thus, it’s not hard to imagine that CEOs and presidents of other very large chemical companies might be looking at the composites industry supply chain and wondering if there is a technology or material to buy up that might be a good fit. My advice: Be willing to be surprised. Au revoir.
JEFF SLOAN — Editor-In- Chief
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COMPOSITES: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
The composites super cycle — are we still living the dream? » For many advanced economies, 2015 was a landmark year. GDP
finally recovered to levels greater than pre-crash for many major composites economies, including the US, UK, Germany, Japan, Italy and France. The consensus is that the world’s economic recovery, whilst not 100% secured, is heading in the right direction. Many in the composites industry will recall the times before the financial crisis of 2008. A standout memory for me was attending the 2007 CompositesWorld Investor Conference in New York, where industry sages, among them, Paul Pendorf from AMT II Corp. (Ft. Myers, FL, US) and Miki Dan from McGladry The super cycle’s foundCapital Markets LLC ations were to be built (Costa Mesa, CA, US) on an increasing use of painted a picture of an composites in aircraft. industry with unprecedented growth opportunities, driven foremost by a need to make aircraft and cars more fuel efficient. Other factors were wind turbine blade construction, which was on the apparent cusp of turning all-carbon. New opportunities, such as CNG fuel tanks and composite cores for electrical transmission lines, were at the vanguard of a new consumption dynamic for composites, and especially high-value carbon fiber materials. At the conference, Merrill Lynch presented an analysis of the future of composites companies involved in the aerospace industry that was very positive. Indeed, that forecast was my first introduction to the term super cycle, used to describe a perennially sunny outlook for the world’s advanced composite market over a sustained period of many years, insulated from the usual economic turbulence by highly positive economic and market conditions. The super cycle’s foundations were to be built on an increasing use of composites in aircraft, which, in turn, were forecast to be built in increasingly greater numbers. The peak in growth was to coincide with the forecast introduction of redesigned narrowbody Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft families with 50% composite content. This was to follow an already growing market, driven by new composites-intensive widebody models (the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 XWB), plus increased composites penetration into aeroengines, private jets, helicopters and more. The predicted peak of the super cycle was expected in 2016! Prior to 2007, in the context of a predicted sustained boom in the use of composite materials, the share prices of the variety of companies involved in the composites supply chain looked like good value for the money. We were told that anyone taking a longterm view and investing in shares of publicly listed companies, such as Hexcel, Toray, Zoltek and Owens Corning, for example, 6
APRIL 2016
would make considerable gains. And, in fact, had they held on to those shares until 2015, they would have made a nice return. Merrill Lynch, however, did not emerge unscathed from the credit crunch: It was taken over by the Bank of America, which, in turn, was bailed out by the US government. No super cycle for them. But it is interesting to reflect on the predictions of that 2007 conference and what actually came to pass. Generally, the predictions were accurate for CNG tanks and other pressure vessels, and largely correct for the aerospace market. They were too optimistic, however, for the wind energy market and, in my view, too pessimistic for the automotive industry. In aerospace, aircraft building has, indeed, accelerated — dramatically more so than anticipated. Boeing and Airbus have introduced updated versions of their narrowbody ranges, in the 737 MAX and A320neo, with higher composites content. However, the introduction of the much-anticipated redesigned narrowbodies — the landmark opportunity for composites in the medium term — is now expected to come much later, in the 2030s or beyond. Further, the percentage of composites this represents is at issue. Although the wings are certain to be of composite construction, the practicality and feasibility of composite fuselages on narrowbodies is currently in dispute. It remains to be seen if Bombardier’s CSeries and Mitsubishi’s MRJ regional jets will influence the market dynamics. At the moment, all evidence points against this, but there could be a dramatic change should these composites-intensive models get some traction. In general, I am very positive about our industry’s prospects. We face some short-term challenges, as low oil prices take the pressure off those charged with finding immediate weight-saving solutions. But I believe the trend is toward wider adoption of composite structures when oil prices are low, because relatively lower cost composite materials (both fiber and resin are petroleum-based) stimulate greater adoption rates. Automakers will have a huge influence in this respect, because they need to reduce weight in order to curb emissions, the limits of which have been governmentmandated. This will surely usher in a new adoption dynamic, which will give overall impetus to our industry.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR James Austin is CEO of North Thin Ply Technology (PenthalazCossonay, Switzerland), a manufacturer of lightweight prepreg materials. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the composites and advanced materials industries, having held a variety of senior management positions in both multinationals and SMEs. In previous roles, he served as an associate at strategic growth consultancy Future Materials Group (Cambridge, UK), a founding partner of STRUCTeam Ltd. (Cowes, UK), chief operating officer at Gurit AG (Zullwil, Switzerland) and handled aerospace sales for Hexcel (Stamford, CT, US).
CompositesWorld
PERSPECTIVES & PROVOCATIONS
Can we make recycled carbon fiber “sexy?” » I happened to catch a television commercial a couple days
before writing this column that caused me both to laugh and to appreciate the advanced composites industry. The product was a spray-painting kit that enables the user to give a “woven carbon fiber look” to vehicle components, such as aluminum wheels and plastic mirror housings. First, one shade of black paint is applied and dried, then a template with square holes is placed over the top, and a slightly different shade of black paint is applied to yield the woven pattern. The result is sprayed with a clearcoat to give it depth and achieve the “look.” We have methods to create At a 2003 Society of Plastic Engineers useful product forms from conference, I gave a recovered fiber, but the presentation on what demand is not there. was then rapid commercialization of carbon fiber in sports cars, driven partly by performance and partly because it had “sex appeal” because of its high-tech nature. At that time, especially in California, the tuner market had gained momentum, and many cars sported hoods made of chopped fiberglass with a single ply of clearcoated carbon fiber fabric. Not much weight was saved, but it sure looked like it would go fast. This desire extended into consumer goods, as exemplified in a story I wrote for CW predecessor Composites Technology about carbon fiber skateboards, home telescopes, knife handles, camera tripods and guitars. The look was as important as any performance benefits. These early applications spawned a parallel industry around carbon-patterned decals, laminates and black-colored fabrics, all designed to mimic the characteristic weave at much lower cost. As I walked the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this past January, there was still plenty of clearcoated carbon fiber on “eye candy” display. Most of it was truly carbon fiber. In many cases, it was purely cosmetic, in mirror housings, instrument panel and console inlays and engine covers. But a fair bit was structural, used in spoilers, splitters and roof panels as well as wheels. In these structural cases, the parts could have been made more cost-effectively, using lower-cost UD tapes or nonwoven multiaxial fabrics, and then painted in body color. But no doubt, the marketers at the OEMs insisted on the clearcoat look to make sure that the customers knew those parts were carbon fiber. Then I stumbled upon something I didn’t expect to see: the latest edition of the BMW i8 electric hybrid with a roof panel of clearcoated recycled carbon fiber mat, fully exposed in a highly visible location. While I’m not sure if the recycled material was more than skin deep, the logic was not lost on me, especially from 8
ARRIL 2016
a marketing standpoint. Let’s see: electric vehicle = green; lightweight structure = green; recycling = green; a perfect combination! Seems to be a great angle from a marketing standpoint. It’s no secret within the industry that BMW is generating a lot of carbon fiber offal from the current processes used to fabricate the structures of the i3 and i8 vehicles. We also know that they, and others, are working hard to find ways to incorporate that waste material back into functional vehicle parts. As an industry, we generate much more scrap fiber, fabric and prepreg than we can find homes for. We have developed methods to create useful product forms from recovered fiber, but the demand is not there. Obviously, we need to continue working on how to generate less scrap and offal in our manufacturing processes. This has clear cost, energy and environmental benefits. The aerospace industry has made great strides in this area with automated tape layup (ATL) and automated fiber placement (AFP) technologies, but these processes are very slow and expensive, today, for smaller, complex-shaped parts like those used in automobiles. There is much work going on, but we are probably a couple years away from using ATL/AFP technology at mass-production scale to meet automotive rate, reproducibility and cost targets. So how can we make recycled carbon fiber “sexy” and drive demand across multiple markets? I’ve heard lots of resistance about “material pedigree” and not having material property data for design of structural parts using recycled carbon fibers. Can we use recovered fibers in injection molding compounds for electronics and other parts? Could clearcoated mats appeal to consumers in furniture, musical instruments and other products, if marketed properly? How about as a replacement for fabrics used in aircraft interior panels? I, for one, would find a clearcoated carbon mat attractive on an aircraft luggage-bin door. It seems there’s a great opportunity for recycled carbon fiber, ripe for some ambitious entrepreneurs to make an impact and solve a growing problem.
Dale Brosius is the chief commercialization officer for the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI, Knoxville, TN, US), a US Department of Energy (DoE)sponsored public/private partnership targeting high-volume applications of composites in energy-related industries. He is also head of his own consulting company and 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.
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DESIGN & TESTING
Notched testing of composites » Notched testing refers to the uniaxial testing of a composite
laminate with a small circular hole, under either tension or compression loading. These are commonly referred to as openhole tests or, when a fastener is inserted into the hole, filled-hole tests. Open-hole test methods were developed in the early 1980s to compare toughness increases in new composite materials. The machined circular hole represented idealized impact damage or a manufacturing defect, enabling meaningful toughness comparisons between different materials. The notched test methods that emerged and later were standardized by ASTM1-3 all use a 36-mm wide specimen with a centered, 6-mm diameter hole, producing a width-to-diameter (w/D) ratio of 6:1. For purposes of material comparison, notched testing is typically performed using a quasiisotropic composite laminate, consisting of equal numbers of 0°, 45°, -45° and 90° plies. Beyond toughness comparisons, notched testing of composites serves additional important purposes today. In the aerospace industry, notched testing is used in the design of composite structures to determine the reductions in ultimate strain and strength allowables due to the presence of holes. In contrast to metals, for which stress concentrations and strength reductions due to holes are relatively simple to calculate, composites present a much greater challenge. For starters, the directionally dependent stiffness properties of composite laminates significantly increase the complexity of stress concentration calculations. Additionally, the damage states produced around holes in composite laminates are significantly more complex than the yielding produced around holes in metallic structures. These damage states also are dependent on the composite material, the laminate, the ply-stacking sequence and the loading direction (tension or compression). Given these complications, the strength reductions that will result are extremely difficult to predict, even using current state-of-theart finite element analysis (FEA) methods. Therefore, notched testing continues to be used to experimentally determine these strength reductions. In fact, open-hole tension and compression tests are commonly used to calibrate progressive damage model parameters for use in subsequent FEA of composite structures. Open-hole testing is favored, due to the stable and detectable damage progression produced in the region of the hole as well as the ability to produce different damage progressions and strength reductions using the same composite material by changing the laminate or ply stacking sequence. Similarly, filled-hole testing is used to determine the strain and strength reductions produced by a fastener-filled hole under tension or compression loading. Of the two loading types, compression loading is the most commonly performed, because the fastener can transmit the compression load across the hole and, therefore, significantly affect the resulting strength.
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a) Open-hole tension specimen.
b) Filled-hole compression specimen. Fig. 1
Example specimen failures produced in notched testing.
