From the Sector

Hexcel Corporation (NYSE: HXL) and Groupe Gazechim Composites, an official Hexcel distributor for more than 20 years, have reached agreement to provide customized kitting services for advanced composite materials sold to aerospace and defense customers and for high-performance industrial applications.

The joint venture, named HexCut Services, brings together Hexcel – a leader in advanced composites – and Gazechim – a leader in distribution and logistics – to provide pan-European kitting services that will include Hexcel’s innovative carbon fiber prepreg and other composite materials such as adhesives and fabrics for aerospace, defense and industrial applications. Pre-cut kits save customers time and investment, reduce inventory and minimize material losses through scrap reduction.

Gazechim’s existing kitting plant in Maulévrier, 75km east of Nantes (France), acquired in 2016, will be the initial hub for providing pre-cut kits to customers as well as central services in the future to a network of local kitting facilities in Europe.

Thierry Merlot, Hexcel President – Aerospace, Europe, MEA and Asia/Pacific, said, “This is a great opportunity for us to join together with Gazechim, a trusted and well-established partner, to offer our leading advanced composite products to customers in a way that helps them become more productive and profitable.”

Gazechim will own a majority share of the joint venture. Jean Guittard, Chairman Gazechim, said, “This project marks a new era between Hexcel and Gazechim and consolidates our long-term partnership of almost 20 years.”

Hexcel is exhibiting at the Toulouse Space Show on June 26-28 to promote its latest technologies and innovations in composites for space applications. More than 3,000 visitors are expected at this major international forum that is dedicated to novel solutions for space.

Hexcel’s promotions will feature a number of 3D-printed flight-ready carbon fiber parts manufactured from HexAM™ additive manufacturing technology, combining high performance PEKK thermoplastics with aerospace grade carbon fiber. HexPEKK™ structures offer significant weight, cost and time-to-market reductions, replacing traditional cast or machined metallic parts in highly demanding aerospace, satellite and defense applications.

Other Hexcel solutions for space applications include carbon fiber, prepregs and honeycomb materials with proven performance for satellite structures and launchers.

Hexcel Corporation is a leading advanced composites company. It develops, manufactures and markets lightweight, high-performance structural materials including carbon fibers, specialty reinforcements, prepregs and other fiber-reinforced matrix materials, honeycomb, adhesives, engineered core and composite structures for use in commercial aerospace, space and defense and industrial applications.

• Fibres for automotive composites, technical textiles, hygiene and medical nonwovens
• UltraLink fibres offer sustainable system cost reduction solutions to the automotive industry
• Meralux offers improved liquid management for a dry feeling
• Stand 2034, ANEX 2018, 6-8 June, Tokyo Big Sight, Japan

Beaulieu Fibres International, the leading European polyolefin fibre supplier, marks its Asia Nonwovens Exhibition and Conference (ANEX) debut with unique products and capabilities to support innovation at a local level within the automotive and hygiene segments.

At Stand 2034, Beaulieu Fibres International demonstrates its commitment to the global market growth for automotive composites and technical textiles, as interest increases in adopting lightweight materials to reduce vehicle weight and fuel efficiency.

The company will present UltraLink bonding fibres that improve the mechanical, thermal and functional properties of the final part, allowing customers to meet OEM specific standards in a more sustainable way. They are available in both MONO and BICO technology – a first for the composites industry.

Jefrem Jennard, Global Sales Director – Industrial Fibres, comments: “Beaulieu Fibres International developed UltraLink fibres over the past two years to provide an answer to the automotive industry’s continuous strive for lower weight, lower emission, lower cost and better properties. They are being introduced in new global automotive programmes with SOP 2019-2021. We are delighted to introduce them to the Asian market at ANEX.”

At ANEX 2018, Beaulieu Fibres International also presents its platform of unique Meralux fibres offering significant improvements to the dryness of nonwoven for hygiene and medical applications. The BICO fibre has a special cross section, which enables it to provide bulk, opacity and enhanced fluid management compared to standard round fibres to nonwoven constructions. As a result, a dry feeling is achieved for the final nonwoven.

