Press Release – for immediate release
Far-UK Wins Composites UK Engineering 2015
Innovation in Design Award
At this year’s Composites UK Industry Awards annual dinner, held at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on 4th
November 2015, the ‘Innovation in Design’ award was won by Far-UK Ltd for its super lightweight carbon fibrereinforced plastic (CFRP) AxontexTM 3D beam car chassis design, developed by Axon Automotive Ltd (part of
Far-UK). This innovative composite technology is used for the new Hyundai Intrado hydrogen powered crossover
concept car. The super lightweight CFRP chassis prototypes were produced in the UK for Hyundai by Axon
Automotive at its factory in Northamptonshire. The award, sponsored by the National Composites Centre (NCC),
was presented by Chief Executive Professor Peter Chivers to Axon Automotive’s Managing Director, Chris Taylor,
who commented: “We are extremely grateful to the NCC as sponsors, and to the Composites UK Trade
Association for creating this prestigious event. I was delighted to receive this design innovation award on behalf of
Far–UK and the Axon Automotive team and to celebrate our success at the UK Composites Awards dinner with
our advanced materials partner, Scott Bader.”
Two advanced composites materials from Scott Bader – Crestapol® 1250LV high performance acrylic thermoset
resin and Crestabond® M1-20 primer-less methacrylate structural adhesive – are used to manufacture and bond
together the component sections of the Axontex super-lightweight CFRP car chassis system of the Intrado,
designed by Axon Automotive in collaboration with Hyundai.
The Intrado’s chassis is made up entirely of moulded parts fabricated using Axon Automotive’s internationally
patented Axontex structural beam composite technology. Crestapol® 1250LV is the specified infusion resin, that
is vacuum assisted resin transfer moulded (VARTM) around Axon’s proprietary 3D beam design, which combines
woven carbon fibre braided tubing around low density polyethylene (LDPE) preforms that foam and expand
during infusion. Using this design and process, which can be fully automated, Axontex can be used to form both
straight and curved components to create complex shaped assembled structures.
All of the chassis and frame CFRP components are robotically bonded together by Axon using Crestabond® M120 primer-less structural adhesive, with no mechanical fixings needed. The result is an automotive chassis with
the strength and stiffness of a similar steel structure, but with over 60% saving in the overall chassis weight.
According to Kevin Lindsey, Far-UK’s Technical Director, and one of the original Axon Automotive team which
developed this technology with Scott Bader, an Axontex CFRP part is as strong as steel and 60% lighter,
enabling this versatile composite 3D beam system to be used for a wide range of structural applications to
provide enhanced vehicle performance and fuel cost savings of up to 20%, while meeting crash safety standards.
The combination of the superior mechanical properties of Crestapol 1250LV resin with the Axontex technology’s
internal web configuration produces moulded CFRP chassis parts which are extremely light, yet provides the very
high stiffness and strength properties needed; an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 900-1000 MPa (to BS 2282
Part 4) combined with a heat deflection temperature (HDT) of over 130 oC have been consistently recorded during
extensive testing of the Axontex composite system.
To find out more about Axon Automotive Ltd., its Axontex technology and Far UK Ltd. visit www.far-uk.com and
www.axonautomotive.com .
For more information about the complete range of Scott Bader Advanced Composites materials for manufacturing
FRP parts go to www.scottbader.com .
End.
Date: 11th Nov 2015
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Issue
Websites of Companies in this article:
www.scottbader.com
www.axonautomotive.com
www.far-uk.com
Photos & Captions:
Photo (1) Chris Taylor, MD Axon Automotive and Far-UK co director with Prof. Peter Chivers, Chief Executive of
the UK National Composites Centre at the UK Composites 2015 Awards dinner.
Photo (1) caption:
Chris Taylor, MD Axon Automotive accepting the award on
behalf of Far-UK from Professor Peter Chivers, Chief
Executive of the UK National Composites Centre, sponsors
of the UK Composites Engineering 2015 ‘Innovation in
Design’ Award.
[Photo courtesy of The UK Composites Trade Association ]
Photo (2) Award winning Hyundai Intrado concept crossover vehicle chassis manufactured from Axon
Automotive’s AxontexTM technology carbon fibre composite system
[Photo courtesy of Axon Automotive.]
Photo (2) caption: The award winning innovative CFRP chassis of the Hyundai Intrado concept car is
manufactured for Hyundai in the UK by Axon Automotive Ltd.( part of Far-UK) using two advanced composites
materials developed by Scott Bader – Crestapol® 1250LV high performance acrylic thermoset resin and
Crestabond® M1-20 primer-less methacrylate structural adhesive.
About Scott Bader
Scott Bader was established in 1921. Today it is a US $287 million global chemical company, employing
over 650 people worldwide. It is a common trusteeship company, having no external shareholders, with a
strong commitment to supporting its customers, workforce and the environment.
Scott Bader’s headquarters is based in the UK where it has purpose-built, state-of-the-art technical facilities
that provide R & D as well as complete evaluation, testing and application support. It has manufacturing
facilities in Europe, The Middle East, India, South Africa, Canada and South America.
For further information regarding Scott Bader, please call +44 (0)1933 666638, visit www.scottbader.com, or
e-mail: enquiries@scottbader.com.
About Far- UK
Far is an innovative company offering a revolutionary approach to the design and manufacture of lightweight
structural composite components.
The company is based in Nottingham, bringing together the combined industry expertise of engineering,
manufacturing and materials to create a design team with future manufacturing capabilities and training
packages for those organisations with a desire to enter the composites industry either directly or in
partnership with their existing customers and suppliers.
The employees of Far have a strong automotive background and they are bringing that experience to both
automotive customers as well as other industries where cost effective and light weight solutions are
important. Far will offer its services in the design and conceptualization of new products and services,
specialising in low carbon vehicles. The business offers its clients a range of services from day rate
contracting on specific projects or manufacture of specific components for parts of projects, through to a full
service proposition.
Far-UK, Unit 29 Wilford Industrial Estate, Ruddington Lane, Nottingham, NG11 7EP.
Tel: +44 (0) 115 981 4464 email : office@far-uk.com
GENERAL INFORMATION
SUPPLIER:
Scott Bader Company Limited
READER INQUIRIES TO:
E mail : enquiries@scottbader.com
PRESS OR PUBLISHING
INQUIRIES TO:
Nigel O’Dea, Director
ATTACHMENTS:
OB2B Industrial Marketing & PR
Office: +44 1536 210133
Mobile: +44745 695984
e-mail: nigelodea@outsourcingb2bmarketing.com
2 X Jpeg photo
Tel: + 44 1933 666638
www.far-uk.com