JEC Composites presents the winners of the Innovations Awards

jec Composites has presented the galadornados of the innovation awards for the 2006 Edition which will take place on 28 March and covering the following sectors: Aeronautics and aerospace, construction, land transport, energy and industry, sports and leisure, as well as two new categories: environment and procedures. "In the composites industry, innovation is present at each stage of the value chain." Resins and fibers of new generation using fewer raw materials and respect the regulations. Our engineers invent new automated manufacturing processes that tend towards zero-waste. Finally, our designers invent real solutions of engineering with high added value by creating an expression itself and only in composite materials. We are far from simply replacing the metal or wood. "The composite materials industry gives life to the forms and structures of the 3rd millennium", said Frédérique Mutel, JEC Group General Manager.

This year, the winners of the JEC Composites Innovation Awards 2006 programme are:

Innovation Laureate "Aeronautics and aerospace". The filling of the blades of turbines hollow with a dampening composite material developed by huntsman advanced materials (Switzerland), university of sheffield (United Kingdom) and Rolls-Royce (Great Britain). The blades of the compressors of the large jets for civil aviation are hollow. So far, nida and other solutions were used to fill and maintain cross-sectional profile during the bending of the blades. Now, this solution has been replaced by a composite and epoxy-amine containing cast charges (syntactic composite materials). This solution, easier to implement, provides a more effective than existing solutions dynamic buffer and at the same time, it is cheaper. In 2005, the product was in commercial State, especially in the A380. The engines of new generation will benefit from this innovation.

Innovation Laureate "land transport". The front side of the Tram-Train, model Avanto, of composite materials, resistant to impact, which responds to the European standard DIN 5560 crash, developed by jupiter plast (Denmark) and Siemens mass transportation (Germany). The dual circulation outside the city and urban carries special needs in the design of the nose of the car's head, where the driver can be found. This nose is the first structure in composite materials that meets the requirements of the standard. It's also lighter. The construction is of sandwich core foam (Rohacell), manufactured by infusion vacuum and resin metacrílica (fire resistance). El morro is resisting a frontal force of 30 tons. It deforms controlled manner so that the driver is protected and the car does not warp. The first Tram-Train Avanto deliveries will begin in 2006.

innovation laureate "procedimiento". The integration of the F3P-RTM procedure applied to eight parts (panels) of class A for the Aston Martin DB9 tuning for Ford Motor company (United States), aston martin (United Kingdom) and Sotira (France). Her preform is obtained using cut fibers (F3P Ford Programmable Performing Process), robotic procedure that produces few residues. Then, preform them used in RTM to directly obtain pieces of class. The robots are programmable off-line (reduced times and collision avoidance). The volatile are reduced. Some pieces comprise several functions that generate few waste (less than 1%). The current production at Sotira is 15,000 pieces per year with a forecast of 34,000/year.

Innovation Laureate "Energy and industry". The post of controlled energy absorption lighting to reduce the danger of collision with an automobile developed by Mikkeli (Finland), Tehomet (Finland) and Fibrocom (Finland). The structure in channel of the post in composite materials allows to reconcile less mass, high resistance, good mechanical stiffness, good absorption of energy and excellent behavior to impact, at the same time preserving a competitive production costs. The post also integrates seamlessly into the urban landscape. Given that it meets the European standard EN 12767, the marketing of this post is aimed the European market.

Innovation Laureate "environment". The heads of posts of electrical distribution equipment by saint-gobain vetrotex (Brazil) and RGF Projetos (Brazil). On top of each electrical pole there are always technical parts, performed usually in wood or metal that hold the electric wires. These pieces have been replaced by pieces of thermoplastic composite materials (using a recycled material). The basic material used consists of 58% polypropylene recycled with 40% of CFS-100 fiberglass cut to 25 mm and 2% of additive to improve stability and resistance to weathering. Therefore, respected the environment, as the material used is recycled PP, the pieces are also recyclable. Thanks to excellent resistance, expected life span varies between 50 and 80 years.

Innovation Laureate "Sport and leisure". The electrical Caddy Mantis have perfected by schappe techniques (France), Thermofusion GmbH (Germany) and Carbonfunctions VertriebsGmbh (Germany). The electric motorization Mantis HE golf caddy has a structure in thermoplastic tube reinforced with carbon (TPFL). The procedure used is the BIM, which consists of inflating a balloon inside the tube of composite materials, which in turn is subject in a closed mold. The caddy also has two engines 90 w and two accumulators of 6.5 Ah lodged in the wheels. The autonomy is enough for a tour of 18 holes. Lightweight, easy to deploy and fold for storage in a car, this caddy requires a production time shorter than a termoendurecible solution. It was released in 2005, after two years of development.

innovation laureate "construcción". The CR (reinforcement of composite materials), armour to reinforce the structures of concrete (in replacement of the steel), prepared by BBA (Black Bull AS) (Norway) and its partners reichhold AS (Norway), Loe betongelementer AS (Norway), Tele bryggen (Norway), Selco Tek SA (Norway) and kamenny vek (Russia). It's a reinforcement made with continuous carbon fiber or basalt, and resin termoendurecible on which is deposited, at the end of the polymerization, a material granulation (sand) that adheres to the resin and will serve as a mechanical Union with concrete. Contrary to the practice of pultrusion (little fast, very smooth, with little adherence to concrete and that only provides straight profiles), the procedure has been designed to perform complex forms with a distinctly higher production capacity (16 m/min and 50 to 100 m/min. with automation [30 times faster than the pultrusion]). The total weight of the reinforcement is less than 1.5 kg, i.e. four times lighter than steel for superior reinforcement properties. The commercial launch of the first reinforcements of composite materials took place in 2005 with the completion of three floating pontoons of concrete of 3 m x 13 m.