Thermoplastic Composites,
an invitation for co-operation
Louis Jetten / Jos Lobée
Neuss
15 Februari 2016
DPI Value Centre
• Funded by Ministry of Economic Affairs, now moving to other
business model
• Support innovation at SME’s in the polymer industry
- Frequent contact with innovative SME’s
- We know what is going on
- Build networks and clusters
- Support startups
- Start, support and manage joint development projects
- Service on demand
Composites in The Netherlands
• TU Delft and TU Twente
• R&D centers TPRC Enschede, NLR Markenesse, BMC
Geleen, DCMC Woensdrecht
• Multinationals and SME’s
• Examples:
- Ten Cate a range of TPC used in the aircraft industry
- Stork Fokker Glare, aluminium – composite laminate
Thermoplastic composites
• What is thermoplastic composite ?
• What is happening in The Netherlands ?
• How can we work together across the border ?
Composites and TPC
• Mother Nature developed excellent composites e.g. wood
• Thermoplastic composites: affordable stiffness, strength and
impact
• Major TPC developments in the 1980’s, now the innovation is
the combination of the TPC materials with automated
injection moulding
• Composite growth figures have been high in the last decade
• We believe TPC will boost these figures, mainly in automotive
applications
Best of both worlds
Composite properties
• The fiber is determining factor
Glas
Carbon
Steel
Polymer
Modulus (GPA) 70
200 – 400 200
1-2
strength (GPA) 1,5 – 3,5
1,6 – 4
0,4 – 2
0,05 - 0,1
weight
1700
8000
900 -1300
(kg/m3) 2500
Keep in mind fiber volume and direction
Comparing TPC with Thermosets
• Thermosets:
- Low viscosity resin, easily penetrating fibre material
- Chemical bond to the fibre surface
• Thermoplastics
- Viscous melt, wetting is difficult
- Polymer modifications needed to get adhesion
=> Pre-impregnated materials, allow short cycle production
Thermoplastic composites
- A family of materials and processing techniques
Impregnation with thermoplastics
• Fabric
- Solvents method
- Film stacking
- Double belt press
• UD-Tape and Long
Fiber granules
- Impregnator head on extruder
Thermoplastic Composites
• Length of the fiber is a key determining factor:
- Stiffnesss, Strength, Impact
- TPC has >10 mm fiber length
• Fibers are supplied in several materials, forms and
weights/m2
- Glass, Carbon, Aramid, Basalt
- Seizing
- Fabric weave types: plain, twill, satin, random, Uni Directional
• Thermoplastic composite engineering requires composite and
thermoplastic technology
Advantages of Thermoplastic composites
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Processing is fast: heat, shape, cool
Welding vs. adhesive bonding
Recycle by hacking and re-melting
Combine with other processes especially injection moulding
A range of technologies
• A new combination of technologies and partners
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Impregnation of fibers
Fiber – Matrix interaction
3 D forming of thermoplastic composit semi finished products
Heating and handling of inserts, process automation
Adjusted tooling
Engineering of a new generation of composit structures
Adhesion / welding of a melt on a semi finished product
Warpage, managing thermal expansion differences
Part testing
Maintenance and repair
Trend watching Kunststoffe Düsseldorf
• K2010 one supplier
• K2013 three suppliers Arburg, Engel, Kraus Maffei with
automatic running production units
• K2016 ???
Drivers for composites and TPC
- Reduce CO2, increase fuel efficiency in automotive and aircraft
- Deep water oil-gas drilling
- Increased comfort, reduce fysical efforts
- High pressure containers for CNG and Hydrogen
- Increased attention for recycling
- Performance vs. weight and vs. cost
Boeing 787 Dreamliner
BMW i3 en i8
A few examples
Cato CI formed inserts and TPC projects
Cato
AFPT tape placement equipment
AFPT : Tape placement 10 – 30 kg per uur
Pipelife Soluforce: 150 mm diameter 180 bar
Airborne Oil & Gas pipe up to 2500 m depth
DTC hot shaped aircraft parts
KVE induction welding composites
Van Wees impregnation and cross ply
machinery
Polytec LFT and D-LFT automotive parts
Brightlands Material Center, Geleen
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Open innovation center
Shared R&D programmes, projects
Infra structure people and equipment
R&D will be based on in depth thermoplastic polymer
knowlegde. Planned are 4 PhD’s.
• Lightweight Automotive is one of the three focus area’s
• DPI Value Center is supporting the building of BMC.
• OP Zuid project
OP Zuid: Cluster development project
• DPI Value Center in 2014 / 2015 set up Cluster project in OP
Zuid, name Proeftuin Thermoplastic Composites
• EFRO Regional EU subsidy, aimed at sustainable
infrastructure and co-operation
• Project budget M€ 5,5
• Project period Q2 2015 – Q2 2018
Cluster development project
• 11 industrial partners of which 9 SME
• work packages:
- Injection moulding test tool for adhesion on TPC based on
exchangable cavity plates in standard housing
- Co-operation to form a supply chain
- Recycling carbon fiber in injection moulding compounds
- Bullet resistant panels car armour
- Design and engineering know how, library of parts
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Possible future applications TPC
• Moving systems
- Automotive, scooters, bicycles
- Airoplanes, drones
- Buggy’s, wheel chairs
- Machine parts
• Portable systemen
- Measing devices, tools
- Sporting goods, care market
• Pressurised systems
Piping, couplings, storage tanks
Possible material replacement
• Curently used materials:
• Die-cast aluminium
• Metal assembly’s
• Thermosets
• Thick wall injection moulded products
Joint development NRW – NL
- Europe is the global technology leader in TPC
- TPC is a young industry, part manufacturing capacity is being built
- Part developments are much more complex, co-operation is likely
and smart
- Investments are high, solid engineering know how is a must
- Topic is hot, funding with subsidy is often possible
- Many EU subsidies require international co-operation
• Thank you !