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18 C O M P O S I T E S W O R L D . C O M Show Coverage T REVIEW 2014 JEC Europe The composites world met again in Paris, vibrant, stronger, and more forward-looking than ever before. he 2014 edition of JEC Europe (March 11-13, Paris, France) was the biggest and busiest iteration of the show yet, with more than 1,200 exhibitors and, according to show organizer JEC Group (Paris, France), 32,000 attendees passing through the doors. Spread for the frst time across two foors at the Paris Expo's Porte de Versailles exhibition center, the event proved, again, the dynamism, creativity and ingenuity of the composites industry. (JEC is considering adding a third foor in 2015.) Te CT staf was there in force and returned with the following highlights — for a more detailed report see "Learn More," p. 23. (CT reviews new products that made their debuts in Paris, beginning on p. 40.) THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME Clear from the frst day were several trends that show all the earmarks of transforming the way composites industry suppliers and parts fabricators approach their common goals in the future. Many of them show great promise for composites in automotive applications — in particular, those reinforced with carbon fber. Signifcant among the trends and trendsetters were the following: SNAP-CURE RESINS A molding system is only as fast as its resin, and it was clear at JEC that materials suppliers are getting that message. Te biggest news came from Dow Automotive (Schwalbach, Germany and Auburn Hills, Mich.), which leapt into the fast-cure epoxy market with the introduction of its trademarked VORAFORCE 5300. Designed specifcally for use in RTM and aimed at the automotive market, the material ofers a sub-90-second cycle time — from preform insert to press open. Dow believes a cycle time of about 60 seconds is possible (see "Learn More"). Te resin's extremely low viscosity (15 mPa/s) reportedly gives it good "persistent fow" throughout the preform and helps reduce press tonnage requirements. Dow also reported that the resin of- fers mechanical performance on par with competitive epoxies, and thermal performance of about 120°C/248°F. It features an internal mold release, thus eliminating external mold release costs. (Read about other Dow new products on p. 40.) Also aimed at automotive production, Momentive Specialty Chemicals' (Columbus, N.Y.) EPIKOTE 05475, introduced in 2013, was on exhibit. Te fast-cure, low-viscosity epoxy, for use in com- pression molding, infusion, pultrusion and RTM processes, ofers a cure time of about 90 seconds, and Momentive ofcials said the company has been working with the France-based Technical Cen- ter for the Mechanical Industry (CETIM) to develop applications, including exterior body panels, suspension arms and a crash box targeted to automotive OEMs — the latter was on display in the Momentive stand (see photo, bottom lef, this page). Momentive says volumes up to 1,000 units per day are possible. Henkel (Toulouse, France and Bay Point, Calif.), Cytec Indus- tries (Woodland Park, N.J.), Huntsman Advanced Materials (Te Woodlands, Texas) and Bayer MaterialScience (Leverkusen, Ger- many) also were on hand with thermoset materials in the same cycle-time range, for RTM, pultrusion, infusion and compression molding processes — all with the auto industry's part-per-minute production standard in mind. THERMOPLASTIC-FRIENDLY CARBON FIBER Te SGL Group (Wiesbaden, Germany) and Toho Tenax (Wuppertal, Germany and Rockwood, Tenn.) each introduced at JEC Europe a new carbon fber sizing optimized for thermoplastic resins. Toho Tenax VP of sales Greg Olson said his company's sizing is formulated for use with polyetheretherketone (PEEK) in aero- composites, but he added that Toho Tenax also is looking at oil and gas, and medical applications. Te new sizing, he notes, does not burn of during processing and is compatible with weaving or braiding processes. Te company is working on additional sizings for use with other thermoplastics. Te snap-cure and carbon fber/thermoplastics trends made it all the more noteworthy that Paul Mackenzie, VP research and tech- nology at U.S.-based aerospace carbon fber and prepreg supplier Source | CT / Photo: Jeff Sloan 0614CT ShowJEC-OK-switchphoto.indd 18 5/20/2014 8:24:52 AM