LifePort acquires Aeromatrix Composites

LifePort, LLC has officially announced its acquisition of the advanced materials line of business from Aeromatrix Composites (Aeromatrix) reflecting its commitment to vertically integrated aircraft solutions.

LifePort, the respected name in air medical, custom interiors and armor solutions, acquired portions of the Aeromatrix business, including composite flat and formed panels, adhesives (ATR525, ATR1000 and ATR500), all ATR panel pins and inserts, as well as payload component product lines.

The acquisition further strengthens LifePort’s strategy of leveraging its expertise and capabilities to continue developing innovative offerings that serve the aerospace community.

“Aeromatrix has an outstanding reputation for customer service and quality products. We are excited to expand on that reputation. The next step is executing a seamless integration”, said Jason Darley, CEO of LifePort. “This acquisition aligns with our customer-centric approach and expands our established position in the growing composites market while providing new capabilities and services to our customers”.

This strategic acquisition continues LifePort’s vertical integration initiative, while solidifying its capability to provide next generation advanced materials solutions to aerospace and defense customers. The expanded portfolio will offer lighter-weight, and higher-performance products that can be rapidly manufactured. This combination not only expands LifePort’s product offering, but also reduces supply chain risk by diversifying the supply base, and generating efficiencies that bring added value to customers.

“It is easy to see why LifePort has such a strong reputation in the aerospace industry. Jason and his team are incredibly professional to work with,” said Jack Hall, President of Aeromatrix. “The sale of these assets to LifePort, allows Aeromatrix to meet its chapter 11 plan requirements, continue fulfilling certain customers’ orders and complete the liquidation of Aeromatrix’s business by December 31, 2023” LifePort’s commitment to innovation and product quality will continue to bring customers the most innovative designs and place them at the cutting edge of technological advancements.

About LifePort, LLC : Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Woodland, Washington, USA. LifePort is a global leader in design, manufacturing, certification, and integration of aerospace solutions, including air medical, armor, and custom cabinetry interiors. With over 25 years of experience and a portfolio of more than 1,000 products, LifePort is committed to making a difference in people’s lives by providing safe, missiondriven products and services.

As a result of LifePort’s commitment to unparalleled quality and innovation, their products are relied on by militaries and first responders around the world to save lives. LifePort is structured to provide accelerated delivery through vertical integration, rapid prototyping, optimized production, and additive manufacturing capabilities.

#сomposites #LifePort #AeromatrixComposites

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Тoray developing sugar from biomass waste for production of resins, fibers

The project aims to use waste from sugarcane agriculture for the production of new bio-based materials.

Toray Industries Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) and Mitsui DM Sugar Co. Ltd. are collaborating to manufacture sugars from inedible biomass for the production of fibers, resins and films.
The biomass includes surplus bagasse, a pulpy residue from sugarcane processing, and pulp that results from squeezing cassava at starch factories. Bringing this technology together with another that Toray is developing to create monomers from sugars should contribute to a circular economy, the company says, by making it possible integrate the production of biomass-based polymers for fibers, films, resins and other offerings.

This demonstration project entailed Toray verifying a process to separate, purify, and concentrate cellulose-derived sugars in inedible biomass. It leveraged a membrane-based bioprocess that combines the company’s water treatment membrane technology and enzymes that employ biotechnology. Toray undertook this effort at a demonstration facility in Thailand as part of a project that the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) is supporting. The company proved that carbon dioxide emissions from this process are less than half those of conventional production setups that concentrate sugar solutions by evaporating water.

In 2022, Toray developed a 100% bio-based adipic acid, a raw material for polyamide 66 (nylon 66), from sugars derived from inedible biomass. This achievement came from using a proprietary synthesis technique combining the company’s microbial fermentation technology and chemical purification technology that harnesses separation membranes. The recent demonstration was a first step toward creating a technology to make cellulosic sugar from biomass, putting it on track to mass production. The company now looks to establish an integrated technology to manufacture fiber and resin from abundant agricultural residue, avoiding competition with the food chain.

Toray and Mitsui Sugar Co. Ltd. set up a demonstration plant in January 2017 in Udon Thani Province, Thailand. There, Toray verified and assessed manufacturing process energy savings, production performance, and the economic feasibility of this production system from August 2018 through December 2022. It completed the demonstration in March 2023.