Source | Dan Adams
Fig. 2
Test fixture and specimens for open- and filled-hole compression testing. Source | Dan Adams
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DESIGN & TESTING
Additionally, because laminate failure is a possible failure mode surfaces of the support fixture. This loading option, however, for bolted composite joints, filled-hole testing is often performed requires tighter tolerances for the flatness and parallelism of the using the specific composite laminate, fastener type, hole specimen ends as well as the use of additional fixture bolts in the diameter tolerance and fastener torque that will be used in the gripping area to provide greater clamping force and minimize application of interest. specimen end-brooming. Further, as a safety precaution, some The ASTM standard for open-hole tension testing, ASTM D type of lateral constraint should be provided so that the fixture 57661, specifies the use of 200- to 300-mm long does not slip out from between the flat and 2- to 4-mm thick specimens. Although a platens during compression loading. Open-hole test methods [±45/0/90]ns quasi-isotropic laminate is speciFinally, for filled-hole tension and fied as the baseline laminate for making compression testing, ASTM standard were developed in the material comparisons, other laminates practice D 67423 provides supplemental early 1980s to compare information for including a close-tolerance of interest also may be tested. Due to toughness increases in fastener in the specimen hole (see Fig. 1b, the strength reduction produced in the new composite materials. p. 10). Although important parameters, such notched region of the test specimen, as the fastener hole tolerance, installation bonded end tabs are not required for method and torque level are not specified, the practice requires gripping. However, the only acceptable failure mode is one that that these parameters be reported. Both protruding and counpasses through the hole (like that, for example shown in Fig. 1a, tersunk (flush) head fasteners are commonly used. Note that the on p. 10). The use of extensometers or strain gages to measure use of fastener-filled holes requires no changes in the test procethe strain in the specimen during loading is optional. Following dures for either tension or compression loading nor any alteratesting, the open-hole tension strength is calculated based on tion of the support fixture used for compression loading. However, the gross cross-sectional area of the specimen (overall specimen the inclusion of a close-tolerance fastener can significantly alter width times specimen thickness), disregarding the reduced area the resulting notched strengths. Filled-hole tension strengths produced by the hole. can be either higher or lower than corresponding open-hole For open-hole compression testing, ASTM D 64842 specifies the use of 300 mm long and 3- to 5-mm thick specimens. Similar to tension strengths, depending on the composite material used, the open-hole tension testing, a [±45/0/90]ns quasi-isotropic baseline laminate tested, the fastener torque applied and the clearance laminate is specified. To prevent buckling during loading, a between the hole and fastener. In contrast, filled-hole compressupport fixture is bolted to the specimen along its entire length sion strengths are almost always higher than the corresponding (see Fig. 2, p. 10). Staggered, V-shaped gaps are employed to open-hole tension strengths, with the amount of strength increase separate the two ends of the support fixture, and guide plates dependent on the same factors as for filled-hole tension, espemaintain assembly alignment. The fixture incorporates a 25-mmcially the clearance between the hole and fastener. long cutout at the location of the specimen hole to eliminate any REFERENCES possible constraints that might affect damage formation or propa1 ASTM D 5766-11, “Open-Hole Tensile Strength of Polymer Matrix Composite Laminates,” ASTM gation. Additionally, the optional use of an edge-mounted extenInternational (W. Conshohocken, PA, US), 2011 (first issued in 1995). 2 ASTM D 6484-14, “Open-Hole Compressive Strength of Polymer Matrix Composite Laminates,” someter is permitted, using semi-circular cutouts machined along ASTM International (W. Conshohocken, PA, US), 2014 (first issued in 1999). 3 the edges of the support fixture. ASTM D 6742-12, “Standard Practice for Filled-Hole Tension and Compression Testing of Polymer Matrix Composite Laminates,” ASTM International (W. Conshohocken, PA, US), 2012 There are two possible methods for loading the support fixture/ (first issued in 2001). specimen assembly. In one, the assembled fixture may be loaded into hydraulic wedge grips and clamped. Sufficient grip pressure, however, must be applied to prevent slippage between the support fixture and the specimen faces during compression loading. For this reason, the gripping surfaces of the fixture are typically coated ABOUT THE AUTHOR with tungsten carbide particles to enhance the frictional force and, thus, permit higher shear load transfer into the specimen. Dr. Daniel O. Adams is a professor of mechanical engineering Nevertheless, relatively large, hydraulic wedge grips (typically 250 and has been the director for 19 years of the Composite kN capacity or greater) are required to grip the 76-mm wide and Mechanics Laboratory at the University of Utah and vice president of Wyoming Test Fixtures Inc. (Salt Lake City, UT, 33- to 36-mm thick assembled fixture. Therefore, another loading US). He holds a BS in mechanical engineering and an MS and method has been provided: The assembled fixture can be placed Ph.D in engineering mechanics. Adams has a combined 36 years of academic/ between flat compression platens and then end-loaded. When industry experience in the composite materials field. He has published more than 120 technical papers, presents seminars and chairs both the Research and this method is employed, a portion of the compressive load is Mechanics Divisions of ASTM Committee D30 on Composite Materials and the introduced directly into the specimen ends while the remainder Testing Committee of the Composite Materials Handbook (CMH-17). He regularly is transferred into the specimen via shear through the gripping provides testing seminars and consulting services to the composites industry. 12
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GARDNER BUSINESS INDEX: COMPOSITES
February 2016 — 50.8 New orders, production and future business expectations go up as small- and medium-sized fabricators see welcome expansion.
» With a reading of 50.8, the Gardner Business Index for February of this year showed that the US composites industry had expanded for the first time since June 2015. The index jumped substantially from its level of 43.4 in January. Also, the index reached its highest level since March 2015. New orders and production increased for the first time since June. Although both subindices increased a similar amount in February, new orders generally had increased more than production in the recently preceding months. As a result of those increases, the backlog subindex expanded for the first time since December 2014 and reached its highest level since May 2014, increasing to 52.5 in February from 37.1 the previous month. The rate of contraction in February, therefore, had slowed somewhat
A GBI reading of >50.0 indicates expansion; values <50.0 indicate contraction. 60 FEBRUARY GBI 50.8
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since August. The employment index increased for the second time in four months. Exports continued to contract because of the strength of the US dollar. However, the rate of contraction has slowed somewhat in recent months. Supplier deliveries lengthened for the second month in a row. Materials prices increased for the first time since November 2015. But, that subindex remained, in February, at a historically low level. Prices received decreased for the fifth month in a row, but the rate of decrease was notably slower in February. The future business expectations subindex improved significantly from January but still appeared to be in a downward trend that had begun in early 2015. Composites manufacturing plants of all sizes except those with more than 250 employees expanded during February. The largest plants (250+ employees), however, contracted for a third month in a row. Plants with 100-249 employees expanded for the fourth time in five months, although the rate of expansion slowed in both January and February. Companies with 20-49 and 50-99 employees both grew in February for the first time since June 2015. Composites fabricators with fewer than 20 employees grew for the first time since February 2015. After contracting the previous two months, the aerospace composites sector expanded once again in February. It had expanded, by month’s end, for three of the preceding five months. Although the aerospace industry has performed well for composites fabricators recently, the general aerospace index, in February, had contracted five of the past six months. For composite fabricators that serve automakers, the index, by the end of February, had contracted four months in a row. This mirrored the overall trend for the automotive industry. Future capital spending plans remained relatively weak. They were about 33% below their historical average. And, compared with one year ago, spending plans in February were down 44.1%. That was the second fastest rate of contraction since July 2015.
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Steve Kline, Jr. is the director of market intelligence for Gardner Business Media Inc. (Cincinnati, OH, US), the publisher of CompositesWorld magazine. He began his career as a writing editor for another of the company’s magazines before moving into his current role. Kline holds a BS in civil engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the University of Cincinnati. skline2@gardnerweb.com
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TRENDS Truck trailer builder proactively adopts composites, compression press builders pre-arm prospective buyers, and aeroengine builder prepares to expand production. AUTOMOTIVE
Revolution, not evolution: Truck manufacturer driven to disruptive composites technology It’s rare to hear that a manufacturer has adopted a technology that turns its business inside out. Rarer still is a metals-centric company that commits to composites. “We basically made the choice to disrupt ourselves,” asserts Brent Yeagy, senior VP and group president for Commercial Trailer Products at Wabash National Corp. (Lafayette, IN, US). “We challenged the status quo and created a composite technology solution that provides better performance and is cost-competitive with our traditional metal designs.” A highly successful, diversified industrial manufacturer, Wabash National reported revenue of more than US$2 billion in 2015. Yet, over the past three years, the company has used its 100+ years of design engineering experience and the help of outside composite experts, to develop a flexible and tailorable technology that uses low-cost composite materials for its trailer and truck body products. Why? “Looking at the trucking landscape 10 to 20 years from now, we knew we had to push through performance barriers and improve our designs in order to have viable products for our future growth,” says Yeagy. It was a decision not taken lightly, he explains. “Our customers’ business models depend on being able to buy reliable, maintainable, understandable and repairable truck body and trailer products that can handle their needs and meet all regulatory requirements. That is a big barrier to adoption.” Moreover, nearly every trailer or truck body built by Wabash is a custom product. “The composite solution had to be tailorable for our customers’ needs, without incurring significant incremental costs.” Robert Lane, director of product and business development for Commercial Trailer Products, says that if a customer requests a heavier-thantypical trailer floor, for example, it will mean adding composite material and building up the floor to meet that specific requirement, yet staying within the common composite design parameters. Having numerous composite trailer designs wouldn’t work, because it would introduce too much complexity into the design process, the supply chain and manufacturing process. Wabash sought to make designfor-manufacture as straightforward as possible. Although design specifics are proprietary, Lane says that the composites, including fabrics, preforms and resin, were developed based on modeling of multiple, complex load cases, using ANSYS Inc. (Canonsburg, PA, US) finite element 16
APRIL 2016
Source | Wabash National Corp.
analysis (FEA) software in conjunction with extensive physical testing at the company’s in-house laboratory. FEA considered fork truck loads, freight loads and the forces induced by highway speeds and maneuvering: “We knew what to test, based on our many years of experience and understanding of trailer design,” says Lane. “We knew if the composites could hold up under the most extreme load cases, the design would work.” The technology also incorporates the CoCure Strain Tunable resin concept, developed with Structural Composites Inc. (Melbourne, FL, US), where small amounts of tough urethane resin are mixed into a low-cost commodity resin in certain areas of the composite structure to impart greater strength and toughness, while keeping overall resin costs low. “For example, one of the design requirements is to be fork truck-damage resistant, so the composite design is equal to or even better than our metal design in terms of damage tolerance,” says Lane, “and we have a repair methodology.” “These new trailers and truck bodies will require our entire value chain to change and adapt to this new product,” Yeagy sums up. “These are difficult changes to make, but to remain the largest and most innovative manufacturer in our industry, we have to be willing to go down this path.” The company’s design was a recent candidate for a 2015 CAMX award | short.compositesworld.com/CAMXredux
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Molding with compression? Choose wisely, you must
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In the composites industry, compression molding is among the apparently simplest processes available for fabrication: Insert material, close mold, add pressure, add heat, wait, cool mold, open mold, Source | Greenerd Press & Machine Co. remove part. Repeat. On top of that, compression molding minimizes touch labor and offers high repeatability, if done right. For that reason, this process has become highly attractive for parts ranging from aircraft fuselage clips to automotive panels. However, those in the market for a compression molding machine — either to replace an aging machine or to add new capability — must be prepared to answer serious
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TRENDS
(continued from p. 17) questions about the material and application for which it will be molded. That advice comes from Greenerd Press & Machine Co.’s (Nashua, NH, US) applications manager Tom Lavoie and design engineer Tim Wilson, who provided CW the following perspective on current compression molding technology. First, says Lavoie, know your application: “Delve into the process you’re engaging in. Visit people already doing it to understand the process and challenges. If you understand what you need to achieve, then we can give you the ability to do the job.” Application specifics that impact compression process choices include resin type, fiber type, part size, part complexity, pressure requirements, heating requirements, cooling requirements, heating/ cooling rate requirements, tolerance requirements, mold bed size, mold clamping technology, daylight requirements, stroke requirements, clamp closing/opening speed requirements and dwell time. Just to name a few. All of these data are required because compression molding technology has become so sophisticated that a machine can be tailored to meet the needs of a specific application. Wilson notes, for example, that a dwell time of just a few minutes dictates use of one type of hydraulic circuitry, while a dwell time of several hours dictates hydraulic circuitry of another type entirely. A press that will produce long runs of a single type of part might need fairly simple control circuitry. If the press will be
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Press-BuyingNEWS Tips
used for a lot of development work, however, its control package will necessarily be more complex to offer greater flexibility. In fact, nowhere has compression technology advanced so much as in the control systems. Wilson says contemporary controls provide substantially better feedback than ever, with closed loop technology now standard on clamp pressure, proportional relief valves, linear position, and temperature. The result? Nearly instant feedback on machine and process performance. “With the feedback we can offer today,” says Lavoie, “we know what the press is doing and can tell very quickly if a part is not ‘to spec.’ In many cases, the machine will know before you do.” Other benefits of improved control systems include more accurate temperature ramping (up and down), finer motor control, faster stroke sequences and greater positional accuracy. Finally, says Lavoie, molders must be prepared to talk realistically about what they need. Some customers, he says, want ±1°F temperature control across the platen, or expect ±0.0001-inch press frame deflection. “Those specs would be very expensive,” he says, “and almost always unnecessary. .... We do a good job helping customers determine their true needs to ensure they receive the optimal press design at the right investment to achieve their operational requirements.”