Petra Bohle-Stricker, Global Sales Director – Hygiene Fibres, comments: “As Asia Pacific heads towards becoming the largest regional tissue and hygiene market by the end of 2025  , nonwovens producers can already take advantage of the benefits of Meralux to launch new and innovative products that will grab the attention of global and local manufacturers. Visitors to our ANEX booth can experience Meralux fibres first-hand in nonwoven samples.”

Since Meralux was first launched in April 2017, the portfolio has expanded to include Meralux T and Meralux Soft. Beaulieu Fibres International is currently expanding its production programme with polyester-core (PET) BICO. In addition a pilot line for new developments is under construction. Both are expected to come on stream in 2018.

• In its aim to promote composites materials, JEC Group will highlight the latest technologies that enable the automotive industry to innovate in product design, emission reductions and production.

Paris - In its mission to address composites end-use industries specifically, JEC Group, the world leading organization for the promotion of composite materials, moves up a gear to target the automotive industry. Introduced many decades ago in car manufacturing, and not only for high-end performance models, composites are now offering many alternatives to steel and aluminum, thanks to their specific features, which go far beyond their lightweight properties.

“Today, nearly 2.9 cars are produced and sold worldwide every second. Yet growth potential is still enormous. In value, the automotive industry makes up 20% of the total composites market with promising opportunities for lighter, stronger and more efficient materials in the years to come. They offer new design opportunities, enable a reduction in tooling investment and allow several functions to be integrated in one, on top of their corrosion and impact resistance. Furthermore, composite materials contribute to the development of a new generation of cars, offering innovative battery integration solutions for electric vehicles, as well as a new generation of fuel storage tanks for hydrogen-powered vehicles. JEC Group is moving forward in its strategy to democratize and promote the use of composites materials among end-user segments that, in this case, are OEMs and car manufacturers,” said Ms Frédérique MUTEL, JEC Group President & CEO.

The BMW i3 the largest-volume production car ever to extensively use composites for emission-free mobility

With this in mind, JEC Group will invest in a significant number of composites pavilions at key automotive events in Europe, America and Asia. The first of these will be at Mondial.Tech Paris, part of Paris Motor Show, held on October 2-6, 2018 in Paris. The composites pavilion will include an innovation showcase, expert presentations and networking activities.

The second composites pavilion will be at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on January 14-18, 2019 and will focus on the same goals of sharing knowledge and developing networking.

Additional events, particularly in Asia, are being planned to cover the global automotive market.

Although the composites pavilions are organized by JEC Group, they will be supported by major composites manufacturers. These combined efforts will enable stands to showcase several solutions provided by composites for the automotive industry, driving innovation in this sector.

• JEC Group pays tribute to the winners at JEC World 2018

The 2018 session of JEC World, the reference trade show organized by JEC Group, is in full swing and the focus is on innovation!
The JEC Innovation Awards ceremony, which took place on the Agora stage on Wednesday, March 7 at 5 pm, opened with a presentation by Yves Rossy, aircraft pilot and inventor of the first jet-powered wingpack. Then the jury revealed the names of the composite champions up for a JEC Innovation Award. Eleven winning innovations were chosen, out of the thirty finalists that had been previously selected from more than 100 applications from all over the world.

“JEC Group supports innovation. In 1998, it created the first award dedicated to composites, as a way to promote and reward the sector’s champions. Thanks to the work of JEC Group’s teams, the program has become an international benchmark. Each year, we receive more than a hundred applications from all over the world. Selection is now based on criteria like the level of involvement of the innovation’s partners in the value chain, the technical nature of the innovation, or its commercial applications,” explains JEC Group President & CEO Frédérique Mutel.
A new feature this year is that the jury revealed the winners during the ceremony, and the public could choose their favorite innovation before, during, and after the ceremony. So there is still time to vote! Votes are opened until Thursday March 8th, 5pm http://innovationawards.jec-world.events
Did you miss the ceremony?

11 AWARD WINNERS:
AEROSPACE APPLICATION
Winner:
AeroComposit, JSC (Russia) and its partner Solvay (United Kingdom)

• Infusion technology for an aircraft wing

The use of infusion technology to manufacture primary structural components for an aircraft wing. The technology makes it possible to create extra-long, integrated composite structures with complex aerodynamic shapes.