#сomposites #TorayIndustries #resins #fibers #sugar

Photo Credit: Toray Industries

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Jennifer Granholm, secretary, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), seeing a live demo of the AMCM technology at ORNL.
Photo Credit: Orbital Composites

(Left to right): Cole Nielsen, Orbital founder/CTO; Amolak Badesha, Orbital co-founder/CEO; Darrell Stevens, Orbital co-founder/chief engineer); Vipin Kumar, ORNL R&D staff scientist); and Orbital head of automation Anil Kircaliali

Orbital Composites licenses AMCM technology

Additive manufacturing compression molding (AMCM), co-developed with ORNL, combines robotic AM and continuous fiber technologies to revolutionize high-volume composites manufacturing.

Orbital Composites (Campbell, Calif., U.S.), developing robotic additive manufacturing (AM) of continuous fiber-reinforced composites, has announced the exclusive licensing of a new technology co-developed with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Knoxville, Tenn., U.S.). Called additive manufacturing compression molding (AMCM), Orbital says the technology is set to revolutionize the aerospace, mobility and energy industries by offering a new level of speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness to the composites manufacturing process.

The most demanding applications often require the use of composites, but the cost of manufacturing composite parts has been a barrier to wider adoption. AMCM technology addresses this challenge by significantly reducing the time and cost associated with traditional manufacturing methods, while improving the quality of the final product. This agreement enables Orbital to commercialize AMCM and accelerate decarbonization efforts in aerospace, mobility and energy verticals.

According to Orbital Composites, AMCM combines the benefits of AM with the precision of compression molding. The technology uses polymer and continuous fiber AM to print directly onto a mold, followed by compression, producing a finished part with high-level accuracy and consistency. AMCM has undergone technology and application validation at ORNL, and has been shown to reduce time and cost associated with traditional manufacturing, while improving the quality of the final product. Through a recent demonstration, ORNL manufactured 100 AMCM parts in five hours, demonstrating <3 minute cycle time per part.

Orbital collaborated with ORNL in building the robotic AM system and incorporated continuous fiber printing into the AMCM process. “We have collaborated with Orbital Composites since 2020, working with their robotic AM platform and are pleased that this partnership has resulted in the licensing of our AMCM process,” Vipin Kumar, R&D staff scientist at ORNL, says. “AMCM combines the fiber control of AM with low porosity of compression molding. This process will enable a high-volume production of next-generation composites that are needed as the automotive industry continues to produce energy efficient vehicles made from lightweight and durable materials.”

Orbital is already well underway in commercializing AMCM for the aerospace and mobility sectors via multiple pilot projects. In a U.S. Air Force funded project, for example, Orbital has demonstrated use of AMCM to manufacture propeller blades for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in high volume. Similarly, the company has an ongoing project with Oshkosh to demonstrate large-scale AMCM parts, with the aim to cost-effectively manufacture >10,000 parts per year. Other projects are looking into applying AMCM for composite battery boxes.

The project has also received support from the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI, Knoxville, Tenn., U.S.). “The development of the AMCM process is a great example of the power of partnerships to leverage the IACMI investments to create innovative manufacturing technology in the U.S.,” Chad Duty, IACMI CEO, says.

“Orbital always envisioned combining its innovative robotic continuous fiber AM process with a secondary step for high-volume manufacturing,” Cole Nielsen, founder and CTO of Orbital Composites, adds. “We are especially excited about AMCM since its a zero waste process, and can be scaled to match automotive cycle time requirements.”

In terms of commercialization, Amolak Badesha, co-founder and CEO of Orbital Composites, says the company is already seeing a “strong pull from Tier 1 aerospace and mobility customers.”

#сomposites #AdditiveManufacturingCompressionMolding #AMCM

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Dear participants, visitors, colleagues!

From March 28 to March 30, 2023, the 15th International Specialized Exhibition Composite-Expo 2023 was held in Pavilion 1 of the Expocentre Fairgrounds.

In 2023, in terms of the amount of space occupied, the Composite-Expo exhibition, compared to last year, 📈 increased by 30% and occupied more than 7,000 sq.m. The exhibition was attended by about 6,000 specialists from various industries. More than 110 key Russian and foreign manufacturers of raw materials and equipment for the production of composites from Russia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Moldova, Turkey, China, the United Arab Emirates and the Islamic Republic of Iran took part in the exhibition.

More details about the results of the Composite-Expo 2023 can be found on the exhibition website:

• Post-release Composite-Expo 2023: list of exhibitors, statistics, reviews

• Photos of the exhibition and business program

In 2024, the exhibition will traditionally be held in Pavilion 1 of the Expocentre Fairgrounds from 26 to 28 March.