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AEROSPACE
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LEAP aeroengine backlog spurs composites production expansion Any remaining doubts about the significance of CFM International’s (West Chester, OH, US) composites-intensive LEAP engine, specified for the Airbus A320neo and the Boeing 737 MAX, were dispelled by two announcements that signaled just how massive this program is and will be. On Feb. 8, CFM reported that it booked orders for 1,418 LEAP engines in 2015 (including spares) and that the LEAP engine has now surpassed 10,000 total engine orders and commitments (excluding options) at a value of US$140 billion, at list price. This year, the LEAP will start its transition to full production, with more than 140 units in the plan. The company expects to complete the transition by 2020, with an annual production rate thereafter of more than 2,000 engines. On Feb. 12, Safran announced that it will build a third composites fabrication plant in conjunction with Albany Engineered Composites (Manchester, NH, US), this time in Mexico, to meet demand for carbon fiber composite fan blades and fan case parts on the LEAP engine. The new plant will be built along the same lines as two existing Safran/Albany plants, in Rochester, NH and Commercy, France, commissioned in March and November 2014,
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LEAP Composites Expansion NEWS
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respectively. Parts produced at the Mexico plant are intended for the American market, on the exclusively LEAP-powered Boeing 737 MAX, while the Commercy plant will primarily make parts for engines powering Airbus jetliners, mainly in Europe. Production will start by the end of 2017. Production volumes will rise sharply the following year, reaching an annual rate of more than 20,000 blades in 2021. For details how the fan blades and cases are made, visit short.compositesworld.com/Albany3D.
Finally, there’s a fire retardant, low smoke/low smoke toxicity phenolic FRP that’s processed as easily as polyester. It’s called Cellobond® FRP and it’s processed from phenolic resins available in a wide range of viscosities for: • Hand lay-up/spray-up* • RTM • Filament winding* • Vacuum Infusion • Press molding • Pultrusion *FM approved Gel coated Cellobond® Phenolic FRP, using Cellobond® phenolic resin far exceeds DOT and FAA requirements and meets all stringent European fire performance tests with ease. The low density, high temperature resistance, low flame and low smoke / smoke toxicity make Cellobond® phenolic resin the hottest new material for fire retardant applications. For the aircraft and aerospace industries that require ablative materials, we also offer Durite® phenolic resin from Hexion Inc. Call or write today for more information.
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CW News & Views Online NEWS
MONTH IN REVIEW Notes on newsworthy events recently covered on the CW Web site. For more information about an item, key its link into your browser. Up-to-the-minute news | www.compositesworld.com/news/list Huntsman, Chimiche Forestali develop composite for leather goods industry The material, called TINTORETTO, features a durable layer of TPU and is designed to improve the structural integrity of high-end designer handbags and belts. 03/17/16 | short.compositesworld.com/TINTORETTO
Rolls-Royce extends contract with FACC for aeroengine composites Production confirmed to 2025 for composite fan case linings, sound-absorbing fairings, nose spinners and bypass ducts. 03/07/16 | short.compositesworld.com/RoyceFACC
Toho Tenax launches new thermoplastic textile prepreg It can be used in a rapid heat/cool press-molding technology (a parallel development) that can produce CFRTP parts in a 4-minute cycle time. 03/07/16 | short.compositesworld.com/TPWF
North Thin Ply Technology unveils expansion plans It will relocate its headquarters and R&D activities to a new site in Lausanne, Switzerland; relocate its main production plant in Poland; and expand distribution. 03/07/16 | short.compositesworld.com/NTPTplans
Columbia Power receives DNV GL certification for wave energy convertor The StingRAY system, built with composites, is intended to be deployed in water depths of more than 60m and positioned in arrays formed of multiple devices. 03/07/16 | short.compositesworld.com/ColPower
Composites Technology Center and Plataine partner on “Factory of the Future” Goal is to develop series production technologies for composite aircraft components for using Industrial IoT (Internet of Things) and cloud computing. 03/07/16 | short.compositesworld.com/CTC-FofF
RMX subsidiary 4M and Litzler to commercialize plasma oxidation oven The oven type reportedly operates more than three times faster than current commercial technology and uses less than 25% of the energy per kg of fiber. 03/07/16 | short.compositesworld.com/PlasmaOven
Cimarron Composites granted DOT certification for pressure vessels The US Department of Transportation-certified Type 4 (polymer-lined) vessel for the containment of 4,000-psi natural gas is also capable for hydrogen transport. 03/01/16 | short.compositesworld.com/Cimarron
Solvay, Boeing extend aircraft composites contract to 2020 This extended contract includes delivering on specific supplier initiatives, as well as long-term growth opportunities with current and future qualified Solvay products. 03/07/16 | short.compositesworld.com/SB-ct-2020
DuPont to co-locate research activities at RWTH Aachen University Situated on the RWTH Aachen University campus, DuPont Performance Materials says its technicians will have better access to the work of AZL research partners. 03/01/16 | short.compositesworld.com/DuPontRWTH
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Albany to Acquire Harris SaltNEWS Lake
AEROSPACE
Albany to acquire Harris aerodivision Albany International Corp. (Rochester, NH, US) has agreed to acquire Harris Corp.’s (Melbourne, FL, US) composite aerostructures division located in Salt Lake City UT, US) for US$210 million. Harris had previously acquired the Salt Lake operations through its 2015 buyout of McLean, VA, US-based Exelis Inc. A leading supplier of advanced composite products primarily for airframe applications, the division has significant positions on Lockheed Martin’s F-35, Boeing’s 787, and Sikorsky’s CH-53K helicopter. It also supplies vacuum waste tanks for most of Boeing’s 7-Series aircraft, and airframe components for a Lockheed Martin family of air-to-surface missiles; and it has small positions on the airframes of the Airbus A350 and 380, and on GEnx engines. Albany’s earnings are expected to go up slightly at the acquisition’s completion (by mid-2016) and rise sharply through early 2020s with the anticipated ramp-ups of the F-35, 787 and CH-53K programs.
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CORRECTIONS In a May 2015 CW Trends article titled “Trends in automation: ATL and AFP technologies increase speed, flexibility,” it was noted that Ingersoll Machine Tools Inc. (Rockford, IL, US) had called attention to its work with The Robert E. McNair Center for Aerospace Innovation and Research at the University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC, US). The correct designation is “Ronald E. McNAIR.” Also, in the CW February issue’s Out-of-Autoclave Supplement, on p. 10, in “Resin transfer molding: An update,” we stated that the resin transfer molding (RTM) process was not used for aerospace composites until the 1980s. However, an alert reader tells us the radome of the Concorde commercial passenger jet was developed via RTM by the British Aircraft Corp. in the 1960s. CW has corrected the omission | short.compositesworld.com/RTM-Update.
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WORK IN PROGRESS
Low-density SMC: Five-year R&D payoff Judges at two recent industry events agreed that Continental Structural Plastics’ (Auburn Hills, MI, US) TCA Ultra Lite sheet SMC, used to mold, for example, this very complex, one-piece Corvette right-front fender, is a winner. The CAMX 2015 steering committee gave it the Unsurpassed Innovation award during its October conference in Dallas, TX, US, and a month later, it topped the SPE Automotive Division’s Materials category and was the Grand Award winner at the 45th SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Gala in the Detroit suburbs. Source | SPE Automotive Div.
Low-density SMC: Better living through chemistry Proprietary sizing, special glass roving and microspheres strip 9 kilos of weight from Corvette body panels. By Peggy Malnati / Contributing Writer
» A new, low-density sheet molding compound (SMC), formu-
lated and molded by Continental Structural Plastics (CSP, Auburn Hills, MI, US), is responsible for reducing mass by 9 kg on body panels for 2016 model year Chevrolet Corvette sports cars from General Motors Co. (GM, Detroit, MI, US). CSP calls the new material TCA (tough Class A) Ultra Lite. At a specific gravity (SG) of 1.2, it offers a 28% mass reduction vs. CSP’s mid-density TCA Lite (1.6 SG) grades, and a 43% reduction vs. conventional 1.9 SG grades of SMC. More importantly, TCA Ultra Lite not only offers mechanical performance comparable to TCA Lite (both feature a matrix of unsaturated polyester from AOC LLC, Collierville, TN, US), but also reportedly bonds more effectively to paint and adhesive. Although this first commercial use of TCA Ultra Lite is on painted Class A body panels, the company says it’s equally appropriate for fabrication of structural parts. TCA Ultra Lite was introduced as a running change in the summer of 2015 to replace TCA Lite on all Corvette exterior body
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panels except the hood and roof, which are molded in carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy by another supplier. Notably, neither tooling, process adjustments nor part thickness changes were necessary during the material transition. “One day we were running TCA Lite, and the next day we were running TCA Ultra Lite,” explains Dr. Probir Guha, CSP’s VP, advanced R&D, “and there were no other changes.”
Aluminum is the real competition Although the transition reportedly occurred without hiccups, the technology that made that smooth transition possible was five years in the making. Guha credits Frank Macher, who became CSP chairman in October 2010 and CEO in February 2011, with making TCA Ultra Lite’s invention possible. “When he came on board, Frank said, ‘Stop everything and focus on R&D. Our competitor isn’t another composite, it’s aluminum,’” recalls Guha. “True to his word, he gave us the
CompositesWorld
Low-density SMC NEWS
resources to dig deeper into the chemistry so we could understand what was going on at the molecular level.” SMC already offered a host of benefits vs. steel and aluminum. It’s typically 40% lighter than metals in specification-comparable geometries. It also provides better low- and high-speed impact performance (energy management), so it brings safety benefits to vehicle occupants. Although it won’t rust or corrode and doesn’t need such treatment, it has the thermal and chemical resistance to survive the automotive electrophoretic (e-coat) deposition process used as a rust preventative on metallic chassis components. Hence, SMC parts can be attached to the body-in-white (the preferred assembly method) and don’t require special post e-coat assembly. Microscopic Far greater design flexibility is differences another SMC advantage (especially make for major improvements vs. aluminum), and that’s a real boon to automakers who favor the use CSP’s patented sizing chemistry for the hollow glass of surfaces with compound curves, microspheres that replace a which are either difficult and costly portion of the SMC’s standard or impossible to duplicate in metals, CaCO3 mineral filler was the owing to the deep draw. Parts-consolkey to achieving performance idation opportunities and insert improvements at lower density. At top, a scanning molding enable previously multiple electron micrograph shot subcomponents to be molded as with the microscope shown at a single complex composite part, the bottom of the page shows reducing the number of tools (dies) a microsphere (in a slice of and post-mold assembly operations conventional SMC sectioned from a molded part) treated necessary to make the same part with a standard sizing. Very from metal. Even better, because it’s little resin matrix is attached molded on compression presses, SMC to the microsphere, indicative offers this styling freedom at lower of a poor interfacial bond tooling costs than metals at both low between polymer and glass. By contrast, the middle image and moderate production volumes shows a microsphere from (typically 50-70% tooling cost savings a sectioned part that was vs. steel or aluminum at build volumes treated with the new sizing. of less than 150,000 per year). HistoriIt is completely covered with cally, at higher volumes, the greater resin matrix, showing a good glass/polymer interfacial raw material cost of SMC vs. metals bond. and the slower part production cycle Source | Continental Structural Plastics cancel out SMC’s overall cost advantage: SMC takes 2.0-3.5 minutes vs. 20-30 seconds for metals, despite the fact that that’s per die for a metal version of the part that requires multiple subcomponents, which need subsequent assembly. So the SMC molder must multiply the number of tools and machines to maintain competitive production rates at the higher volumes. This normally puts SMC out of the running in the per-part cost sweepstakes. With aluminum as their target, CSP researchers focused on ways to make SMC cost-competitive at any production volume. The key was to target specific gravity: “We kept running the numbers and our calculations kept telling us that we could take on aluminum if we could get to 1.2,” explains Guha. “We got down to basics and started analyzing each component’s contribution.” CompositesWorld.com
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WORK IN PROGRESS
SMC typically contains resin, glass fiber, mineral filler and First, they looked at numerous types of microspheres, eventuadditives. One way the company reduced its product density was ally switching to a tougher, higher performance microsphere from by replacing some percentage of its typical calcium carbonate 3M (St. Paul, MN, US). Although CSP won’t divulge specifics, Guha (CACO3) filler with hollow glass microspheres (affectionately does say the product has higher crush strength and has not been called “bubbles” in the industry). However, used previously in automotive composmicrospheres can crush easily during ites applications with unsaturated compounding or molding. “When that polyester resins. CSP researchers focused happened, our mechanicals would go Second, they strengthened the resin/ south and our density would go up,” microsphere bond with a proprietary on ways to make SMC recalls Guha. “We felt we needed both sizing that was developed and patented cost-competitive at any a tougher bubble and to do work on by CSP researchers, rather than using production volume. the surface of the bubbles to improve those offered by microsphere or additive interfacial adhesion.” suppliers. The sizing’s formulation is said to work with the free-radical reaction mechaChemistry is key nism used in unsaturated polyester and vinyl As luck would have it, part of the Macher-approved R&D investester. According to Guha, the difference between the new sizing ment included a state-of-the-art scanning electron microscope and previous versions was “like night and day” — not only perfor(SEM). Researchers lost no time mixing new formulations, mance-wise, but also clearly visible on SEM images. molding and testing parts, then sectioning samples and looking at Serendipitously, as researchers dug deeper into the chemmorphology via the SEM to try and understand how the structure istry and physics of the resin/microsphere interface, they discovthey were seeing related to the performance they were measuring ered that a longstanding issue with paint adhesion on certain and the chemical tinkering they were doing. What they saw led SMC parts wasn’t the fault of a poor bond between paint and to a three-pronged solution, and a number of different ways to the surface of the composite, as everyone had assumed. SEM improve the resin/reinforcement interface. scans of part surfaces from which paint had flaked off revealed
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APRIL 2016
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Low-density SMC NEWS
that not only the paint but the entire top layer of the composite’s resin matrix had detached from microsphere surfaces. CSP researchers discovered that their work on strengthening the resin/microsphere interface not only met or exceeded target mechanicals at lower density, the intended result, but also provided the additional benefit of improving the SMC’s capacity to bond well with paints and adhesives. Third, researchers re-examined their options for glass rovings, selecting ME1975 multi-end glass roving, then newly formulated by Owens Corning (Toledo, OH, US) specifically for unsaturated-polyester SMC applications that require high strength and corrosion resistance. Here, too, the surface chemistry of this E-glass variant was the key contributor to performance improvements seen in surface finish and mechanicals. Throughout the development process, as CSP researchers found something that seemed to improve performance, they evaluated the formulation not only by means of standard, small-scale mechanical tests, but also with a lab-scale setup that simulated e-coat processing conditions. As their confidence grew with each formulation refinement, they took samples around to multiple automakers and did trials in OEM labs and factories. Eventually, with the formulation more or less set, they began looking for their first commercial application.
