Fire-resistant Bio-based Composite Prepreg Enables Lightweight Train Seating Support

Composites Evolution, Bercella and Element Materials Technology (Element) have successfully completed the development and testing of a composite cantilever support for rail passenger seating.

Composite Cantilever Seat Support

The component, which is 1 meter long but weighs less than 5 kg, passed a wide range of tests performed by Element. The evaluation included static loadings, fatigue cycles and fire testing to EN 45545 according to the requirements of Bercella’s customers.

Cantilever seat supports, which are mounted on the wall of a train carriage rather than the floor, offer a number of advantages including improved access for cleaning and luggage storage. The lightweight composite structure also provides advantages in terms of reduced train energy consumption and lower axle loads.

Bio-based Evopreg PFC Prepreg

The seat support was manufactured by Bercella using Composites Evolution’s Evopreg PFC prepreg with a high strength carbon fiber reinforcement. Evopreg PFC was specified for this application because of its excellent fire performance, low toxicity and outstanding environmental credentials - the base polyfurfuryl alcohol resin is 100% bio-derived. Evopreg PFC is one of the first prepregs to be manufactured on Composites Evolution’s new prepreg line that was installed in July 2018.

Brendon Weager, Composites Evolution’s Technical Director, commented:
“We are delighted with how well Evopreg PFC has performed for Bercella’s seating concept. Producing composites that are both structural and highly fire-resistant is often challenging, but we’ve passed Element’s tests with flying colors.”

The seat support will be on display at Composites Evolution’s stand (N99) at the Advanced Engineering Show on 31st October and 1st November in Birmingham, UK.

Source: Composites Evolution

First TITAN®53 Mobile Pipeline® units delivered in Nebraska

Hexagon continues delivering firsts to the Mobile Pipeline® market as the first TITAN®53 gas transport module was delivered in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. The TITAN®53 is the result of a rigorous design, development and testing process built on the foundation of the deepest engineering expertise in composite pressure vessel technology in the industry.

After nearly a decade of success with TITAN® products, customers are demanding the ability to move greater volumes of compressed gases including natural gas, hydrogen and industrial gases on every trip. The newly developed TITAN®53 cylinders and module optimize weight and capacity to meet the 80,000 lbs (36,300 kg) GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) to allow operation in all 50 US states while delivering an estimated gas volume of 492,000 SCF / 13,932 SCM of natural gas. Hexagon’s TITAN® cylinders are the largest composite cylinders now available.

Safety is top priority for development teams, which have delivered over 700,000 high pressure full composite cylinders over their 25 years. Hexagon’s composite cylinders hold up to three times the capacity of steel at the same vehicle weight, dramatically improving payload and range.

Hexagon’s Mobile Pipeline® team is collaborating with energy leaders to develop innovative systems that provide safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions off the gas grid. To date, more than 1,200 Mobile Pipeline® modules are deployed globally, where they are driving energy transformation from conventional petroleum fuels to clean and affordable natural gas.

Supporting customers extends beyond the deployment of the modules with exceptional service and support. To facilitate future service and requalification of the module, Hexagon designed the TITAN®53 module to accommodate Hexagon’s Modal Acoustic Emission requalification testing. Modal Acoustic Emission testing is the most comprehensive method of testing composites available in the world and presents a technological leap in safety.

Source: Hexagon

Bioinspired Approach to 3D Print Recyclable Materials: ETH Zürich

Fused deposition modeling (FDM), often simply referred to as 3D Printing, has been hailed as the future of manufacturing. However, the bad mechanical performance of parts produced by FDM compared to conventionally manufactured objects has limited its use to prototyping. Therefore, despite its promise of mass customization, FDM 3D Printing has not been adopted by industry for production. 

