#cfrt

As anticipated in the June newsletter, Globe’s Advanced Composites Equipment team received an order for a complete production cell to manufacture a continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRT) composite product.  This European application is indicative of the growth of aerospace, automotive and industrial utilization of CFRT tape and tow products.  Globe has focused on developing and demonstrating novel and improved process technologies, consisting of formatting and conversion equipment, to better enable use of CFRT tape and tow by our composite structures manufacturing customers.  The mass-reduction opportunities and mechanical properties offered by CFRT tape and tow are hard to beat, but conversion of these materials to finished parts comes with challenges.  By re-orienting the continuous fiber in 90, 45, -45 and other orientations, re-spooling as a single ply thickness on rolls to complement the incumbent zero-degree direction tape from suppliers, downstream layup and consolidation become simpler and allow for basic automation to replace manual cutting and re-orientation.

The CompositesWorld Overmolding Conference in Novi, MI earlier this month provided further reinforcement that thermoplastic composites in general and CFRT materials specifically are a targeted growth area for volume manufacturing.  Presentations by TPRC, Fraunhofer, Van Wees, SGL Composites, Sabic and others included content demonstrating the utilization of CFRT in various forms to improve properties and reduce mass of overmolded components.  Examples of real applications, targeted research and funded development showed strong dedication to maturing these materials and processes.  CFRT formatting and conversion process equipment will continue to be an important area of growth for Globe Machine Manufacturing.

Globe's Advanced Composites Equipment team wishes to thank all those who dedicated a portion of their time at JEC Paris to meet with us. It is exciting to exhibit at this event every year, to meet with like-minded individuals, and to discuss trending ideas in the composites arena. Our own advancements in composite processing; aerospace thermoset prepreg cure in RapidClave® and continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRT) tape re-orientation and high-volume consolidation remain at the forefront of the composites industry. It is also clear that a number of complementary manufacturing technologies for 2D and 3D tailored CFRT blanks are being offered by other manufacturers. This is good news for the growth of thermoplastic composites when multiple machine suppliers offer choices for an ever-widening range of applications from higher cost, lower volume aerospace to lower cost, higher volume automotive. JEC was also a good opportunity to strategize with our friends at RocTool, as we review candidate materials and applications for induction heating combined with RapidClave® or one of Globe’s thermoforming process technologies.

 We’re looking forward to follow-up activities generated at the show, but for those who were unable to meet in Paris, we invite you to spend some time with us at the SAMPE

JEC World Paris is next week, March 6-8, and we hope to see you at Globe’s booth R31d, Hall 6, in the U.S. Pavilion.  

 We have expanded our automation capabilities in support of a variety of composite manufacturing technologies. Our own advancements in composite processing; aerospace thermoset prepreg cure in RapidClave® and continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRT) tape re-orientation and high-volume consolidation, will be on display. RapidClave®-integrated induction heating from RocTool has expanded our thermoset cure and thermoplastic consolidation capabilities even further.

James P. Martin:

The Globe Team of Jim Martin, Ron Jacobsen, Cal Bamford and Dan Allman exhibited at JEC World Paris last month. The largest trade show devoted to the composites industry, JEC World Paris had a record number of exhibitors and attendees, up 10% from 2016. It was the perfect venue for Globe Solutions to meet with engineers, researchers, materials suppliers, composite parts manufacturers and OEMs. Busy almost continuously with meetings during the event, the Globe team made new connections and continued to validate its strategies to develop solutions to the most pressing manufacturing challenges facing our aerospace, automotive and industrial customers and partners.

Globe Solutions, in conjunction with other key players, is leading the charge in solving some of the most complex upstream production challenges in the customized formatting of thermoplastic tape. The word is getting around about Globe’s automation capabilities to improve quality, safety, throughput and cost of these very complex, highly-engineered material forms to be better utilized in downstream conversion processes. Globe Solutions is excited to be working with TenCate Cetex® and CFRT® unidirectional thermoplastic composite tapes to meet the unique needs of our mutual customers.

Globe’s flagship machine, the RapidClave® OOA Rapid Curing System, is a very versatile and dynamic composites curing environment. At JEC World Paris, the Globe team met with several different companies in the automotive industry to discuss their needs for high-volume, rapid curing systems. Additionally, the capabilities of RapidClave® to handle lower volume, tightly-controlled processes were presented as a solution to many companies in the aerospace industry. Arrangements were made with OEM and tier manufacturers to demonstrate RapidClave® process capability and generate material data sets to support aerospace production requirements.

James P. Martin:

October saw the integration of RocTool induction heating to Globe’s R&D RapidClave® in the Tacoma composites lab.  For now, the thermal oil system is disconnected and induction is the primary direct tool heating source.  One of our first process trials will be with a snap-cure prepreg engineered for automotive structural and appearance parts.  Stay tuned for results and a joint statement by Globe and the material supplier as we present this optimized material and process combination.

A proposal for production volume thermoplastic tape seaming systems was presented to a Globe partner/customer in October. The Seamer technology enables automatic re-orientation and edge-welding of continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRT) tape.  We believe that converters of CFRT tape will benefit significantly by the ability to order not just incumbent UD tape, but also rolls of +45, -45, and 90 degree fiber orientations to more automatically feed various compression molding processes.