convertible tonneau assemblies, and coupé roof bows (see Learn More). The technology has fulfilled its promise to reduce costs vs. aluminum at all volumes: Life-cycle analyses done by CSP reportedly show that even at volumes as high as 350,000-400,000 vehicles per year, TCA Ultra Lite costs less per part than aluminum. “In materials engineering, shaving off a single pound per car is a significant accomplishment,” notes Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter, “so saving 20 lb per car is monumental.” Judges at two recent industry events seemed to agree. At CAMX 2015 in Dallas, TX, US, CSP won the conference’s Unsurpassed Innovation award. A month later, the SPE Automotive Division’s blue-ribbon judging panel selected TCA Ultra Lite as its Materials category and Grand Award winner as the year’s most innovative use of plastics at the 45th-annual SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Gala in Livonia, MI, US. What’s next? Guha says the company is hard at work on new formulations of carbon fiber-reinforced SMC, as well as carbon composite prepreg and carbon material suitable for RTM. Key bogies are reducing offal, exploring the most efficient use of hybrid glass/ carbon reinforcement systems and finding a carbon-neutral way to recycle carbon fiber from scrap parts (that is, to recover fiber without burning). He predicts that in the not-toodistant future, we’ll see carbon Contributing writer Peggy Malnati covers the composites on high-volume, automotive and infrastructure beats for CW moderate-cost vehicles, not just and provides communications services for on high-cost, high-performance plastics- and composites-industry clients. peggy@compositesworld.com vehicles.
Vetting the technology That first application, on GM’s flagship Corvette, now totals 21 body panel assemblies (depending on model), including doors, decklids (trunks), hatches, door surrounds, quarter panels, fenders,
Read this article online | short.compositesworld.com/CSP-LDSMC The current Corvette also represents the first use of a new out-of-autoclave carbon composite production method. Read about it online in “Faster cycle, better surface: Out of the autoclave” | short.compositesworld.com/V4Ty5Iv4
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Aircraft composites repair moves toward maturity New technologies seek to address the challenges MROs will increasingly face in the age of commercial airliners with composite airframes. By Ginger Gardiner / Senior Editor
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Automated, on-aircraft Given the myriad subsystems for which bonded patch prep aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul DMG MORI (Bielefeld, Germany) (MRO) operations must offer service to air and SAUER (Stipshausen, Germany) carriers — engines, wheels and brakes, have co-developed this ULTRASONIC avionics, landing gear, interiors and operamobileBLOCK 5-axis milling unit, tions (e.g., auxiliary power, hydraulic power, which attaches to aircraft surfaces via electrical, environmental control, in-flight 12 vacuum feet and provides multiple functions, including laser surface entertainment, waste and water systems) — scanning, ultrasonic milling and the repair of composite aerostructures has plasma surface treatment. been a relatively minor concern. However, Source | DMG MORI/SAUER the extent of composites use in aircraft has continued to grow. Indeed, as the Boeing 787 and, more recently, the Airbus A350 XWB, entered service, the use of composites extended far beyond flaps, ailerons and other control surfaces, engine nacelles, fairings and the vertical tail, to the entire forward wing structure and fuselage. It’s important to note that, beyond the issue of weight savings, one of the main reasons cited for adopting composite airframes in these jetliners is that they drastically reduce corrosion- and fatigue-related maintenance tasks. Airbus claims a 60% reduction in these tasks for the A350 XWB, reducing the time required to perform maintenance checks and the total number of checks required over the plane’s life. It isn’t surprising, then, that composites from CompositesWorld
Aircraft Composites Repair NEWS
the 787 and A350 XWB don’t currently command a great deal of attention at MROs. Positive reports from the field note that the composite fuselages seem to be holding up very well to the normal abuse of daily commercial carrier service. But the planes are still very young. Experts say the real test will come in the next 5-10 years. Airlines and MROs, accordingly, are gearing up to meet these coming composites maintenance demands. Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M, Paris, France, and Amstelveen, The Netherlands), for example, inaugurated a new composite aerostructures repair center at its Charles De Gaulle Airport base in summer 2015. The 20,000m2 facility — outfitted with autoclaves, nondestructive testing devices, surface treatment installations and sample testing laboratories — employs 200 technicians. Some of them are dedicated to R&D projects aimed at new solutions for next-generation aircraft. Listed with AFL KLM E&M among the world’s top 10 MRO providers, Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co. (Gameco) also has its own new US$500 million composite repair center underway at its base in Guangzhou, China. Working with aircraft that feature not only more composite structures, but larger, more integrated and increasingly complex composite structures, major airlines and MRO providers foresee several challenges. One is the need to perform an increasing number of repairs on the aircraft vs. in the repair shop. Another is to reduce the duration of repair processes without sacrifice of repair quality. A third is to increase the size limit for approved bonded repairs and to make progress toward the application of bonded repairs to more complex and primary structures.
Automating “on wing” repair MROs, in fact, have performed composite repairs on the aircraft for decades, but typically only in special circumstances, for example, when the part is too large to be removed. However, this scenario is increasingly viewed as the future norm. AFI KLM E&M now performs composite repairs to the thrust reversers on the GE90 engine while both are still mounted on Boeing 777 aircraft because it has simplified logistics and shortened aircraft turnaround time (TAT). That is, it gets planes back in the air faster, earning money for air carriers. The adhesive and prepreg layers used in bonded composite repairs — where a repair patch is adhesively bonded to replace the damaged material — can take 8-12 hours to cure. Further, the processes involved in nondestructively inspecting the damaged area, removing damaged material and preparing the area for adhesive bonding are typically lengthy. Therefore, technologies that will abbreviate repairs and critical TAT are in demand. In 2011, CW reported on several automated repair processes in development (see Learn More, p. 36). One, at Airbus Group Innovations (AGI, formerly EADS Innovation Works, Ottobrunn, Germany), uses a robotic arm with interchangeable heads to perform digital scanning, ultrasonic testing (UT), milling to remove damage, and automated tape laying to create a repair patch, and then automates patch application. Building on the results of this Rapid Repair program, Lufthansa Technik (Hamburg, Germany) again partnered in 2012 with AGI,
Saving time/labor Airbus Defence & Space (formerly in complex repairs Cassidian, Manching, Germany) Lufthansa Technik’s (Hamburg, and Airbus Helicopter (DonauGermany) mobile robotic wörth, Germany) to complete repair system reportedly cuts the three-year follow-on project, repair time by 60% while Composite Adaptable Inspection enabling bonded patch repairs and Repair (CAIRE). previously not possible or simply too time-consuming A prototype mobile robot has and expensive to attempt with been built and tested on actual conventional manual methods. aircraft, demonstrating the ability to Source | Lufthansa Technik complete bonded composite repairs 2 “on wing” for areas up to 1m on thick carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) structure like that found in 787 and A350 XWB fuselages and wings. (CW’s 2011 article noted that most 787 carbon composite fuselage structures are typically ≈20 plies thick, but some range as high as 75 to 100 plies.) The mobile robotic unit is easily moved to the aircraft, hoisted using a forklift and mounted via suction cups — tasks that can be performed by one person, according to Lufthansa Technik innovation engineer Dr. Henrik Schmutzler. It then scans the damaged surface and digitizes it as 3D geometric data. “Practically any type of scarfing geometry is then possible via robotic milling,” Schmutzler asserts. The software that generates the scarf was specifically developed during the project by partner iSAM AG (Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany). “We looked at using the robotic arm to perform UT, but we saw no advantage.” For NDT, he says, technicians use an Olympus (Tokyo, Japan and Waltham, MA, US) RollerFORM ultrasound phased-array wheel probe, which moves quickly over part surfaces and yields very detailed results.
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Induction coil Isolation
Scarfed or stepped repair area
Fig. 1
Caul plate Patch Surrounding structure
Vacuum bag
Laser-enabled, inductively heated alternative
The German Aerospace Center’s (DLR, Stuttgart, Germany) new composite repair technology uses a laser to remove damaged material and an inductively heated metal caul on top of the repair patch to achieve fast and high-temperature cure. Source | DLR Institute of Structures and Design
robotic milling is much faster than manual grinding of the tapered Another CAIRE project partner, Automation W+R (München, repair surface,” explains Schmutzler. “It also allows us to do more Germany), developed the robot’s three types of optical scanning complicated repairs.” He explains that a circular scarf is easy to do systems. The first checks the scarfed surface before and after manually because the scarf angle is the same around the area. In milling to measure any deviations from the specified digital this case, he says, “the only concern is to make sure each ply has design. The second determines the fiber orientation of each ply the same width. But if you’re limited in space or you have a loadwithin the scarfed surface; these data are used to develop/confirm adjusted repair, then you may need to do an elliptical scarf, which the repair and patch design. The third system analyzes surface has varying scarf angles. So this gets very complicated and timeroughness of the repair area prior to bonding the repair patch, consuming to do manually.” which provides information about the expected bond strength of In a 1997 report on Advanced Technology Composite Fuselage the area. “We have not yet defined an optimum surface roughness Repair, Boeing explored bonded patch repairs with variable scarf threshold,” Schmutzler admits, “but we have learned a lot about angles — i.e., steeper scarf angles in the direction of lesser load repair bond strength and the parameters that influence it.” and flatter angles in higher-load areas. Previously envisioned automated tape It found that the added complexity laying is not part of the system, nor is the use CAIRE can reliably achieve was too labor-intensive to justify the of pre-cured repair patches. “The software any scarfing angles with potential gains in structural efficiency. does generate the shape and orientation of practically no risk to the Schmutzler contends the CAIRE autothe repair plies needed and sends those underlying fibers. mated system can reliably achieve any to the automated ply cutter,” Schmutzler scarfing angle and smoothly transition notes. Placement of these prepreg plies between angles, with high-quality and practiis still done by hand, as is application cally no risk of damage to the underlying fibers or structure. “This of the vacuum bag for cure, using a hot bonder. may also enable reducing the size of the repair patch,” he says, “so Although surface treatment technologies are not currently you can make things possible which were not possible before.” included, participants in a follow-on project started this year For example, larger circular repairs may be replaced with smaller, (CAIRE ended in 2015) are looking at a variety of technologies to variable-scarf-angled elliptical repairs. improve adhesive bond strength, as well as other improvements, Schmutzler says the goal for 2016 is to transition the previand how to incorporate these efficiently into a composite repair ously prototype technology into service on flying aircraft. “We process chain. (One type of surface treatment, plasma treatment, want to bring the system into our production at first for secondary might prove to be a key enabler in the pursuit of certificationstructures, and then develop the knowledge and usage history to worthy, fastener-free adhesively bonded repair patches. See the substantiate and develop it for more complex repairs.” He says photo on p. 35 and suggested reading in Learn More.) the first in-service parts to be repaired will be from legacy aircraft Cutting repair time by 60% (e.g., Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 nacelle parts) due to the large Lufthansa Technik claims the CAIRE robotic system improves number of aircraft in service, which makes the system economical. scarfing efficiency by 60% vs. current manual processes. “The He hopes that by the time the composite repair volume from the 32
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Aircraft Composites Repair NEWS
787 and A350 XWB starts to ramp significantly, the automated system will be substantiated and ready to handle it. The interest in developing robotic repair systems for composites is growing. DMG MORI (Bielefeld, Germany) and SAUER (Stipshausen, Germany) have unveiled the ULTRASONIC mobileBLOCK 5-axis milling unit (see photos, p. 30). The machine’s frame, x-axis gantry, servomotor housing, adjustment arms and z-axis slide are all made from CFRP, contributing to its light weight (90 kg), which facilitates its attachment to aircraft surfaces via 12 vacuum attachment points. The unit accommodates multiple functions, including laser surface scanning and ultrasonic milling, as well as surface cleaning and activation using atmospheric pressure plasma (see Learn More). Boeing Aerostructures Australia (BAA, Melbourne, Victoria) also has developed what it terms a “scarf composite repair robot.” In its February 2015 Velocity newsletter, BAA reports that the robot has helped employees at Boeing Australia Component Repairs (Melbourne) achieve a 90% improvement in the time required to complete 737 thrust reverser inner wall repairs. The robot also has been used to repair test panels at Boeing’s Advanced Developmental Composite facility (Tukwila, WA, US).