Most of the exhibitors have confirmed their participation in the Composite-Expo 2024 exhibition, and at the moment about 50% of the exhibition space has already been booked.

Don't miss your chance to take part in the main composite market event!

➡️ Booth booking

Simultaneously with the Composite-Expo 2024, Pavilion No. 1 of the Expocentre Fairgrounds will also host the Polyurethanex 2024 exhibition.

The composites industry bounces back at different speeds

The development dynamics of composites markets still depend on the underlying economic growth by countries. Concerning applications markets of composite materials, steady or even increasing demand for electronic products will fuel the Asian composites industry, while North America will focus on construction and Europe on transportation. This article has been published in the JEC Composites Magazine N°150.

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic caused a heavy downswing, negatively impacting the underlying industries of composite materials (aeronautics, auto­motive, construction…). Following this, the composites industry has been recovering in 2021 and 2022. According to the JEC Observer 2022-2027 recent­ly published and established by Estin & Co for JEC Group, at the end of 2022, the mar­ket is estimated at 12,7Mt worldwide (composite ma­terials that are consumed to produce composite parts). It represents in value a market of $41 billion of composite materials and corresponds to a market of assemblies that are made of composite parts worth $105 billion.

Asia still in pole position but showing signs of slowdown

Over the coming years, Asia should keep on leading the race with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4% followed by North America (3% to 4%) and Europe (1% to 2%). The region represents the largest market in volume, at 47% of the global market and it is also likely to grow at a faster rate than other continents, at around 4% p.a. In Asia, the global composites market should climb to 7.3 Mt by 2027, of which Elec­trical & Electronic (E&E) is expected to represent the bulk part (1.8 Mt).

“Despite a slowdown of its economic growth rate, China should continue to be a strong driver of the global composites industry. As an example, the demand for Electronics (digitalisation, remote work­ing/studying…) from China and other Asian countries is expected to continue to grow,” notes Julien Deleuze, VP of Estin & Co.

China is already the largest wind energy market globally, representing 48% of the global market. Still, wind energy accounted for less than 8% of China’s energy output in 2021.

About 30 GW of capacity will be added annually in China, accounting for about half of newly installed capacity. By 2050, installed capacity could reach 1 TW, about 26% of total power capacity. [1] As a rule, the construction sec­tor should slacken off in Asia, due to economic slowdown in China and its impacts on the financial and property sectors. The default of the Chinese property giant Evergrande in 2021 did not help either. The group that has shaken up Chi­nese finance has been engaged in a painful asset sale process since mid-2021. After a strong upswing of the CAGR (11%) from 2010 to 2019, the aerospace industry has not fully recovered after the pandemic. It should nevertheless remain dynamic at 8% CAGR over the next four years. End of last year, the first-ever C919, China’s first domestically developed narrow-body passenger jet, was delivered to China East­ern Airlines in Shanghai and is expected to be put into com­mercial operation this spring. The dosage of composite materials reaches 11.5% of the body structure weight.

Transportation and construction: the growth drivers of the North American composite materials market

According to the Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF), North American economy is set to expand at 2% p.a in the years to come, while the future growth of composites materials should be at around 3% to 4% p.a.

“North America, along with China, should be a strong driver of the global compos­ites industry. There is still potential in the construction area for further penetration (infrastructure major mainte­nance and development such as bridges, renovation…), with, however, a potential risk regarding the segment of new buildings/equipment given the macro-economic context,” says the vice-president of Estin & Co.

According to the JEC Observer, the global composites market (marine, aerospace, consumer goods, E&E, energy, construc­tion and transportation) in this region should climb to 4.0 Mt by 2027, construction and transportation accounting respectively for 1.3 Mt and 1.1 Mt. In the United States, rap­idly rising mortgage rates has put pressure on house prices across the country. Yet, North America construction (see box) is set to remain a large contributor to the composites industry, holding around 20% of the market, driven by large investments programs in infrastructure building and renovation (bridges, water networks).

Aerospace companies in North America were badly bit by the pandemic (-10% CAGR during the period 2019-2022) but seem bound to recover faster than their Eu­ropean counterparts, although disruption in the aerospace sector started prior to 2020 with a significant decline in 2019 regarding annual aircraft deliveries due to the Boeing 737-MAX difficulties.

Transportation leads the way for the European composites industry

For Europe, financial institutions forecast a lower growth rate, as observed over the past years, at 0-1% p.a. Yet, the EMEA region and Americas represent all together 63% of the composites global market in value, which is still very encouraging.