AEROSPACE PROCESS 
2 tied winners!
Winner: Airbus (Germany) and its partners, BMW Group (Germany), Technical University of Munich (TUM) (Germany), Neue Materialien Bayreuth GmbH (Germany), Werkzeugbau Siegfried Hofmann GmbH (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Foldcore GmbH (Germany), Neenah Filtration (Germany) and SGL Carbon GmbH (Germany)

• Complex structural applications for MAI sandwich technology

Cost-effective production of a complex 2.5D structure made of thermoplastic composite sandwich, with very short cycle times: under 5 minutes for aerospace materials and 2.5 minutes for automotive materials.

Winner: M. Torres Diseños Industriales SAU (Spain)
Moldless process to manufacture one-piece parts
A new manufacturing process for oversized one-piece reinforced composite structures, without requiring the use of complete molds.

AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATION
Winner: Ford Werke GmbH (Germany) and its partners, Gestamp (United Kingdom), GRM Consulting (United Kingdom) and University of Warwick (United Kingdom)

• Lightweight composite automotive suspension part

Structural suspension part made of lightweight composite, using a brand-new patented process for prepreg/SMC/steel overmolding that was designed using a new computer-aided engineering (CAE) technology.

AUTOMOTIVE PROCESS
Winner: Audi AG (Germany) and its partners, Voith Composites GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), Dow Automotive (Switzerland), and Zoltek Corp. (United States)

• Series production of a rear panel module made of carbon composite

For the first time, the potential of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) is used to full advantage in series production with a new rear panel module and cost-effective production technologies.

CONSTRUCTION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Winner: Komatsu Seiren Co., Ltd. (Japan) and its partners, Kanazawa Institute of Technology (Japan) and Nagase ChemteX Corporation (Japan)

• Cabkoma cable made of CFRTP

Komatsu Seiren has developed a cable made of molded carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP), using a very cost-effective process that consists in polymerizing a thermoplastic epoxy resin in situ.

MARINE
Winner: Uljanik JSC (Croatia)

• Composite cargo decks for a vehicle carrier

On the SIEM Cicero, a vehicle carrier with a capacity of 7,000 vehicles, glass-fiber reinforced composites are used for a number of the structures for the cargo decks, thereby considerably reducing the ship’s weight, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

RAILWAY
Winner: ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. (United Kingdom) and its partners, Alstom Transport (United Kingdom), Magma Structures (United Kingdom), the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom), and the University of Huddersfield (United Kingdom)

• A bogie frame made of optimized lightweight carbon fiber

This project has developed the very first carbon-fiber bogie frame that uses a recycled material, making it possible to overcome the obstacles to a commercial adoption of this type of structure.

SPORTS & LEISURE
Winner: BMW Group (Germany) and its partners EDAG Engineering GmbH (Germany), KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH (Germany), Chr. Karl Siebenwurst GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), TUM-LCC (Germany), Automation W + R GmbH (Germany), and FHG-IGCV (Germany)

• A modular construction system for the rear swing arm suspension of a motorcycle

A modular system to produce a complex-shape swing arm suspension reinforced with carbon fiber. The system can adjust the mechanical properties on a case-by-case basis, for a competitive cost and weight compared to metal solutions.

SMART CITIES
Winner: MC Materiales Compuestos (Argentina) and its partners, Plaquimet (Argentina), Purcom (Brazil), IS Groupe - Composite Integrity (France), and G12 Innovation (Brazil)

• The Wet Core Pod composite housing module

The Wet Core Pod is a composite housing module with an industrialization potential that can facilitate the most complex, costly and difficult step in a construction project.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Winner: Cetim-Cermat (France) and its partner, CETIM (France)

• “3-in-1” line for producing recycled composites

A modular line that uses an innovative thermomechanical process to make large panels from recycled composites or plastics. The panels are then thermoformed into parts.
 