Induction heating to speed repair The German Aerospace Center (DLR, Stuttgart, Germany) also seeks to speed composite repair, but its approach focuses on minimizing the part’s exposure to heat (surface area and time) by means of laserbased surface preparation and a patch bonding technique that features an inductively heated caul plate. “First, we remove the damaged material using a laser,” says project leader Markus Kaden. He explains this eliminates the cooling measures and the time required to clamp devices onto the part, typically required with milling, not to mention the cost of buying and reconditioning the milling tools. Kaden continues: “Secondly, we use a metal sheet [caul plate] heated by induction, that is the same size as the patch and is pressed onto the patch by creating a vacuum.” He claims this caul
plate (see Fig. 1, p. 32) heats only the repair patch and damaged area underneath, while ovens or autoclaves heat the entire component. Kaden acknowledges that the heating blankets, infrared lights and heated-air methods of more portable repair systems also confine heating to only part of the structure, but he argues they still permit heat to extend beyond the specific area being repaired. This is undesirable, he argues, due to the risk of inducing thermal stress damage to the undamaged areas of the part. After the caul plate is pressed onto the patch via vacuum bagging, the patch is bonded to the prepared repair area, while laptop software controls vacuum pressure and the temperature of the induction system, which can ramp heat at a rate of up to 65°C/ minute. This repair concept also may use an additional insulation layer on top of the inductively heated caul plate to reach temperatures above 300°C, enabling repair of
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high-temperature thermoset as well as thermoplastic composites. This concept has been developed into a mobile repair station that, in addition to the equipment for inductive heating of the caul plate, includes a vacuum pump to generate pressure on the patch, and laptop-based control capabilities for the individual processes in conjunction with flowmeters and resistance thermometertype temperature sensors. Kaden says DLR plans to work with industry partners to develop this prototype-stage technology into a commercial product within the next 1-2 years.
A
Patch
Proof test for bonded repairs
BRC
B Torque wrench Adaptor BRC
Fig. 2
Potential test method for bonded repairs?
The Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite’s (CRC-ACS, Victoria, Australia) BRC proof test comprises small, thin “satellite” bonded repair coupons (BRCs), situated around the circumference of the repair patch. These are subjected to shear loads applied through an adaptor using a torque wrench. Source | CRC-ACS
It is important to point out that although these new technologies are aimed at eventually performing bonded composite repairs on the latest composite airframes, only bolted repairs are approved by regulators for structural (as opposed to cosmetic) repairs to primary composite aerostructures. This is because current nondestructive inspection (NDI) techniques cannot detect weak bonds between the repair patch and substrate. Therefore, bonded repairs are accepted on primary structure only in cases where the repaired structure will be able to withstand Limit Load (the highest load expected during the aircraft’s life) even if the repair patch fails completely. One obvious consequence of this requirement is a limitation on the size of the damaged area that can be repaired by bonding. Airlines would prefer bonded repairs because bolted repairs are heavier and, in fact, can be detrimental to composite structures because they require that additional holes be drilled, which can
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reduce residual strength by as much as 50%. One solution, then, is to develop a reliable test to detect weak bonds directly after applying the bonded repair patch and throughout the life of the repair. Direct loading of the patch is either infeasible or too expensive in many cases. There also is the risk of damaging the repair. The Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures (CRC-ACS, Victoria, Australia) and the Defence Science and Technology Group (DST Group, Melbournce, Australia), however, have developed a proof test that uses bonded repair coupons (BRCs) adhered to the parent structure at the same time as the repair patch (see Fig. 2, p. 34). BRCs are smaller versions of the repair patch, made of the same materials and applied under the same conditions, to be as nearly identical as possible. To conduct a proof test, a thin (typically less than 1-mm thick) BRC is subjected to a shear load, applied through a steel adaptor that is bonded to the BRC using an adhesive that is weaker than that used to bond the BRC to the parent material. The shear load is applied using a torque wrench. After each proof test, the adaptor, BRC and underlying adhesive are warmed to 80°C to remove them and restore the parent structure’s aerodynamic surface. In an article published in the Journal of Adhesion & Adhesives, “Advances in the proof test for certification of bonded repairs – Increasing the Technology Readiness Level,” authors Alan Baker, Andrew J. Gunnion, John Wang and Paul Chang describe how the proof load was determined by conducting tests to failure on sets of BRCs applied under optimum bonding conditions in a
A key to mechanical fastener-free repairs? Plasma systems like this flame surface treating system from Enercon Industries (Menomonee Falls, WI, US) have proven their ability to improve adhesion and bond strength. Such systems also can be adapted for inline processing and the type of localized treatment that is necessary for bonded repairs. Source | Enercon Industries
controlled-environment laboratory. Carbon fiber/epoxy patches and laminates were fabricated using Hexcel IM7/977-3 carbon/epoxy prepreg tape and bonded using Cytec Solvay FM 73 and FM 300-2K epoxy adhesives, and Henkel Hysol EA9395 epoxy adhesive paste. To validate the proof test’s ability to detect weak bonds, subsequent tests were conducted on specimens with under-cured
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adhesive, inadequate surface treatment prior to bonding, contamination of bonding surface and degradation due to service exposure and cyclic fatigue. The tests showed that poor surface treatments and under-cured adhesive can be readily detected by the BRC proof test. Surface treatments that give initially high strengths but degrade over time were not detected by the first proof test but should be detected by subsequent proof tests. Tests also were conducted to see if the area around the repair and BRCs is damaged by repeated proof tests or BRC failures. Several BRCs were able to withstand more than 10 applications
Read this article online | short.compositesworld.com/MROComp16 Read CW’s previous coverage of this subject online in “Primary structure repair: The quest for quality” | short.compositesworld.com/Cqp0TRmP Read more about plasma treatment as an enabler for fastener-free adhesive bonding of composite repair patches in CW’s online Side Story titled, “Aircraft composites repair: Plasma’s potential for better bonds” | short.compositesworld.com/PlasmaBond Read more online about atmospheric pressure plasma treatment in “Plasma treatment as surface preparation for adhesive bonding” | short.compositesworld.com/PlasmaPrep PRI’s in-development exam for General Bonded Repair Technician can accessed online | p-r-i.org/professional-development/qualifications/bodies-ofknowledge/ (go to Composite Repair)
of the 95% proof torque without failure, increasing confidence in this approach as a potential means for in-service inspection. There were no instances of damage to the parent material. Because they are thinner and, therefore, have less material to handle in-service loads and stresses, composite BRCs are considered a more “critical case” than (that is, more likely to fail before) the bulk repair. Finite element modeling of the BRC proof test and comparison with physical testing results confirmed that the BRC can closely represent the stresses experienced in the region at the edge of the repair patch, and, thus, can provide an indicator of fatigue damage in the patch and offers a good forewarning of degradation in the bonded repair. This inspection method has reached a technology readiness level (TRL) of 6. Following further refinements, resulting from feedback from a preliminary trial recently conducted with Royal Australian Air Force technicians, a full-scale on-aircraft trial is planned which should allow the technology to reach TRL 7. CRC-ACS and DST Group then hope that the BRC proof test can begin to earn acceptance as a standard test procedure for qualifying bonded composite repairs, on secondary structures, initially, and then on primary structures.
Continued progress Repair of composite aerostructures continues to move forward. In 2011, CW reported progress toward the establishment of standards for training composite repair technicians, led by the Commercial Aircraft Composite Repair Committee (CACRC),
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which is overseen by SAE International (Warrendale, PA, US). The path envisioned then of technicians graduating from certified composite repair training programs, taking written and practical exams, and achieving a certification is slowly taking shape. CACRC has published a standard for composite repair training programs, which defines the knowledge required for an entry-level General Bonded Repair Technician. The group is now working on the next level, termed Commercial Bonded Aircraft Repair, to be aligned with the SAE-published standard AIR 4938, which outlines a general curriculum, comprising the minimum knowledge and skill requirements for a composite bond repair technician. “Through the eQuaLified program, the industry is taking the output from the CACRC Training Task Group and developing a body of knowledge or BOK,” explains PRI’s executive VP and COO Joe Pinto. “This BOK takes international quality standards and industry best practices and puts them into one document. These documents are used by candidates who wish to take examinations. Training organizations can also access this information to develop training programs for bonded repair technicians.” The BOK reportedly contains all that the industry agrees a bonded repair technician should know. “Once we’ve established the BOK, our industry members will develop questions for both online and practical examinations.” The online, first-level exam is in development. The BOK is available at the PRI Web site (see Learn More). Pinto notes that AIR 4938 and the General Bonded Repair Technician training standard were developed to be industry agnostic
and, therefore, could be applied to the automotive/transportation, marine, wind power and other markets. He says the future goal is that PRI could audit composite repair training programs at OEMs and training organizations, as well as airlines and MROs, to ensure widespread compliance with the same standards, best practices and minimum requirements. PRI oversees the Nadcap program, which already audits OEMs and some MROs, in which composites is considered as a special process area, as are NDT and electronics. Pinto says a few OEMs have mandated that all of their MROs must have Nadcap accreditation. This could be extended to composites repair. “More still needs to be done,” says Lufthansa Technik’s Schmutzler in summary, noting that given the challenges noted above, it will take time before anyone sees the first bonded repair to a primary aerocomposite structure. Operators and MROs simply need more information about repair design. “But this will continue to open up step by step,” Schmutzler says, “as we gain experience with these new technologies.”
CW senior editor Ginger Gardiner has an engineering/ materials background and has more than 20 years in the composites industry. ginger@compositesworld.com
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Volume production with no sacrifice of quality MIKROSAM (Prilep, Macedonia) has capitalized on demand for LPG and CNG pressure vessels in Europe and Asia by building automated production equipment for vessel production. One example is this LPG tank plant that features two complete mirror-image production lines, side by side, each capable of winding five vessels simultaneously and equipped with a continuous curing oven. Source | MIKROSAM
Automated filament winding enables competitive composite cylinders Carefully controlled, robust, volume processes offer fabricators of Class IV LPG/CNG tanks a means to meet increasing demand in Europe and Asia. By Ginger Gardiner / Senior Editor
»
High-pressure gas storage vessels are one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for advanced composites (see Learn More, p. 44). The majority are used to store and transport liquid propane gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG). In an October 2015 report, market research firm Lucintel (Irving, TX, US) forecast growth in the global market for composite pressure vessels at a CAGR of 8.7% from 2015 to 2020, driven by an increased demand for CNG-powered vehicles and the need for gas cylinders that weigh less but have greater gas capacity than conventional steel vessels. The continuing global push to cut carbon emissions is driving parallel growth in LPG’s use not only as a transportation fuel but also, propelled by government initiatives in India, Indonesia, China and Africa, as a clean cooking fuel. Europe is the largest growth market for CNG tanks; demand for LPG tanks is greatest in Asia. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, 38
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that situated in between these two regions, a supplier of composites manufacturing solutions, MIKROSAM (Prilep, Macedonia), has capitalized on this trend by delivering automated production lines for LPG and CNG composite tanks that can operate three shifts per day and output up to 500,000 LPG tanks per year, attended by as few as four operators. MIKROSAM’s recent design and construction of the largest such line in the world, to date, for a customer in India, offers a glimpse into the world of automated composites manufacturing. Such a system reveals both the challenges that must be overcome and the opportunities that await the pressure vessel industry as a whole.
