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.
Issue link: https://hpc.epubxp.com/i/110847
Source: Gurit Automotive uPdaTe: auTomoTIve ComPoSITeS a b c CBS 200 laminate d Gurit Automotive Ltd.'s (Newport, Isle of Wight, U.K.) CBS 200 ply schedule features a layer of surface film/primer (a), an outer 2x2 twill semipreg layer (b), a flexible syntactic foam core (c) and an inner layer of semipreg, usually 2x2 twill glass (d). Class a CFRP body Panels: SIX-MINUTE CURE Gurit CBS-based laminate/process combo makes parts with twice the thermal performance in one-sixth the time. W ith tougher emissions and fuel economy targets now in play, automakers are struggling to take weight out of vehicles without losing control of costs or sacrificing production volumes. The composites industry, in turn, is scrambling to shorten the processing times of polymers, particularly thermosets and especially those used in carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRPs). Much CFRP work of late has focused on resin chemistry, to reduce the catalyzed polymer's cure duration, and on finding out-of-autoclave processes that produce quality parts but require less time, energy and secondary finishing — bogeys that have previously driven production rates down and costs up. Toward those ends, Gurit Automotive Ltd. (Newport, 38 | Isle of Wight, U.K.) has developed a new laminate material and "press process" that reportedly produces CFRP parts with nearly twice the previous thermal performance (200°C/392°F vs. 110°C/230°F) in button-to-button cycle times down from 60 to 10 minutes, achieving cure in a mere six minutes. SPRINT to the finish Called CBS 200, the new material is based on Gurit's patented SPRINT (SP Resin INfusion Technology) CBS (car body sheet) technology introduced in 2007 for Class A automotive body panels. The new product offers the low weight and Class A surface of the previous CBS 96 grade, which was developed for lowtemperature (80°C/176°F) paint ovens, but the 200 version is compatible with hIGh-performANCe CompoSIteS by Peggy Malnati E-Coat. Short for electrophoretic coating, E-Coat is known in Europe as KTL, a German abbreviation for cathodic dip painting (CDP). It is the high-temperature process used to bake/cure rust preventative onto the metallic body in white. Although composites don't need rustproofing, automakers prefer to attach panels at the start, not the end, of vehicle build. The original CBS epoxy-matrix laminate is a sandwich construction: a Gurit SF 95 surface film; a carbon-fiber fabric semipreg, typically 200g/m² (0.65 oz/ft²) 3K tow in a 2x2 twill weave; a thin (0.7 mm/0.03 inch) yet flexible syntactic foam core of epoxy/glass microspheres, which increases stiffness and buckling resistance but offers inmold conformability; and another fabric semipreg, typically