STAMFORD, February 26, 2018 - at JEC World 2018, taking place in Paris March 6-8, Hexcel will display an array of product innovations for customer applications in aerospace, automotive, wind energy and marine markets.
Hexcel’s banner at the exhibit hall entrance features the Airbus H160 helicopter and A350 XWB aircraft, both with carbon fiber livery to acknowledge the high Hexcel composites content in both programs. Hexcel’s reinforcements, prepregs, adhesives and honeycomb materials were selected for the H160’s composite fuselage structures and main rotor blades, contributing to the lightweight fuel-saving design and performance optimization. Airbus has loaned Hexcel an H160 BLUE EDGE blade to display on the booth.

Among the Aerospace promotions at Hexcel’s booth are carbon-reinforced 3D printed parts, made from Hexcel’s HexAM™ additive manufacturing technology that uses PEKK ultra-high performance polymers. Hexcel acquired this technology from Oxford Performance Materials in December 2017 to provide a weight-saving solution for intricate parts in highly demanding aerospace, satellite and defense applications. HexPEKK™ structures offer significant weight, cost and time-to-market reductions, replacing traditional cast or machined metallic parts with a new technology.

Aircraft engines benefit from a number of Hexcel technologies that will be promoted at JEC 2018, including HexShield™ honeycomb that provides high temperature resistance in aircraft engine nacelles. By inserting a thermally resistant material into honeycomb cells, Hexcel provides a core product with unique heat-shielding capabilities that allows for the potential re-use of material after a fire event.
Another honeycomb innovation from Hexcel is Acousti-Cap® broadband noise-reducing honeycomb that significantly improves acoustic absorption in aircraft engine nacelles. The acoustic treatment may be positioned at a consistent depth and resistance within the core, or can be placed in a pattern of varying depths and/or resistances (Multi-Degrees of Freedom and 3 Degrees Of Freedom), offering an acoustic liner that is precisely tuned to the engine operating conditions. These technologies have been tested at NASA on a full engine test rig and meet all 16 design conditions without trade-offs. An example of this technology will be on display at JEC 2018.

Rounding off the aircraft engine exhibits is a CTi fan blade for new generation lightweight turbofan engines from Rolls-Royce, manufactured from Hexcel’s HexPly® M91 high toughness and impact-resistant epoxy prepreg. Hexcel supplies HexPly® M91 as slit tape for the automated lay-up of the complex aerodynamic shape, with a constantly changing thickness across the blade length. The blade which is thinner and lighter than titanium fan blades is currently undergoing flight tests.
Hexcel’s HiTape® and HiMax™ dry carbon reinforcements that were developed for the automated lay-up of preforms for resin-infused aerospace structures will be promoted at the show. Two demonstrator parts, one made with HiMax™ and one with HiTape®, were both infused with HexFlow® RTM6 resin to demonstrate the potential benefits of an integrated design for aircraft skins, spars and stiffeners that meets OEM requirements for production rate increases and cost effectiveness.

Hexcel is also introducing its new range of HiFlow™ advanced liquid resins for aerospace structures manufactured by liquid molding technologies. Based on novel proprietary chemistry, the new resin family will enhance the performance of composites and ease processing when combined with HiTape® and HiMax™ dry carbon reinforcements. HiFlow™ HF610 is the first resin in the range.
Hexcel’s range of high performance adhesives has expanded considerably following the company’s acquisition of Structil last October. Hexcel is relaunching the acquired products under the new HexBond™ brand name at JEC World. This fast-growing range of pastes, liquid shim and film adhesives has a wide spectrum of operating temperatures and is in qualification with a large number of aerospace and industrial OEMs.
In the Planet Aerospace area at JEC, Daher and Hexcel will jointly display an aircraft spar manufactured from HexPly® M56 prepreg. Hexcel’s Neil Parker and Daher R&T Director Dominique Bailly will give a joint presentation focusing on the materials used and the benefits for the finished part. The aircraft spar was designed and manufactured by Daher using Hexcel’s HexPly® M56 prepreg, in slit tape format, that was developed for automated deposition and out-of-autoclave curing. The spar was manufactured using only the vacuum bag process and demonstrates very low porosity levels. It is currently undergoing testing and validation through CORAC funding.