Process automation prerequisites Although MIKROSAM has built filament winding and prepregging equipment for 20 years, and automated fiber placement and tape
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Automated CNG/LPG Tank Production NEWS
laying systems since 2007, its workforce mirrors that of Silicon After customer approval of the final design, production begins. Valley. Average employee age is 30; 50% are engineers and 10-15% “Some of the modules and parts we manufacture ourselves, some hold either a Ph.D or engineering MBA, the latter a standard for we buy off the shelf and some we subcontract,” explains Bogdatechnical companies in Europe. noski. But the emphasis is controlling capital investment by not MIKROSAM has the capability to produce equipment for “reinventing the wheel.” “For example, we buy robots and motors a wide range of composites manufacturing processes under from well-known suppliers. Our strategy is to provide the highest one roof, and is adept at filament winding technology, having quality and most affordable cost per the system design.” produced 30 fully automated systems, but In parallel, MIKROSAM develops the many more standalone winding modules. control software and data acquisition “In the past five years, we have seen many system. “We then assemble all of the “Our strategy is to provide more inquiries for automated or semiunits and integrate the control system in the highest quality and most automated systems,” says sales manager our Macedonia facility,” says Bogdanoski. affordable cost per the system Dimitar Bogdanoski. “Most of our inno“We set up the complete line to produce design.” — Dimitar Bogdanoski vation in filament winding has been in parts with the exact fibers and resins to be automating processes that were previused so that the customer can see the line in ously done manually, for example, operation, inspect it and discuss any issues,” he automatic cut and restart of the fiber reinforcement, once winding adds. After customer approval, the line is disassembled and transis complete.” Automated resin mixing and filling is also common ported to the customer’s site for re-assembly. now, as is automated loading and unloading of the plastic liners, Design and pre-acceptance construction takes approximately when producing tanks, and of the filament winding mandrels used 12 months, followed by one to two months for the MIKROSAM when producing rollers, driveshafts and composite isolators. team to complete the installation at the customer site. “We then Another key constituent is the central control system, which do a trial production run,” says Bogdanoski, “and stay for start-up MIKROSAM calls TCON. It manages all modules in the integrated assistance, including training of operations and maintenance production line from one location while it records all important personnel.” parameters, such as resin, oven and production-environment MIKROSAM offers continued support via a remote maintetemperature and humidity, fiber and resin type, operator name nance system. “The customer connects the production line to us and the date and time of production start and stop, etc. via the Internet,” Bogdanoski explains, “and our personnel “Every single tank has individual passport data, which is its unique paper trail,” Bogdanoski observes. Quality and traceWinding with carbon fiber, too ability are indeed important, because these production lines are for Type IV tanks, made from carbon and/or glass fiber filament MIKROSAM has produced 20-30 automated filament winding production lines wound over a plastic liner, where the composite carries all of the and many more standalone winding machines, including this one that produces a Type IV CNG tank reinforced with carbon fiber. Source | MIKROSAM structural loads. They weigh less than Types I, II and III, but are also the most expensive (see Learn More). It is important that the automated equipment turns out the product precisely as designed, but also that it has the capability for future upgrades and the capacity to generate Big Data, now considered a prerequisite for manufacturing productivity per Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (see Learn More).
Design, build and pre-acceptance Each automated filament winding production line begins with close discussion between MIKROSAM and its customer. Together, they determine the target tank sizes, the definitions of the fibers and resins that will be used, the level of automation desired and the standards to which the tanks will be certified. MIKROSAM then designs the line and its individual modules, using Autodesk software (Autodesk Inc., San Rafael, CA, US). CompositesWorld.com
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1 E ach production line is designed using Autodesk software. This plant design actually has two complete lines, the one on the right a mirror-image of the one on the left. Each is capable of winding five vessels simultaneously and is equipped with a continuous, rather than a batch-process, curing oven.
4 H ere, the robot installs the five liners in the filament winding module of
2 T he first module in the line (not seen here) blow-molds the thermoplastic liners over metal mandrels, which are then loaded, five on each side, onto square-shaped carousels like the one in this photo’s right foreground.
5 G lass fiber yarns are drawn by the filament winding modules from creels.
3 A robotic arm picks up five liners at a time from the carousel on the left and
6 T he fibers are then impregnated with resin in a resin bath and doctored
prepares to transfer them to the filament winding module.
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the left-most production line. Each liner’s shaft, which serves as a winding spindle, is inserted into a gripper.
automatically, eliminating the risk of dripping.
CompositesWorld
Automated CNG/LPG Tank Production NEWS
9 Depending on the resin used for the products wound on this plant’s lines, tanks are cured for 2-3 hours at a temperature ranging from 60° to 120°C.
7 Tanks are filament wound. The fully automated filament winding system
features automated cut and restart, with precise resin control, and simultaneously winds each of the five liners in approximately 5-7 minutes.
10 After curing, tanks receive a UV-resistant coating and are pressure tested. This tank surpassed its burst test limit of 70 bar, failing at 110 bar and in the desired mode, at the cylindrical midline vs. the domes. Source (all steps photos) | MIKROSAM
8 Wound tanks are then placed onto the automated conveyor leading into the curing chamber.
then do maintenance on the production line software and control systems, providing any updates available.” He notes this is normal in European factories. MIKROSAM provides software updates to the customer for the lifetime of the automated manufacturing system, free of charge.
Anatomy of an automated line Illustrated here is the functional result of a plant design (Step 1, p. 40) for production of LPG tanks that called for two complete production lines, side by side. The one on the right is a mirrorimage of the one on the left. Each is capable of winding five vessels simultaneously and is equipped with a continuous, rather than a batch-process, curing oven. The first module in each automated composite LPG tank production line blow-molds the plastic liners. Because MIKROSAM does not produce plastics blow-molding equipment, it partnered with a German manufacturer for these
modules. On each line, the tank liners are loaded onto a rotating, four-sided carousel, from which a robotic arm picks up five liners at a time, with shafts already welded onto them to enable handling and winding (Step 2). The robotic arm then moves the liners into the automated filament winding module, which Mikrosam designed and built (Step 3). Each liner’s shaft, which serves as a winding spindle, is inserted into a gripper (Step 4). With all five shafts inserted, liners are ready for winding to begin. Glass fiber yarns for winding are drawn from multiple creels (Step 5). This line used a relatively simple creel system, but enclosed creels with mechanical or electronic tension control can also be used. Computer-controlled electronic systems are the most precise, providing servo-controlled tension of each fiber. The yarns are then drawn into an impregnator with resin bath (Step 6). “We have very good control of the resin content,” notes
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INSIDE MANUFACTURING
Finished products for a fast-growing market Another of MIKROSAM’s highly automated production lines, located at Supreme Industries (Halol, Gujarat, India) ensures both high output and high quality for these KAVACH composite Type IV LPG gas cylinders. Source | Supreme Industries
Bogdanoski. This is enabled by precise adjustment of the doctor blade, which regulates delivery of the resin onto the fibers: “There is no dripping, which saves a lot of cost for the customer, not only in saved resin but in tank surface preparation and equipment maintenance.” MIKROSAM also has a patented automated cut and restart, so there is no lost time or labor expense required
between the end of wrapping one set of tanks and the beginning of wrapping the subsequent set. Winding typically takes 5-7 minutes, depending on the LPG tank size (Step 7, p. 41). After winding is completed, the line’s robotic arm removes the set of five wound tanks and places them into an automated monorail conveyor system (Step 8, p. 41). The tanks
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Automated CNG/LPG Tank Production NEWS
are then moved into that line’s curing chamber, which cures the composite tanks at 60-120°C, depending on the type of resin used (Step 9, p. 41). Curing ovens can be equipped with gas or electric heaters, per the customer’s specification. The standard resins used in LPG tanks require 2-3 hours of cure at these temperatures. For CNG tanks, the resins are different and typically cure in 3-4 hours, although they occasionally can require up to 10 hours for cure. “All of this is driven by the tank design,” explains Bogdanoski, pointing out, “We design the curing oven based on the range of resin systems the customer wants to use.” The tanks could cure more quickly at higher temperatures, but this would exceed the limit for the plastic liners. After cure, tanks are robotically removed and placed into another chamber, where a coating is applied to protect against ultraviolet (UV) radiation, required for some types of LPG tanks, according to certain industry standards. The UV coating modules may be automated or manual. In the LPG lines, here, they are semi-automated: Tanks are machine-rotated while the coating is sprayed on manually by a technician. Once this coating has dried, the shafts used to connect the tanks to the filament winding machine are removed; tanks are machine-advanced but each shaft is removed manually, using a gun-like tool to quickly unscrew the shaft and bin it for reuse. The tanks then proceed to a single testing station, shared between the two lines, where, according to this customer’s specifications, each tank must be hydrostatically tested to its working pressure (Step 10, p. 41). The testing station for this plant’s LPG lines is semi-automated — 5-10 tanks are manually placed into the testing unit, but the subsequent testing is done automatically. In other MIKROSAM-built lines, the testing station is fully automated. A robotic arm places 5-10 tanks into the test rig, and then removes them after the hydrostatic test is completed and results are evaluated. Because this section of all MIKROSAM automated composite tank lines includes proprietary technology, it is
not shown in the manufacturing step photos on pp. 40-41. It does, however, conclude this largest LPG composite tank operation. Tested tanks are manually removed from the test station, outfitted with valves and covers, and prepared for shipment.
Challenges and future opportunities Although this dual production line is not the most highly automated system MIKROSAM has produced, it still represents a significant achievement. Bogdanoski points out that the customer elected to semi-automate the final stations in each line to provide some employment for technical staff, while automating where possible to ensure quality. The challenge came in the requirement to produce many different
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INSIDE MANUFACTURING
products on one line. “For many of our projects,” he says, “the customer wants to produce different sizes of tanks, changing both length and diameter. Thus, we have to make all of the modules accommodate this change.” Although for this LPG line, only the length changed, for a CNG tank line currently in process, the customer wants to produce several batches of tanks with a 200-mm diameter and 1m length, for example, and then switch immediately to producing 400-mm diameter and 600-mm long tanks. The line must be able to do this automatically, adjusting all of the modules in the system to this change, says Bogdanoski. “So not only does a new winding program have to be generated, but the handling units and curing oven also must be adjusted to accommodate the new dimensions. This was one of the hardest requirements to meet, but we managed to realize it.”
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MIKROSAM’s most recent tank production line, scheduled for customer review this month, is fully automated and reportedly will output 50,000 Type IV composite CNG tanks per year. “It is the only one of its kind in the world,” claims Bogdanoski, adding that, upon approval, it will be delivered to one of the top automotive manufacturers in Europe. This annual production rate is actually quite high. LPG tanks typically have a working pressure of 20 bar, but CNG tanks operate at much higher pressures (to 250 bar) and therefore require longer winding times. MIKROSAM also is designing a combination production line, which will comprise the largest automated LPG and CNG tank manufacturing systems in one location. “This market is very interested now in alternative fuels to diesel,” Bogdanoski observes, “so filament wound composite tanks for natural gas and hydrogen are gaining in favor, and automation is key in delivering both the quality and cost required.”
Read this article online | short.compositesworld.com/AutoFWTank Read Chris Red’s composite tank market assessment online in “Pressure vessels for alternative fuels, 2014-2023” | short.compositesworld.com/PVOutlook Read more online about pressure vessels tank “type” designations in “CNG tanks: Pressure vessel epicenter” | short.compositesworld.com/CNG-PV
Laminate Bearing Test SACMA Version In Stock
Laminate Bearing Test ASTM D 5961 Proc. C In Stock
CW guest columnist Bob Griffiths observed the emerging impact of Industry 4.0 in “CFK-Valley Stade Convention 2015 report” | short.compositesworld.com/CFK-2015 Laminate Bearing Test ASTM D 953 In Stock
CW guest columnist Avner Ben-Bassat championed “Applying the Internet of Things to composites production efficiency” online | short.compositesworld.com/NetoThings
We carry over 40 types of fixtures in stock and available for immediate delivery, including the 5 models of the Laminate Bearing Fixture shown above.
