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2 2 C O M P O S I T E S W O R L D . C O M Show Coverage Mubea Carbo Tech mints its high-end carbon fber composite automobile wheels using PUR and a "very complex" set of RTM tools for the all-carbon-fber version. Starting with an 11-kg/24-lb high-end aluminum wheel, a weight savings of almost 20 percent is achieved by switching to the aluminum/carbon fber hybrid at 9 kg/20 lb per wheel and almost 30 percent is saved with an 8-kg/17- lb all-carbon fber wheel, the latter measuring 20 inches/508 mm in diameter with a 9-inch/229-mm rim. Te global market for carbon composite wheels is estimated at roughly 1 million units per year, with a rising trend. Mubea Carbo Tech's Salzburg production is cur- rently targeting a fraction of that: 20,000 units per year. PUR also advanced in the infrastructure market. Dow (Hor- gen, Switzerland and Coreggio, Italy) showcased its VORAFORCE TW 1100 series PUR for flament-wound composite utility poles, formulated to enable fast winding speed and optimal viscosity to avoid dripping during processing. "With polyurethane we want a controlled, slow increase in viscosity so that the resin stays liquid until the winding stops, at which point we want a reasonably paced cure," explained Dow research scientist Paolo Diena. "We have now managed the catalysts to do this very efectively." On display were wound sections of a 110-kV electrical power transmission pole. "We have supplied polyurethane for smaller fla- ment wound 10-kV poles," Diena notes, "but the higher voltage versions are much longer and must combine multiple sections. We took on the challenge to achieve the longer open time to allow these longer sections." Te PUR composite poles reportedly outperform both concrete and polyester-composite poles in durability, electrical insulation and crack resistance, and are lighter and easier to install. THE OTHER TUB Winners and also-rans in the JEC Innovation Awards display are ofen crowd pleasers, but what caught CT's attention in particular this year was a glass fber- reinforced polypropylene (PP) washing machine tub. Molded by Polyplastic Group (Moscow, Russia), using PP resin reinforced with PERFORMAX 249 chopped glass fber supplied by Owens Corning's (Ried im Innkreis, Austria and Toledo, Ohio) business unit in Gous-Khroustalny, Russia, it cleaned up in the 2014 JEC Europe Innovation Awards' Consumer Goods category. Developed for a leading European appli- ance OEM that sought these benefts for its machines sold into the Russian market, the new tub retained the 30 percent glass content of a previous but unsatisfying tub design, but the PERFORMAX 249 fber is credited with enabling improved fow during the injec- tion molding process and promoting better fber/resin adhesion, the latter resulting in 15 percent higher strength and stifness. Tis, in turn, enabled thinner but still hydrolysis-resistant walls, 30 percent more tub capacity (5 kg to 7 kg or 11 lb to 15.4 lb), without increasing the tub size and with spin cycle speeds of up to 1,500 rpm compared to a norm of 1,000 rpm. GROUNDBREAKING APPLICATIONS Cannon SpA (Borromeo, Italy) revealed that its Hanau, Germany- based Cannon Deutschland unit is the machinery supplier behind the Benteler Automobiltechnik GmbH (Schwandorf, Germany)/ SGL Group joint venture Benteler/SGL Automotive Composites' joint production of carbon composite parts for BMW AG's (Munich, Germany) i3 commuter car and i8 sports car. Cannon contribu- tion to Benteler/SGL's (Ried im Innkreis, Austria) fully automated production plant includes one ESTRIM high-pressure dosing unit for the epoxy resin, two 1,000-ton presses, fve handling robots for the manipulation of carbon reinforcements and fnished parts, and all electronic controls, safety devices and chemical storage facili- ties. Te ESTRIM unit features high-pressure impingement mixing heads that allow the use of fast-reacting resins. Its LLD distribution method deposits a uniform liquid "ribbon" of formulated resin over the reinforcement. As a result, low-tonnage clamping presses can be used (limiting capital investment and energy use), yet the process enables part cure within three minutes. At a press conference, RocTool (Paris, France) updated CT on its eforts to commercialize its 3iTech technology, in which inductor coils are directly integrated into steel tools for compression molding processes. RocTool's CEO Alex Guichard displayed a smartphone back cover for Motorola Mobility (USA), produced in a four-cavity mold at a rate of 15,000 parts per day by Taichung, Taiwan-based partners Complam and Ju Teng, a global manufacturer and RocTool licensee. Te MotoX rear housing, a molded polycarbonate (PC) composite reinforced with thermoplastic polyester (PET) fber, fea- tures a high-quality surface fnish, which helped it earn a JEC In- novation Award in the Mobile Devices category. Guichard noted that electronic applications currently account for 60 percent of RocTool's business and reiterated the company's aspiration to place 3iTech systems with 30 major brands of the same stature as Motorola. Toward that end, RocTool recently opened a Source | CT / Photo: Ginger Gardiner Source | CT / Photo: Ginger Gardiner 0614CT ShowJEC-OK-switchphoto.indd 22 5/20/2014 8:29:05 AM