Hexcel’s Automotive promotions at JEC World 2018 include a new prepreg for composite leaf springs, HexPly® M901. In contrast to steel leaf springs used for suspension on vans, trucks and SUVs, newer composite versions offer many advantages including weight savings of up to 70%, high corrosion resistance, optimized system integration and superior performance. Hexcel’s HexPly® M901 prepreg raises the bar further, reducing mold cure time below 15 minutes, a 50% reduction compared to standard industrial prepregs. HexPly® M901 provides 15% higher mechanical performance, with enhanced fatigue properties. It also operates at high temperatures, providing a Tg of up to 200°C following a post cure. Hexcel’s expertise in manufacturing heavy weight glass UD prepregs, with fiber areal weights of up to 1600gsm, allows the company to offer a highly cost-competitive solution for the rapid manufacture of these safety critical components.

Hexcel is constantly seeking ways to ensure that customers obtain the maximum benefit from composites and has recently acquired state-of-the-art simulation technology that accurately predicts how HiMax™ non-crimp fabrics will drape in a mold. Working in collaboration with Nottingham University Hexcel has created a car seat shell, for which the material selection was optimized using this new drape simulation technology. Visitors to Hexcel’s stand at JEC will see an on-screen demonstration that illustrates how the simulation tool operates, predicting process and performance and ensuring that the optimum fabric architecture is quickly identified, reducing the need for expensive trial programs.
Hexcel’s HexMC®-i 2000 carbon fiber/epoxy molding compound has been successfully used by Audi to manufacture a high-performance engine cross brace. HexMC®-i is a fast curing high-performance molding material, suitable for the series production of complex shaped parts and providing excellent mechanical properties. The Audi cross brace covers the engine, providing torsional stiffness for enhanced drive dynamics.

Hexcel’s product offering for customers in the Marine industry has expanded following the acquisition of Formax in 2016 and Structil in 2017. At JEC World, Hexcel will promote its enhanced portfolio of carbon fibers, prepregs, woven reinforcements and multiaxial fabrics for builders of racing catamarans and luxury yachts.
Marine customers have supplied a number of parts for display to illustrate their expertise in manufacturing composite structures from Hexcel materials. These include part of a Diam 24 yacht mast made by ADH Inotec from Hexcel’s HexPly® M79 fast curing, low temperature cure prepreg. ADH Inotec purchased the prepreg from Composites Distribution, a Hexcel Official Distributor that also supplied HexPly® M9.6 prepreg to Lorima for the Outremer 5X catamaran mast section on display. Part of Lorima’s 42m wing mast for a multihull racing boat made with HexPly® prepreg from Vert-Le-Petit (formerly Structil) will complete the marine display.

Hexcel’s innovations for Wind Energy include Polyspeed® pultruded laminates for load-carrying elements in wind blades. These continuous cross-section profiles, made from a polyurethane matrix reinforced with unidirectional carbon fiber, provide consistently high mechanical properties, including high stiffness, fracture toughness and shear strength, combined with low weight and durability. Visitors to Hexcel’s stand will see a 2m diameter coil of pultruded carbon laminate that contains 255m of material in a single roll. This technology offers an economical way of reinforcing large-scale composite structures such as wind turbine blades. Hexcel will also launch its surface finishing prepreg for wind turbine blades and components. This provides a tough, durable and ready-to-paint blade surface without the use of gel coat and results in faster blade manufacture, saving time in production and reducing material costs. The benefits of the new surfacing prepreg will be demonstrated via a wind blade exhibit that has been given four different treatments across the blade surface. These include a section with gel coat, a section of standard prepreg without gel coat, and a section where a fleece has been added to improve surface quality but still requires preparation before painting due to pin holes. The final section made with new HexPly® XF2P surfacing prepreg has a ready-to-paint surface, straight from the mold, without any requirement for gel coat, fleece or finishing operations.

The two AZL Partners Conbility GmbH and Fraunhofer IPT, Aachen started their long-term cooperation for the further development and for the commercialization of Fraunhofer´s tape-placement and tape winding systems with in-situ-consolidation by the usage of laser or IR heat sources.

With this cooperation, the company Conbility GmbH makes 25 years of expertise in special machine development of tape placement systems of the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT commercially available. Conbility offers two different tape processing systems available in different configurations.