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2960 E. Millcreek Canyon Road President Salt Lake City, UT 84109 Over 50 years of Phone (801) 484.5055 Composite Testing Experience Fax (801) 484.6008 email: wtf@wyomingtestfixtures.com www.wyomingtestfixtures.com 44
APRIL 2016
CompositesWorld
CW senior editor Ginger Gardiner has an engineering/materials background and has more than 20 years in the composites industry. ginger@compositesworld.com
CALENDAR
Composites Events April 5-6, 2016 — Hamburg, Germany
9th Int'l Conference on Bio-Based Materials biowerkstoff-kongress.de
April 5-7, 2016 — Hamburg, Germany
Aircraft Interiors Expo 2016 aircraftinteriorsexpo.com
April 12-14, 2016 — Detroit, MI, US
SAE 2016 World Congress sae.org/congress
April 19-20, 2016 — Cleveland, OH, US
SPE Thermoset 2016 TOPCON spetopcon.com
May 2-5, 2016 — New Orleans, LA, US
XPONENTIAL Unmanned Systems 2016 auvsishow.org/auvsi2016/public/enter. aspx#homeanchor May 3-5, 2016 — Atlanta, GA, US
May 23-26, 2016 — Long Beach, CA, US
SAMPE Long Beach 2016 nasampe.org/events/event_details. asp?id=621205&group
May 23-26, 2016 — New Orleans, LA, US
Windpower 2016 Conference and Exhibition windpowerexpo.org/wp16/index.aspx June 15-16, 2016 — Novi, MI, US
amerimold 2016 amerimoldexpo.com
June 15-16, 2016 — Novi, MI, US
Thermoplastic Composites for Automotive (TCC Auto) Conference sstephenson@gardnerweb.com June 15-16, 2016 — Stade, Germany
10th International CFK-Valley Stade Convention cfk-convention.com
JEC Americas 2016/Techtextil North America jeccomposites.com/events/jec-americas2016-atlanta
June 22-23, 2016 — Sheffield, UK
May 11-13, 2016 — Shanghai, China
July 11, 2016 — Farnborough, UK
May 16-19, 2016 — Orlando, FL, US
July 17-23, 2016 — Sanya, Hainan, China
SAMPE China sampe.org
RAPID 2016 rapid3devent.com
Composites Innovation 2016 compositesinnovation.com
Farnborough International Airshow 2016 farnborough.com ICCE-24: 24th Annual Int’l Conference on Composites and Nano Engineering icce-nano.org
Aug. 28, 2016 — Gramado, Brazil
Brazilian Conference on Composite Materials (BCCM) bccm.com.br/bccm3
Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 2016 — Shanghai, China
China International Composites Expo chinacompositesexpo.com/en/ Sept. 13-14, 2016 — Chicago, IL, US
Additive Manufacturing Conference 2016 additiveconference.com Sept. 21-23, 2016 — Augsburg, Germany
Experience Composites experience-composites.com/en
Sept. 26-29, 2016 — Anaheim, CA, US
CAMX – Composites and Advanced Materials Expo 2016 thecamx.org Oct. 4-6, 2016 — Tampa, FL, US
IBEX 2016 ibexshow.com
Nov. 9-11, 2016 — Scottsdale, AZ, US
Carbon Fiber 2016 compositesworld.com/conferences
See more events | short.compositesworld.com/events
A Strong Grip on Performance COR-Grip® Adhesives and Compounds
Whether your composite needs are for structural bonding, general fairing, gap filling or surface finishing, the COR-Grip line of products provide exceptional adhesion for a firm bond. COR-Grip also provides the flexural, tensile and compression properties you need – all at an economical cost. Our line of adhesives and compounds feature the superior strength, excellent bonding, low shrinkage and corrosion resistance that your applications require. They are designed for various markets including marine, transportation, corrosion and wind energy. The full line of products includes vinyl ester, isophthalic, fire retardant, and specialty putties and adhesives. For more information, call 1.800.736.5497 or visit www.interplastic.com.
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APPLICATIONS
PULTRUSIONS PROVIDE COMPOSITE THERMAL BREAK
› From highs in the summer pushing 33°C to winter lows in the range of -40°C, the
climate in the US state of Alaska presents a challenge for engineers and architects. Temperature swings were a concern during design and construction of the Bassett Army Community Hospital at Fort Wainwright, a US Army base adjacent to the city of Fairbanks, just 190 km south of the Arctic Circle. Architectural joint venture HKS Inc./Wingler & Sharp (Dallas, TX, US), which led the project, anticipated problems with thermal conductivity and thermal bridging, whereby building heat is lost through metal-to-metal contact between fasteners and components in exterior walls. When too much thermal transference occurs, cold spots Army hospital combats develop and moisture condenses, which can lead to mold growth. Alaskan cold with FRP Although steel offers better thermal performance than other metals, fibershapes/fasteners reinforced polymers (FRPs) have a thermal conductivity 1/100th that of steel and offer the potential for significant energy savings when employed as a thermal break between a building’s exterior and interior. With that in mind, the project’s chief structural engineer, Larry A. Johnson, P.E., designed a structural solution that minimizes the thermal conductivity through the exterior walls. He bolted composite structure to the spandrel beams (beams that span between structural columns) of the project’s structural steel framing system. Strongwell’s (Bristol, VA, US) trademarked EXTREN structural shapes were specified, including 300-mm by 12.5-mm flanges, 200-mm by 55-mm by 9-mm channels and FIBREBOLT FRP threaded composite rods and hex nuts to support the exterior masonry façade/cladding. The composites act as a thermal break between the warm and cold sides of the exterior walls. EXTREN is a pultruded fiberglass/polyester, available in more than 100 standard engineered shapes. Each shape features a surface veil to protect against glass fibers penetrating the resin surface in service, increasing its corrosion and UV resistance. Johnson specified EXTREN Series 525, made with a fire-retardant polyester resin. FRP insulates interior from exterior The only Army hospital in Alaska, this state-of-the-art facility Engineers who built Alaska’s Bassett Army Community Hospital mitigated metal-tofeatures nearly 24,155m2 of clinical/administrative space and is metal thermal conductivity in the design of its masonry/cladding façade by using FRP named for John Bassett, who was killed while defending Attu materials and fasteners to create a thermal break. Island in the Aleutian Islands from Japanese attack during Source | US Army (Note: The appearance of US Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or World War II. constitute DoD endorsement.)
Threaded pultruded FRP and hex nuts Composite fasteners, shown here, were a key to the success of the effort. Source | Strongwell
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CompositesWorld
NEW PRODUCTS
New Products »
METERING, MIXING & DISPENSING EQUIPMENT
High-capacity epoxy pumps Pro-Set Inc. (Bay City, MI, US) has introduced new high-volume epoxy pumps, built by parent company Gougeon Brothers (Bay City), that dispense epoxy faster than any pump the company has previously offered. The 302 and 308 High-Capacity Positive Displacement Pumps work by trapping a fixed amount of resin and hardener, then forcing (displacing) that trapped volume into the discharge pipe or system. The choice of pump mechanics ensures that increases in resin viscosity due to temperature changes will not slow dispensing speeds. Positive-latch lids help prevent contamination of the resin and hardener. The model 302 pump is calibrated for PRO-SET 2:1 ratio surfboard epoxies (SBEs) and is easily identified with an orange base. The 308 is calibrated for PRO-SET 3:1 ratio (LAM, INF) epoxies and has a green base. Positive Displacement Pumps also are available with drum fittings. These connect directly to PRO-SET resin and hardener drums, so there is no need to decant materials. For a limited time, the company is offering an exchange program: Customers can exchange older 307 and 309 gear pumps for new Positive Displacement Pumps at no additional charge. A 307 or 309 pump can be replaced with the Drum Adapter version of a 302 or 308 pump, through the exchange program, for US$700. www.prosetepoxy.com
» THERMOSET RESIN & ADHESIVE SYSTEMS Methyl methacrylate adhesives Intertronics (Kidlington, Oxfordshire, UK) has introduced the adhere series of two-component methyl methacrylate adhesives, which is said to offer primerless, superior-strength bonds on most thermoplastics, composites and metals, with room-temperature cure times of 9-15 minutes. These adhesives are reportedly resistant to weathering, salt spray and UV radiation, particularly in automotive applications. The company also reports that its IRSL&L A-K083 and A-K085 highperformance adhesives are now available to the wider manufacturing arena, available in clear and black. They have a 1:1 mix ratio and can be used on most thermoplastics, composite substrates and metals, including ABS, fiberglass, sheet molding compound (SMC) as well as carbon steel, stainless steel, electro-galvanized steel, hot-dip galvanized steel and aluminum. They are nonflammable, low odor and offer low shrinkage. www.intertronics.co.uk 48
APRIL 2016
»
DESIGN & SIMULATION SOFTWARE/HARDWARE
Composites design software upgraded CompoSIDE Ltd. (Cowes, UK) has released CompoSIDE v2.7.0. The new version includes improvements to CAD file imports and group topology management functionalities within BoMGen, its automated bill of materials generation environment. The upgrades provide a seamless reporting experience regardless of the primary CAD system used. In addition, a new coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) function for layered materials and laminates enables a more accurate analysis of these components early in the design phase. New features allow users to include combined thermal mechanical loads and review the response analysis in LAMINASpace, using tabular and graphical capabilities. The user can define constant or variable thermal loading. The new version also integrates the software’s modules to streamline design workflows and reduce the design time for composite parts and products. Laminates created in LAMINASpace or 2D beam sections from SECTIONSpace can be instantly converted into 3D shell FE models, using wizards in FESpace, CompoSIDE’s finite element analysis module. Beam sections can be instantly extruded for detailed design activities, automating the creation of 3D shells from any given conceptual 2D section design. Elements retain their properties and laminate selections, bridging the gap from conceptual and detailed design activities. Improvements to the automated mesh capabilities are said to deliver significant time savings. CompoSIDE is licensed on a monthly or annual subscription basis with an unlimited number of users. Subscriptions start at £200/€250 (US$278) a month for all core modules; a free 30-day trial is available. www.composide.com
»
NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING/INSPECTION EQUIPMENT
Real-time AFP inspection system Assembly Guidance Systems (Chelmsford, MA, US) has introduced LASERVISION, a nondestructive system capable of fully automated inspection during a high-performance composites manufacturing process. Further, the company announced that it has shipped its first four commercial units to automated fiber placement (AFP) manufacturer Electroimpact Inc. (Mukilteo, WA, US), which is integrating the systems into its AFP machine cell. The inspection system will enable users to inspect the work product “on the fly” as fiber courses are placed, offering the opportunity to correct misplacement/misalignment before
CompositesWorld
NEW PRODUCTS
the part is completed and cured. To perform inspections, LASERVISION automatically projects the centerline or boundary of the course to be inspected and then captures images with calibrated laser references. The device’s machine vision component instantly aims a high-magnification camera system. Captured high-resolution images, which detail even small, complex regions, are enhanced before electronic delivery to automated image-analysis algorithms. Then the images are automatically archived and combined with documentation associated with each individually produced part. LASERVISION uses information directly from design data, enabled by Assembly Guidance’s software development kit (SDK). The SDK library of software development tools enables the composites manufacturing systems’ software to control Assembly Guidance laser projectors and image-capturing optics. Further, the locations of the AFP machine, mandrel and laser system are all known relative to a common coordinate system, which is said to reduce discrepancies in projections and actual ply boundaries: The projection data match the actual tool location because the system accounts for inconsistencies in mandrel loading, tool rotation and deflection. www.assemblyguide.com | www.electroimpact.com
»
PUBLICATIONS, VIDEOS & RESOURCE MATERIALS
New book highlights prepreg materials Carl Hanser Verlag (Munich, Germany) has published Composite Technology: Prepregs and Monolithic Part Fabrication Technologies by Hauke Lengsfeld, Felipe Wolff-Fabris, Johannes Krämer, Javier Lacalle, and Volker Altstädt. Prepregs, the authors note, have gained increasing popularity in all segments of the composites industry because of their versatility, high-fiber volume, and great variety of fiber/matrix combinations. The properties of this type of semifinished product, the type of forming processes and the component design collectively play an important role in determining a prepreg’s suitability for mass production of a quality fiber composite component. The book • c overs the important advances made in research and development, both in academic and industrial libraries. • identifies the fundamental relationships between material structure, processing and material properties. • introduces major developments of modern prepreg technology. • p rovides a holistic approach, showing the influence and mutual interaction of the parameters involved in the production of fiber composite components. Print version: ISBN 978-1-56990-599-9, US$149.99; eBook: ISBN 1-56990-600-2, $119.99 US. To order, visit www.hanserpublications.com
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MARKETPLACE
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SHOWCASE / ADVERTISING INDEX
SHOWCASE
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ADVERTISING INDEX A&P Technology Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Front Cover
McClean Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
ACMA/CAMX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
McLube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
BASF Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Mektech Composites Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Burnham Composite Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Miller-Stephenson Chemical Co. Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
C.R. Onsrud Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
North Coast Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Coastal Enterprises Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
OSG USA Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Composites One LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover
Pacific Coast Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Elliott Co. of Indianapolis Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Pro-Set Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Evonik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Revchem Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Greenerd Press & Machine Co. Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
SAMPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Grieve Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
SciGrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Hawkeye Industries Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
SPI – REFOCUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Huntsman Advanced Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Superior Tool Service Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Interplastic Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Torr Technologies Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Janicki Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
TR Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
JEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Walton Process Technologies Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
www.braider.com
www.thecamx.org
www.performance-materials.basf.us www.burnhamcs.com www.cronsrud.com
www.precisionboard.com www.compositesone.com www.elliottfoam.com www.rohacell.com
www.greenerd.com
www.grievecorp.com www.duratec1.com
www.huntsman.com/BOX www.interplastic.com www.janicki.com
www.jec-world.events
Magnolia Advanced Materials Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover
www.mccleananderson.com www.mclube.com
www.cellobond.com
www.miller-stephenson.com www.northcoast.us www.osgtool.com
www.pccomposites.com www.prosetepoxy.com www.revchem.com
www.sampelongbeach.org www.scigrip.com
www.refocussummit.org
www.superiortoolservice.com www.torrtech.com
www.trindustries.com www.autoclaves.com
WichiTech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
www.magnolia-adv-mat.com
www.wichitech.com
Magnum Venus Products Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Wyoming Test Fixtures Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
www.mvpind.com
www.wyomingtestfixtures.com
Master Bond Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
www.masterbond.com
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FOCUS ON DESIGN
Large, portable antenna goes lightweight with conductive composites CFRP matches metal performance at one-third the weight thanks to innovative materials and precision manufacturing. By Ginger Gardiner / Senior Editor
»
For decades, the peculiarities of tactical communications have posed a challenge in antenna design: The need for mobility and ease of installation suggest a small antenna size, but this compromises the performance required over a broad frequency range. Metal log periodic antennas developed in the 1950s at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign, IL, US) offered the broad bandwidth necessary for tactical operations, and thus found widespread acceptance. These were, nevertheless, described in a 1988 US patent application as “unwieldy, difficult and time consuming to deploy, and expensive.” A lightweight, inexpensive and easy-to-deploy alternative is finally available, thanks to a unique combination of conductive carbon fiber-reinforced plastic tubing and the materials, design and manufacturing expertise of three innovative companies.
