#rapidclave

Dan Allman, Director of Composites Business Development has been asked to present an overview of RapidClave Technology at the Composite$ Innovation$  workshop being held at the University of Dayton Research Institute on November 14 & 15.   The workshop, co-sponsored by Composites One and the Closed Mold Alliance, in partnership with IACMI will be focused on composite structure cost reduction innovations.

For more information on the program, click here.

Globe’s Advanced Composites Equipment team, in collaboration with the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) is pleased to announce the establishment of the UDRI-Globe Composites Technology Center (CTC) to be located in Dayton, Ohio. This is the culmination of 18 months of discussions between Globe and senior members of the UDRI leadership team resulting in a collaboration agreement signed in August-2018.

Globe will install and update a RapidClave® system at the CTC to support materials/process development and applications development/demonstration projects for US DoD, commercial aerospace, automotive and other markets that lead to machine revenue generation opportunities. Globe’s manufacturing engineering expertise combined with UDRI’s proven capabilities in polymer development, carbon fiber preforming and low-cost 3D printed tooling capabilities offer a unique opportunity to further establish Globe Machine Manufacturing Company as a system-level supplier of the next generation of composites processing technologies.

In addition, Globe and UDRI are in discussions to add a larger, second RapidClave® system to the technology center in late 2019. The establishment of the CTC offers a setting for Globe to showcase the RapidClave® system and its proprietary low-cost tooling technology in an “open environment” where any customer from any market can develop and demonstrate their specific applications with engineering and strategic support from Globe and UDRI. 

Dan Allman Director, Composites Business Development (859) 982-2342

As Globe’s Advanced Composites Equipment team continues to develop and mature process technology for composites manufacturing, our customers remind us that our core competency of systems engineering is what typically wins the purchase order.  Novel and improved processes are critical to taking next steps in manufacturing, but integrating simple and cost-effective automation around and between the process steps improves quality, production rate, worker safety and economics of the finished product.  Globe Machine Manufacturing Company engineers, builds and sells process equipment, but more frequently sells entire manufacturing lines that embed those processes in the manufacturing flow.  Process equipment from partner machine builders often helps complete our lines. More than ever, our customers need a systemic solution to their manufacturing needs, so a catalog-item approach is inadequate.  Strong manufacturing engineering expertise recognizes that each machine element must interact with the one before and after; whether this is a RapidClave® and its tooling, thermoplastic tape re-orientation/lamination/consolidation/blanking, or our systems in an oriented strand board (OSB) manufacturing plant.

 Contact us to arrange a meeting at CAMX Dallas, October 15-18

https://www.thecamx.org/

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.

JEC World Paris is March 6-8 and Globe’s Advanced Composites Equipment group is excited to promote advancements in two principle areas; aerospace thermoset prepreg cure in RapidClave® and continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRT) tape re-orientation by our Seamer process.  We continue to focus on process bottlenecks; areas that have held back high volume composite manufacturing due to material handling challenges and process shortcomings.  Providing highly efficient and flexible cure environments and incumbent material systems in forms that are more readily converted to finished parts are truly enabling technology offerings. 

Stay tuned for the announcement of a strategic partnership between Globe and another machine builder that will enable high-volume automation of previously manual-labor-intensive handling and composite manufacturing processes.  As our customers’ grow their product lines, we innovate to keep them competitive in price and quality.

Jim Martin

James P. Martin:

Globe Advanced Composites Equipment team members attended CompositesWorld Carbon Fiber 2016 conference in Scottsdale, AZ this month.  Our friends at CW organized another great event in a beautiful location, well attended, with excellent content.  Chris Red’s special session on forecasting carbon fiber industry related growth predicted a strong increase in automotive and pressure vessel applications, with existing and new carbon fiber suppliers stepping up capacity to meet demand.  Long time industry colleagues Paul Oldroyd of Bell Helicopter and Arnt Offringa of Fokker (GKN) lent invaluable perspective to much of the conference content through their combined decades of experience working in military and commercial aerospace design and manufacturing.  Lessons learned in economic adoption of carbon fiber composites in aerospace are just starting to trickle into automotive thinking.  Applying that thinking at Globe, we focus on simplifying complex assemblies by taking advantage of the fiber direction, forming and joining attributes of advanced composites.  Our workcell approach to system engineering enables cost savings through high volume production and integrated simple automation, even when premium continuous carbon fiber tape is the feedstock.

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.