Stronger, lighter, and longer-lasting, carbon composites offer cost-effective solutions across an ever-expanding range of applications and industries.
Unsure what carbon composites can do for your engineering challenge? As part of our Composites Toolbox, we partner with our customers to provide material selection assistance, design support, and production services – helping them get their ideas from design to market.
Composite properties
- Family of strongest injection moldable compounds for high-volume production
- Short fiber-reinforced thermoplastic compounds
- Thermoplastic polymers: PP, PA, PPA, PPS, PEI, PEEK, TPU etc.
- Reinforcement: carbon fiber (CF, HMF or rCF), glass fiber (GF), additives
- Vertically integrated value chain
- Customizable formulations for specific application requirements
Composite processing
- Processable using conventional injection molding equipment (process optimization needed)
- Rapid prototyping using 3D-printed tools for injection molding
Composite advantages
- Up to 40% weight reduction vs aluminum (forged or die-casted)
- Cost-efficient lightweighting of high-volume, high-performance parts
- Low production cycle times (min)
- Predictable part performance: Design and simulation support
- Low CO₂ footprint material and parts possible when using recycled polymer and/or rCF
Composite properties
- Thermoplastic organo fleeces from random long fibers, fiber fabrics and uni-directional (UD) orientations
- Innovative sandwich panels and multiple density parts from same lay-ups
- Polymers: PP, PA, PC, PPS, PEI, PEEK, etc.
- Reinforcement: CF, GF, rCF, combinations of NF, GF & rCF
- Densities from 0.3 to 1.8 g/cm3
- Potential for multi-material & functional integrations
Composite processing
- Elimination of lamination step
- Processing: Form pressing and hybrid molding for high production volumes
Composite advantages
- Recyclability and constant quality for specifying purposes from recycled carbon fibers
- Weight savings due to low densities
- Combining high specific strength and stiffness with impact resistance
- Freedom of design due to high drapability
- Part integration and enabling alternative connecting technologies such as welding
- Fast production cycle time vs thermoset-based alternatives
- Ability to skip the preform production step (high productivity, time and costs savings)
Composite properties
- Quasi-isotropic properties
- Thermoset matrix resin selection from epoxy, vinyl ester or biobased resin
- Reinforcement: carbon fiber (CF) or rCF
Composite processing
- Compression molding provides high production rate
- Parts can be easily machined after molding
Composite advantages
- Over 40% weight reduction vs aluminum parts
- Complex geometries at medium to high production volumes at relative low molding cycle times
- Higher strength and specific modulus vs aluminum
- Reliable mechanical simulation although based on non-continuous fibers
Composite properties
- Epoxy & Bio-based resin with non-woven, woven (multi-axial) & UD (uni-directional)
- Reinforcement: glass fiber, aramid fiber and carbon fiber
- Aerospace approved
- Up to 2m width
Composite processing
- Autoclave
- Out-of-autoclave (OOA)
- Quick-cure prepreg compression molding (PCM)
Composite advantages
- PCM parts are lighter than aluminum and up to 3x stiffer & 1/3 cost vs RTM
- Performance parts at an unmatched visual quality and Class A finish
- Can be combined with FMC for hybrid integrated elements
- PCM parts have ready to paint surfaces right out of the mold
Carbon fiber scrap collection
- Take-back service of CFRP materials and parts (production scrap or end-of-life)
- Helps reduce landfill
- Supports manufacturing of recycled carbon fiber
- Reduces end-of-life waste
Sustainable processing
- Once collected, our recycling process (Mechanical & Pyrolysis) begins
- Creates high-performance, custom solutions that can be used to create CFRP for our customers or be re-used in our own Composites
- We integrate our products downstream into our thermoplastic and thermoset composites platforms
rCF products
- Create your own low emissions footprint carbon composites with CarboNXT® - the market’s broadest portfolio of customizable, recycled carbon fiber intermediates & semi-finished products
- Our custom offering:
- Standard, intermediate and high modulus carbon fibers
- Customizable fiber lengths
- Un-sized or polymer-specific sizing chemistries
Our customer-driven focus on material and process innovations – alongside a wide variety of production technologies from molding to machining – help us deliver customized composite solutions across a number of industries. Whether it’s material selection, design, processing, manufacturing, scaling or specification support, our simplified structure and flexible approach make us partners in possibility.
Our global footprint, vertically integrated structure and independent supply chain, give our customers unmatched opportunities for volume and quality control. From low volumes, through medium volumes and very high-volume series production, our next generation manufacturing capabilities provide scalable, future-ready options for deploying composite materials.
We’re supporting the circularity of carbon fiber materials with an end-of-life collection system and the development of waste stream management solutions as well as supply chain logistics. Our strong regulatory expertise and guidance continue to meet global standards. So far, we’ve achieved a critical mass of rCF throughput, guaranteeing supply and quality, and developed a range of specifiable products based on rCF.
Towards a bio-based future for aerospace
BIOpreg PFA is a bio-based intermediate prepreg material that presents a more sustainable alternative to the phenolic systems commonly used to build structural panels in commercial aircrafts.
The Furan resin system is formaldehyde-free and derived from sugar cane waste. The material can be impregnated with a range of reinforcement fibers, including 7781 glass fabric. Switching to BIOpreg PFA requires no retooling, as the material can be processed into components on the same equipment used to make phenolic-based parts.
Rewriting the manufacturing process with KyronTEX®
From test material and prototype design to final improved product.
Our composites experts shared KyronTEX®, with our partner Oribi and together we helped realign their production processes and create a more cost-effective, better-quality motorcycle helmet.
Developing scalable and cost-effective car body panels with carbon fiber prepregs
Streamlining processes to reduce emissions and production costs.
Our composites experts helped a leading automotive manufacturer apply a highly flexible prepreg to lower production costs and emissions in producing and painting body panels for their vehicles.
More carbon fiber, less carbon footprint
CarboNXT recycled carbon fiber products are made from reclaimed scrap materials in a pyrolysis process, offering the strength and lightness of virgin carbon fiber with lower emissions and greater circularity.
Looking for more information, a bespoke solution, or access to product datasheets? Get in touch with our specialist composite teams by filling in the contact form. We’re ready to meet your next challenge.
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