High-Performance Composites

JUL 2014

High-Performance Composites is read by qualified composites industry professionals in the fields of continuous carbon fiber and other high-performance composites as well as the associated end-markets of aerospace, military, and automotive.

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J U L Y 2 0 1 4 | 2 5 Weber Manufacturing Technologies Inc Tel 705.526.7896 • Midland, ON www.webermfg.ca Precision Tooling and CNC Machining for the Composites Industry Invar Steel NVD Nickel Precision ompositesWorld got the unique chance in March to visit BMW Group's manufacturing and assem- bly facility in Leipzig, Germany, where its i3 all-electric, four-door passenger car now rolls out at a rate of 100 vehicles per day. Located just northwest of the city in an open, sprawling industrial park, the BMW campus hosts 10 buildings and is bordered on one side by four 2.5-MW wind turbines, which provide some of the facility's electric power. An imposing three-story, vaulted glass-and-concrete structure that serves as the main en- trance and architectural focal point of the complex is made all the more strik- ing by an overhead conveyor system that moves BMW's production bodies-in- white from an adjacent assembly plant to paint booths elsewhere. Four of the 10 buildings house i3 production, including all aspects of molding and assembling its carbon fber composite Life Module (passenger cell). Manufacture of every carbon fber part produced for the i3 actually begins Plant Tour: An inside look at BMW's i3 production in Otake, Japan, where a joint venture of Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd. (Otake) and carbon fber maker SGL Group (Wi- esbaden, Germany), called MRC SGL Precursor Co. Ltd. (MSP), produces the PAN precursor required for the manu- facture of the carbon fber used in the car. The precursor is delivered to anoth- er joint venture, this one between BMW and SGL, called SGL Automotive Car- bon Fibers (SGL ACF). Based in Moses Lake, Wash., to take advantage of rela- tively inexpensive hydroelectric power there, the SGL ACF C Source: BMW AG (continued on p. 26) 0714HPC New&Briefs-OK.indd; 25 6/17/2014 10:28:41 AM

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