“The dynamics in Europe re­main heterogeneous across the different European countries, with an overall difficult context for growth (access to competi­tive energy, war in Ukraine and its consequences…). A strong attention is focused on transportation, where com­posites can play a role in light­weighting light­weighting (railway industry, smaller/lighter cars, hydrogen heavy mobility…),” explains Julien Deleuze.

In transportation, it is no­ticeable that composites are particularly essential for new types of vehicles (hybrid and electric cars, for lighter struc­tures allowing to compensate for heavier batteries; hydro­gen cars, for hydrogen tanks) to enhance performance, for example within consumer sporting goods (cycling…), where composites represent around 16%.

Construction: a resilient market

In value the composites market for construction makes up 19% of the global composites market in 2022 (26% in volume).The sector was strongly hit in 2020 by the Covid-19 pandemic, however, it quickly recovered to structural levels. The construction segment for composites is consequently expected to grow at a limited 2% per year on average in the next 5 years, provided no major crises happen in the meantime. During economic crises, infrastructure, as well as renovation or maintenance, are more resilient market drivers than new buildings.

“The price of composites projects, while it was far more expensive, has become more competitive as the price of steel, concrete, and timber has risen. In addition, being far lighter and subsequently requiring less groundwork makes composite structures better for the environment, and reduces costs associated with labour and plant (machinery) hire for an equivalent project,” says a product sales manager, working in a British group specialised in design and manufacturing services for the road, rail, marine and coastal sectors which was interviewed by Estin & Co for the JEC Observer.

Poor health of infrastructure facilities is anticipated to attract growing investments in the United States, and thus likely to drive the market. Fibre-reinforced Polymers (FRP) bars have the potential to replace the steel rebar and thus represent a threat to steel rebar products. FRP bars are light in weight and exhibit high tensile strength. These products can be substituted with FRP bars owing to their higher lifespan and increasing metal processing costs over the coming years.

There is a lot of work with pre-recommendations at the European level on the use of these reinforcements for rein­forced concrete (Feb, 2007; CNR-DT, 2007) and at the international level (ACI, 2003; CAN/CSA, 2002). The Eurocode is also working on the integration of the use of these reinforcements.

At the European level, water networks in Italy and Eastern Europe (Italy, Bulgaria, Romania) represent a significant opportunity for composite pipe manufacturers in the coming years. Leakage rates from these networks, which range in length from 70.000 km (Bulgaria) to 480.000 km (Italy), vary between 40% (Italy) and 60% (Bulgaria). Therefore, significant restoration work could be required over the coming years.

#сomposites #CompositeMaterialsMarket #development

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Time’s top-selling finish shows the aesthetic of the nude carbon fiber structure.
Photo Credit: Time Bicycles

Time Bicycles to modernize composite bicycle manufacturing

With the aid of KraussMaffei, Clemson University and SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance, Time anticipates a transition to HP-RTM for more efficient carbon fiber bike frame manufacture, plus a new facility in South Carolina.

Time Bicycles (Gajary, Slovakia and Landrum, S.C., U.S.), a carbon fiber bicycle manufacturer, has been raced to victory in the Olympics, many stages of the Tour de France and multiple world championships. Time bicycle frames are made of multilayer braided carbon fiber sleeves and are handcrafted using resin transfer molding (RTM). The company is working closely with KraussMaffei (Parsdorf, Germany) to technically optimize its manufacturing process. To achieve this, a carbon fiber bicycle factory in the U.S. is being built in Spartanburg, South Carolina, reported to be the largest in the U.S.

The $6.5 million investment includes a 120,000-square-meter site with an existing factory (13,000 square meters in area). This is being upgraded to expand the capacity of Time’s location in Slovakia starting in winter 2023. For Time, bicycle production in the U.S. has been the plan for the past couple of years.

To further increase efficiency, the company is also cooperating with experts from Clemson University (S.C., U.S.) and the SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance (SCFUSA), which is a collaboration between the South Carolina Department of Commerce and Fraunhofer USA (Plymouth, Mich., U.S.). At Clemson, the new manufacturing process is being developed on an existing KraussMaffei system. The goal is to transform Time’s proven, albeit manual RTM technology into a high-pressure RTM (HP-RTM) process with a high degree of automation.

“Time was the pioneer of carbon [fiber] in professional bicycles,” Tony Karlins, Time CEO, contends. “Now we look forward to producing the most advanced carbon [fiber] frames in the entire industry.”