The “PrePro 2D” machine system allows for the automated tailored tape placement of UD laminates and which can be used for subsequent thermoforming or as stiffening structures in injection molding processes. The machine comprises a rotating and translational table which is moved relatively to the applicator station. The table is scalable according to the requirements of customers. Standard table diameters are 1200 mm or 2000 mm. The applicator station can be equipped with a single or with multiple spool applicators. Because of the large process area, a 9 kW IR heater is used for the in-situ-consolidation process.  
Three in one: Three technologies included in one single modular system
Furthermore, the award-winning “PrePro 3D” tape placement and winding applicator is available as modular product with decentral control system (including closed-loop control of energy input into the processing zone) for the “plug-in” implementation in existing robot systems or machine systems by standard interfaces for the communication with the master control system. Conbility provides the single applicator as well as turn-key ready systems including the robot and handling systems.

Unique selling point of the PrePro 3D system is its multifunctional range of usage: it accomplishes laser-assisted thermoplastic tape placement, IR-assisted thermoset prepreg placement and dry fiber placement: Three technologies included in one single modular system.  

During the JEC World in Paris (March 6th – 8th 2018), Conbility GmbH will present its new “VCSEL Tape Placement and Winding Applicator” (Fig. 3), developed in cooperation with Fraunhofer IPT and Philips Photonics at the AZL Composites in Action area (Hall 5A, C55).

VCSEL Laser Systems as heat source for lower investment and process costs
This applicator uses an integrated VCSEL Laser System as heat source which has been developed by Philips Photonics. This tape placement and winding applicator can also be integrated as modular “plug-in” system into industrial jointed-arm and linear gantry robots in variable manufacturing cells. Using the new VCSEL Laser as heat source (VCSEL: Vertical-Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) leads to significant lower investment and process cost in comparison to other laser systems. Furthermore, the VCSEL laser system can accomplish controllable in-process adjustments of the laser-spot geometry as well as the intensity distribution within the spot size during the process (in-process control of laser-spot geometries and intensities) for the first time. The new system with 2 kW laser power and 10 separate emission zones which can be controlled separately will be shown at JEC World in Paris 2018 as new product of Conbility GmbH.

The AZL will continue its collaboration on composites in buildings and infrastructure after completing an initial market and technology study which identified new potentials for composite technologies in buildings and infrastructure markets. The aim of the new AZL Workgroup which will meet for the first time on January 25th, 2018 is to jointly develop new applications and to support the business development for composites in these two growing markets. The meeting is open to interested companies from the composite industry as well as the building and infrastructure markets.

The aim of the initial workgroup meeting will be to turn insights from the study into a long-term workgroup collaboration and to define topics and initiatives for the joint cooperation in the field of process and manufacturing technologies, fire safety regulations, materials as well as standards and norms. Industrial keynote presentations will introduce these action fields and will provide an insight into building and infrastructure applications for composites. The meeting will furthermore provide a platform to network with companies along the entire composite value chain.

Dr. Amer Affan, CEO and founder of AFFAN Innovative Structures based in Dubai is in charge of various composite projects for buildings such as the Museum of the Future in Dubai: “We have been utilizing structural composites in construction since 2010. Composites is a truly high-tech material compared with the traditional building materials (steel, concrete, timber and aluminum) but it is still to be recognized as such in the conservative and price-sensitive building industry. AZL, particularly its location at the RWTH Aachen University and its partner companies, offers a good platform to progress the use of composites in construction.”

AZL together with more than 25 companies just completed the Joint Market and Technology Study on “New Potentials for Composite Technologies in Buildings and Infrastructure” establishing a broad knowledge on business opportunities for composite technologies in these two growing markets. In a structured approach, the study determined the key segments as well as the technologies/applications with the highest market and technological potential. Analyses of 20 market segments, investigation of 438 applications, technology analyses of 25 highlight components and 11 detailed business cases were elaborated throughout the study. Additional to requirement analyses for materials and production technologies, new concepts for efficient profitable production technologies and cost engineering analysis were developed. With the workgroup, the AZL will take this initiative a step further with the aim to build a long-term cooperation platform for composites in buildings and infrastructure markets.