Antenna ABCs An antenna either receives radio frequency electromagnetic radiation from the air and converts it to alternating current (AC) for wired electrical devices, or converts AC signals to radio waves for transmission (aerial broadcast), or both. The simplest, monopole antennas are basically electrified metal rods. Like those that protruded in years past from car hoods, they operate best in a narrow frequency range. Dipole antennas are two monopoles in opposition, arranged either in parallel or at an angle (e.g., “rabbit ear” TV antennas). Log periodic antennas, however, are more complex. They feature an array of dipole antennas, and look like fish skeletons. A central “spine” (boom) supports the “bones” (elements) arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the boom. The elements decrease in length from the array’s back to its front, each sized to target a discrete frequency range. The array is designed to provide smooth operation across a wide band of frequencies (hence the term broadband). The more elements in an array, the higher its gain. Measured in decibels (dBi for antennas), gain describes how well an antenna 52
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converts electrical power into radio waves transmitted in a specific direction. An antenna with more elements would have more gain, but also would be longer, heavier and more difficult to deploy. Thus, antenna design is a balance — an attempt to achieve the most gain for the length and weight that best fits the application.
Transportable communications antenna At one-third the weight of its mobile aluminum predecessor, the conductive composites TLP-20CC can be assembled easily and handled by one person, rather than the two or three previously required. Source | Antenna Products
Large antenna goes lightweight “With tactical antennas, the problem is weight,” explains Phil Park, VP sales at Antenna Products (APC, Mineral Wells, TX, US). “We already had a large aluminum antenna that customers really liked.” With a 5m-long boom, the TLP-20 aluminum structure is described as a rugged, transportable antenna, offering optimal communications in the 20-1000 MHz frequency range. “But now we can match its performance at less than half the weight,” says Park. “Instead of requiring two people to assemble and motivate it, now one person can easily do the job.” The next-generation, lightweight, conductive composite version, the TLP-20CC, weighs just
CompositesWorld
Conductive CFRP Antenna Components
0.8-mm wall thickness
CONDUCTIVE COMPOSITE TUBULAR ELEMENT
Elements Ni-coated carbon fibers in toughened matrix 200-nm thick Ni coating on each 7µ-diameter carbon fiber Top boom Bottom boom
Spigot FRP isolator
Element
Geometric precision in each tapered end achieves 0.013mm tolerance fit
Antenna Products’ CFRP Log Periodic Antenna
› Thin-film and nano-enabled conductive
composite technology outperforms metal antennas at one-third the weight.
› Composite construction offers superior strength, › Lightweight CFRP elements with <0.013-mm stiffness and corrosion resistance vs. metal antennas without a significant price increase.
dimensional tolerance enable easy slide-and-click assembly for optimum in-the-field portability.
Illustration / Karl Reque
13 kg vs. its 40-kg aluminum predecessor. At one-third the weight, the composite antenna also opens up more deployment options. “We could put it on a push-up or pneumatic mast,” says Park, “and it doesn’t need the same weight of structure to support it now, so the boom and mast can be lighter as well.” “The aluminum antenna is definitely harder to manipulate, even bowing in the middle a bit when you assemble it because of the weight,” Park comments. Here, the strength and stiffness of the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) is an advantage. It also increases resistance to wind and ice loading and makes the antenna corrosion-immune, even in aluminum-unfriendly
seawater environments, extreme temperatures and other harsh conditions common to tactical operations.
Matching metal’s conductivity Lightweighting was the easy part. The design challenge was conductivity. Antennas must conduct electricity, hence their historically metal construction. “We’ve learned how to make the whole composite conductive,” says Conductive Composites’ (Heber City, UT, US) chief technical officer George Hansen. “We’ve reduced the dielectric contrast in the material’s x, y and z directions so that they are nearly all equally conductive. So it acts like
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FOCUS ON DESIGN
Nickel coating for conductivity This scanning electron micrograph shows the 200-nm thick nickel coating that project partner Conductive Composites (Heber City, UT, US) deposits on each carbon fiber. Although this adds ≈10% to tube weight (bottom tube, above) vs. a plain carbon fiber composite (top tube, above), it increases the material’s conductivity 50-fold. Source | Conductive Composites
metal.” He explains that the CFRP tubes used in the TLP-20CC comprise hundreds of thousands of carbon fibers, with each 7-micron diameter fiber surrounded by a nickel tube, thanks to the 200-nm thick coating imparted by Conductive Composites’ thin-film deposition technologies (see image above). “So now the metallic surface area in the composite goes out of sight.” Although the resin used in this antenna is a typical 250°F/121°C epoxy, Hansen says his company’s processes are resin-agnostic. “We have made conductive composites using everything from wet layup epoxies to thermoplastic polyimides that cured Read this article online | at 316°C.” He adds, short.compositesworld.com/MilAntenna “The nickel coating adds ≈10% weight vs. a plain carbon fiber composite, but it increases conductivity by a factor of 50.” Nanosized nickel filaments are added to the epoxy adhesives used to bond the conductive composites into structures.
Fishing for a precision fit A potential problem, antenna assembly/disassembly and portability, found its solution in the event that inspired the project: Hansen’s son wanted to give his father a fishing rod made from the company’s Ni-coated carbon fiber and asked carbon fiber fishing rod pioneer Gary Loomis (North Fork Composites, Woodland, WA, US) to make it. While others admired the beauty and quality of the resulting three-piece fly rod, Hansen marveled at how strong, light and easy-to-assemble it was. High-quality rods are distinguished by the fact that they can be assembled and disassembled repeatedly throughout their lifetime without degradation. “It practically shouted ‘antenna’ to me,” he recalls. The same would be required on the next-gen TLP-20CC. “The elements insert into the boom just like the sections of a fishing rod fit together or how tent poles fit together,” explains Hansen. “These must fit perfectly for the slide-and-click assembly to work,” he adds. 54
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Loomis agreed the idea was promising and, after receiving positive feedback from antenna customers, the two began looking for an antenna manufacturer. Industry contacts suggested Antenna Products and development began.
Rolling a thin, strong tube North Fork Composites is not only a composite tube supplier but also plays a key role in this product’s alchemy. “We’re well known for fishing rods,” says North Fork Composites president Alex Maslov, “but we also make deicing components for Delta Air Lines and conduit tubing for specialty applications.” He explains, “Just by putting Conductive Composites’ material through our process, we can make very light and stress-resistant elements vs. aluminum.” That process begins with Conductive Composites’ thinfilm deposition of nickel onto carbon fiber supplied by Hexcel (Stamford, CT, US). The coating can be tailored between 80-240 nm in thickness, depending on the conductivity required. The coated fiber is then prepregged by Patz Materials and Technologies (Benecia, CA, US) with a toughened epoxy resin. North Fork Composites then cuts the prepreg into patterns, which, when rolled, produce the ply orientations and thickness to achieve the desired mechanical properties. The patterns are tacked to a tapered steel mandrel and rolled using automated equipment. The rolled tubular blanks are shrink-wrapped and cured in a tall convection oven. The shrink-wrap is removed after cure, and the blanks are cut to lengths. “Our machinery to process tubular composites is unique,” says Maslov, “with a singular focus on removing as much air as possible in order to prevent voids, resulting in very high strength. Our rod blanks are typically 60% lighter than anything else on the market.” He adds that this vastly increases design flexibility, making it possible, for example, to produce thinner wall structures without sacrificing strength. Hansen notes they’ve also avoided use of an electrically insulating glass scrim on the inside, which is common in other composite tube manufacturing processes.
CompositesWorld
Conductive CFRP Antenna Components
Tube transition North Fork Composites’ (Woodland, WA, US) standard processes reportedly produce CFRP tubes that are 60% lighter than typical rod blanks (bottom photo). Prepreg is cut into patterns (top left), rolled onto steel mandrels (second left) and cured in a convection oven (third left). Source | North Fork Composites
The finished tubes are then sent to ATC, which assembles the antennas, adds the electrical components and electronics and tests the finished product. APC starts with two pultruded CFRP box tubes, one for the upper boom and one for the lower boom. One boom is positively charged and the other is negatively charged. They must be separated for the antenna to function, and thus are kept a fixed distance apart by fiberglass isolators glued across both booms. The joined boom assembly is then cut into three pieces for transport and field assembly. The elements, 60 total, are made from three diameters of tubing and arranged largest to smallest from rear to front of the antenna array. Slightly tapered at the ends, they fit onto tapered spigots that protrude from the boom assembly in a way similar to Loomis’ fishing rod sections.
Precision fit, high performance The tolerance of the tapered ends is critical, and must be maintained at .002-.003-inch taper per running inch. “The tubes must locate onto the spigot every time within 1/8-inch, so that tolerance is 3 mils per inch,” explains Maslov. “So we are maintaining a tolerance of 1/3 mil in the way the elements fit together with the boom.” “The ease of use with this antenna is incredible,” Park sums up, “which is a big plus during tactical deployments, for example, those used in emergency services. You want to set up and breakdown quickly.” “Every antenna we’ve built so far has performed amazingly well,” agrees Hansen. “We started small and stepped up in size and power, little by little. At each stage … they have matched or beaten aluminum’s performance.” APC is working with Vapor Shaft (Woodland, WA, US), the joint venture company formed by Conductive Composites and North Fork Composites, to develop a full line of log periodic, whip, yagi and sector antennas made using conductive composites for public- and private-sector applications, including search and rescue, disaster relief, law enforcement and collared wildlife tracking. Park goes back to the original driver for looking beyond conventional aluminum to realize the TLP20CC, “I handed the customer half of the antenna with one hand, and they were amazed because it’s so much lighter. It’s mind-boggling.”
CW senior editor Ginger Gardiner has an engineering/ materials background and has more than 20 years in the composites industry. ginger@compositesworld.com
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