The main intention is to produce high-end racing bikes as well as e-bikes, which are also becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. According to David Judge, business development manager, KraussMaffei, “We are combining efficiency and price appeal with a product that historically has been handmade. For us, it is a wonderful endeavor to industrialize and automate this process without compromising Time’s commitment to quality.” The schedule aims to have clarity on the technology details by the middle of the year and then move on to the actual system design.

KraussMaffei is reported to be the only company in the plastics industry to manufacture machines for all processing methods in-house (reaction process machinery, injection molding, extrusion) — which may also be of interest for other components of Time bikes.

“We expect to be involved in all optimization processes,” Judge says. In addition to classic RTM, KraussMaffei can leverage its surface expertise, such as the ColorForm process and its self-healing polyurethane surfaces, to help ensure that frames come out of the machine ready to go and do not need to be laboriously reworked. Overall, this collaboration is expected to take bicycle manufacturing at Time to a new level of production.

#сomposites #CompositeMaterials #carbonfiber #bicycles

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Toray subsidiary establishes glass fiber recycling process in Europe

Calculations from SKZ confirm that polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) made with this proprietary recycling process reduces the carbon footprint by 45%.

On June 1, Toray Industries Inc. (Tokyo, Japan), announced that its marketing and sales subsidiary, Toray Resins Europe GmbH (TREU, Neu-Isenburg, Germany) has established a recycling process for glass fiber-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) resin waste from injection molding processes. TREU created its process by leveraging proprietary compounding technology in collaboration with tolling partner MKV GmbH Kunststoffgranuate (Beselich, Germany), a compounding company that specializes in recycling engineering and high-performance plastics. Such resin is said to have 50% recycled content and retains at least 90% of the mechanical strength that injection grades from original materials deliver.

Plastics testing and research center SKZ – Das Kunststoff-Zentrum (Würzburg, Germany), also known as the German Plastics Center, has calculated and verified that PPS made with this recycling process can deliver a carbon footprint that is around 45% lower than that of original PPS. The calculation was conducted based on the international lifecycle assessment (LCA) standards ISO 14040, ISO 14044 and the standard ISO 14067 “Carbon footprint of products.”

TREU, which supplies PPS resins to customers throughout Europe, is beginning to promote this recycled PPS solution as Ecouse Torelina. Ecouse is Toray’s integrated, worldwide brand for recycled materials and products.

Glass fiber-reinforced PPS offers high flame resistance, long-term durability and chemical resistance. As a result, it enables diverse applications, including electric vehicles and other automobiles, electrical and electronic equipment and water-related parts. According to Toray, conventional glass fiber-reinforced PPS recycling has had repeated molding shortens and breaks the glass fibers, greatly degrading mechanical strength and this issue has constrained recycling rates.
To learn more about Toray’s other sustainability initiatives, read “Toray to develop sugar from biomass waste for production of resins, fibers.”

#сomposites #CompositeMaterials #Toray #GlassFiber #recycling

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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BioPowder expands capabilities with Gebrüder Dorfner partnership

Paints, coatings and composites markets will gain access to high-performance renewable additives.

BioPowder (Birkikara, Malta), a responsible producer and supplier of high-grade fruit stone powders and bio-based abrasives, has formed a strategic alliance with Gebrüder Dorfner GmbH & Co. Kaolin- und Kristallquarzsand-Werke KG (Dorfner, Hirschau, Germany), an expert in the refinement and application of minerals and filler systems. The partnership combines BioPowder’s core competency in sustainable plant-based additives — which can be used in composites, coatings and more — with Dorfner’s expertise in application engineering, creating product development opportunities and unlocking new areas of research.

According to Kathrin Schilling, managing director of BioPowder, “Through this collaboration, we expect to enter and serve new markets, offering formulators novel solutions with functional, aesthetic and environmental advantages.”

Specifically, the two companies will develop a new line of plant-based functional fillers and color particles that can complement conventional quartz and kaolin particles. Obtained from agricultural sidestreams, these natural additives work as colored granules or ultrafine fillers in coatings, composite materials or flooring systems. Customers can also leverage Dorfner’s surface treatment and application lab capabilities to develop bespoke lines of Olea FP (functional powders) according to their specific requirements.

“At BioPowder, we believe in taking sustainability to the next level while setting new standards for product and service quality,” Schilling says. “This collaboration represents a significant change in the way both our businesses address the needs of the paints, coatings and composites market. And together, we will unlock the potential of bio-additives for eco-friendly developments in the market and beyond.”

#сomposites #CompositeMaterials #BioPowder

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