Justin Jin, CEO of the Korean company AXIA Materials participated in the study and is part of the AZL Partner Network: “As producer of large thermoplastic composite sheets and composite SIP (Structural Insulated Panel), we are eager to drive composites in B&I applications with the best efficient way. The AZL study on Buildings and Infrastructure provided us a great networking with key players in this business field and opportunities to strengthen our products with the key elements from partners. The study also gave us a proper market understanding including market size/volume in numbers to prove the value of this technology to building industry. We are looking forward to following up on these first insights and to realize applications with the AZL and its partners.”

Besides the networking options, the meeting will offer the opportunity to get an insight into the activities of the AZL Network consisting of nine research institutes at the RWTH Aachen Campus and more than 80 companies from 21 countries. During an optional guided tour, participants will visit selected institutes at the RWTH Aachen Campus. The meeting is open to all interested companies and free of charge.

More Information on Meeting and the Study
Information on AZL activities in the field of buildings and infrastructure:
www.azl-lightweight-production.com/composites-buildings-infrastructure
Details and registration to first Workgroup Meeting on January 25th, 2018:
http://www.azl-lightweight-production.com/termine/1st-workgroup-meeting-buildings-infrastructure

• CHOMARAT signs a new distribution agreement with VELOX for its range of carbon reinforcements

The international textile group CHOMARAT announced the signing of a distribution agreement with VELOX, a European distributor in the market for composite materials. The partnership agreement covers the distribution of CHOMARAT reinforcements for high-performance (carbon) composites, in France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, as well as the distribution of CHOMARAT’s complete range of carbon and glass reinforcements in Turkey.

Stepping up the distribution of CHOMARAT´s carbion ranges in Europe

This new partnership will enable CHOMARAT to extend its network in France, Italy and the United Kingdom for its carbon fabric and multiaxial ranges, by offering its customers optimum, locally based services in line with the Group’s development strategy for high-performance composites in Europe.

CHOMARAT’s compete glass and carbon range is now distributed in Turkey

One component of the agreement deals with the distribution of CHOMARAT’s complete range of glass and carbon reinforcements in Turkey, where the composite market is booming, in particular in the transportation sector. Relying on VELOX’s strong foothold in the Turkish market, CHOMARAT will build up its flagship ROVICORE™ line, the first glass-fibre-reinforced sandwich reinforcement, which was designed and developed by CHOMARAT for closed-mould processes. “The idea is to step up our glass activities and still offer our customers more flexibility over the entire range of our reinforcements,” explains Vincent CHOLVY, in charge of the Turkish market at CHOMARAT.

VELOX secures its position as an “innovation distributor”

By distributing CHOMARAT’s high-performance composites, Velox will develop its offering in the transportation, sports & leisure and boating sectors. According to Serge GRADYS, Manager of the VELOX Composites Business, “in Europe, the distribution of the CHOMARAT range of carbon multiaxial range with C-WeaveTM and C-PlyTM, gives us a real competitive advantage and enables us to maintain our position as an innovation distributor. The same is true for the carbon and glass ranges distributed in Turkey!”

At the “Future of Composites in Construction” trade show, CHOMARAT and ALTUS GROUP are presenting CarbonCast®, their flagship line of reinforced-concrete prefabricated wall panels, reinforced with CHOMARAT’s C-GRID® carbon-fiber grids. A recent army-hospital project in Greenville, South Carolina is another success story of this innovative product: 18,600 m² (200,000 sq.ft) of precast insulated panels were installed in record time. Come and learn more about it at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center, Chicago, Stand C 10, on 20-22 June 2017.
“Reducing installation time, improving the fire and safety performance, increasing the service life of structures, and cutting energy consumption are crucial criteria in the choice of a CarbonCast solution,” explains ALTUS GROUP Executive Director John CARSON. CarbonCast® panels are classified ASHRAE 90.1. Thanks to the low thermal conductivity of carbon fiber, C-GRID® reinforced panels offer excellent thermal performance, providing uniform insulation and, therefore, a comfortable, energy-efficient building.