A significant penetration of the composite industry has been witnessed over the past few years with the so-called thermoplastic-based composite compounds. Once a polymeric material has been chosen, one of the first questions product engineers and designers need to answer is whether to use a thermoplastic or a thermoset resin. The resulting manufacturing process will then be immediately differentiated. Whereas thermoplastic are melted under heat and thus can be formed to the desired shape (for the main processing techniques this is handled with a steel mold — injection; a die — extrusion; or an aluminum or composite tool — thermoforming), thermosets need an in-mold curing step.
Fig: 1 Full thermoplastic horizontal tailgate designed and produced by NL-based Fokker Aerostructures B.V for the new AW169 civil helicopter from the Italian AgustaWestland. The green part is described in image 2
(Source: Apocope Agency)
As a direct consequence, thermosets require a longer cycle time than thermoplastics and further cannot be easily recycled due to the crosslinking throughout the molecular network. Re-using a thermoplastic is (almost) as easy as submitting the material to heat and forming it again. However, thermosets do offer other advantages such as much lower tooling costs versus thermoplastics. This makes thermosets much more competitive than thermoplastics when considering small to medium size series parts (e.g.: truck components and panels, small off-road vehicles, motorcycle parts, aeronautics, building & infrastructure, etc.).
Fig: 2 Torsion box with its multiple ribs. This part is the structural component of the AW169 helicopter horizontal tailgate
(Source: Apocope Agency)
While visiting the 2013 JEC Show in Paris, it was clear this annual event, which was mainly dealing with thermoset applications and processors just a few years ago, is now an annual event where both materials co-exist, and of course — compete. When looking at the JEC Innovation Award categories, it is not a surprise to now see two Innovation Awards focused on Thermoplastic Innovations. The increased importance of thermoplastics was further proven by the winner of the JEC Innovation Award in the Aeronautics category. The winner, Fokker Aerostructures based in The Netherlands, developed and produced the first thermoplastic-based composite horizontal tailgate (horizontal stabilizer) for a helicopter.
The customer, the Italian aircrafts manufacturer AgustaWestland launched its new AW169 helicopter for the civil market. The official announcement of the JEC Group mentioned this innovation primarily lies in the lower weight achieved compared to the previous composite design for such horizontal tailgates (up to 15% weight reduction claimed) and the lower production costs thanks to an easy assembly of four simple thermoplastic preforms, that are press-melted onto the structural torsion box. This is indeed another well-known advantage of thermoplastics over thermosets — not only are the cycle times shorter, the manufacturing processes are much easier with thermoplastics; whereas thermosets always require a high amount of manual or semi-manual steps.
However, even if thermoplastic composites have made significant inroads in the composite market over these past few years, there are still applications and markets remaining out of the reach of these thermoplastic composites. When meeting with company directors and/or R&D directors during the 2013 JEC Show in Paris, it was evident that the Defense and Aerospace industries do not really believe in thermoplastic-based composites for their applications. However, they all agree with the fact that many challenging applications usually made out of metal, concrete or thermoset-based composites can now turn to thermoplastic solutions, thanks to broadened product offerings and innovative and high performing reinforcing systems. Let's review some of these advances and new thermoplastic-based composites solutions.
A significant penetration of the composite industry has been witnessed over the past few years with the so-called thermoplastic-based composite compounds. Once a polymeric material has been chosen, one of the first questions product engineers and designers need to answer is whether to use a thermoplastic or a thermoset resin. The resulting manufacturing process will then be immediately differentiated. Whereas thermoplastic are melted under heat and thus can be formed to the desired shape (for the main processing techniques this is handled with a steel mold — injection; a die — extrusion; or an aluminum or composite tool — thermoforming), thermosets need an in-mold curing step.
Fig: 1 Full thermoplastic horizontal tailgate designed and produced by NL-based Fokker Aerostructures B.V for the new AW169 civil helicopter from the Italian AgustaWestland. The green part is described in image 2
(Source: Apocope Agency)
As a direct consequence, thermosets require a longer cycle time than thermoplastics and further cannot be easily recycled due to the crosslinking throughout the molecular network. Re-using a thermoplastic is (almost) as easy as submitting the material to heat and forming it again. However, thermosets do offer other advantages such as much lower tooling costs versus thermoplastics. This makes thermosets much more competitive than thermoplastics when considering small to medium size series parts (e.g.: truck components and panels, small off-road vehicles, motorcycle parts, aeronautics, building & infrastructure, etc.).
Fig: 2 Torsion box with its multiple ribs. This part is the structural component of the AW169 helicopter horizontal tailgate
(Source: Apocope Agency)
While visiting the 2013 JEC Show in Paris, it was clear this annual event, which was mainly dealing with thermoset applications and processors just a few years ago, is now an annual event where both materials co-exist, and of course — compete. When looking at the JEC Innovation Award categories, it is not a surprise to now see two Innovation Awards focused on Thermoplastic Innovations. The increased importance of thermoplastics was further proven by the winner of the JEC Innovation Award in the Aeronautics category. The winner, Fokker Aerostructures based in The Netherlands, developed and produced the first thermoplastic-based composite horizontal tailgate (horizontal stabilizer) for a helicopter.
The customer, the Italian aircrafts manufacturer AgustaWestland launched its new AW169 helicopter for the civil market. The official announcement of the JEC Group mentioned this innovation primarily lies in the lower weight achieved compared to the previous composite design for such horizontal tailgates (up to 15% weight reduction claimed) and the lower production costs thanks to an easy assembly of four simple thermoplastic preforms, that are press-melted onto the structural torsion box. This is indeed another well-known advantage of thermoplastics over thermosets — not only are the cycle times shorter, the manufacturing processes are much easier with thermoplastics; whereas thermosets always require a high amount of manual or semi-manual steps.
However, even if thermoplastic composites have made significant inroads in the composite market over these past few years, there are still applications and markets remaining out of the reach of these thermoplastic composites. When meeting with company directors and/or R&D directors during the 2013 JEC Show in Paris, it was evident that the Defense and Aerospace industries do not really believe in thermoplastic-based composites for their applications. However, they all agree with the fact that many challenging applications usually made out of metal, concrete or thermoset-based composites can now turn to thermoplastic solutions, thanks to broadened product offerings and innovative and high performing reinforcing systems. Let's review some of these advances and new thermoplastic-based composites solutions.
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