Commercial 3D Printing of Complex Parts

Researchers at ETH Zürich have developed a bioinspired approach to 3D print recyclable materials using cheap desktop printers that outperform state-of-the-art printed polymers and rival the highest performance lightweight materials. This will finally enable the manufacturing of complex parts that mimic natural structural designs on the mass market. 3D Printing, particularly FDM, makes it possible to produce unique complex parts quickly and at a low cost by sequentially depositing beads of a molten polymer. However, the available polymers are relatively weak and the printed parts show poor adhesion between the printed lines. Because of these limitations FDM has not yet been successfully implemented in commercial products. Traditionally, people increased the performance of polymers by including strong and stiff fibers such as glass or carbon fibers into the material. Although the resulting materials exhibit very high strength and stiffness, the energy- and labor-intensive fabrication process as well as the difficulty to recycle state-of-the-art composites represent major challenges today.

3D Printing with Single Recyclable Material

• To combine the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced composites with the freedom in design that comes with 3D printing, methods have been developed to include carbon fibers into the printed objects. 
• However, this approach requires expensive specialized equipment, and still is restricted with the possible geometries with materials that cannot be recycled. 
• For the first time, researchers from the Complex Materials group and the Soft Materials group at ETH, were able to print objects from a single recyclable material with mechanical properties that surpass all other available printable polymers and can compete even with fiber-reinforced composites.

Inspiration by Nature

The researchers were inspired by two materials that can be found in Nature – spider silk and wood – during the development of these structures. Spider silk gets its unrivalled mechanical properties from the high degree of molecular alignment of the silk proteins along the fiber directions. 

• First, it was possible to reproduce this high alignment during the extrusion from an FDM nozzle by using a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) as an FDM feedstock material, resulting in unprecedented mechanical properties in the deposition direction. 
• Second, the anisotropic fiber properties were utilized by tailoring the local orientation of the print path according to the specific loading conditions imposed by the environment. This design principle is inspired by the ability of living tissue like wood to arrange fibers along the stress lines developed throughout the loaded structure as it grows and adapts to its environment.

Recyclable 3D Printed LCP Structures

• The recyclable 3D printed LCP structures are much stronger than the state-of-the-art 3D printed polymers and do not require the labor- and energy-intensive steps involved in current composite manufacturing technologies. 
• Thus, the technology is expected to be a game-changer in several structural, biomedical and energy-harvesting applications where high-performance lightweight materials are required. 
• Additionally, because the research has been conducted using a readily available polymer and a commercial desktop printer, it should be easy for the broader additive manufacturing and open source communities to adopt this new material and digitally design and fabricate strong and complex lightweight objects from LCPs.

Source: ETH Zürich

Covestro’s Bio-based Raw Materials for Rigid PU Foam Reduce CO2 Emissions

In industrial and commercial construction, in public facilities and logistics buildings, energy efficiency, sustainability and compliance with climate protection targets will become increasingly important alongside cost-effectiveness. These and other challenges are the topic of this year's industrieBAU (Industrial Construction) Day on trends and future topics in industrial construction, which the industrieBAU magazine is organizing on September 27 at the Kasino Hotel in Chempark Leverkusen.

Reducing Energy Consumption and CO₂ Emissions

Rigid polyurethane (PU) foam is a very high-performance insulating material and is ideal for reducing energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in buildings as well as conserving fossil resources. In German industrial and commercial buildings made of sandwich panels, the insulating material now has a market share of around 80 percent. Covestro is supporting the event with a lecture and as a platinum sponsor and is inviting the participants to visit its technical center for polyurethane building products.
Sustainable insulating material for industrial and commercial buildings Sandwich panels consist of two metallic cover layers and a core of PU or even more fire-resistant polyisocyanurate (PIR) hard foam. "They have been used for many years for large-area and efficient thermal insulation of industrial and commercial buildings and facilitate fast, modular and cost-effective construction of buildings," says Stefanie Rau, marketing manager for the construction industry in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
Rigid PU foam is also used in insulation boards. They have flexible covering layers and are used to insulate pitched and flat roofs and floors as well as internal and external walls. "In flat roof applications, they are gaining increasing market share, which is due to their high compressive strength, water resistance and the associated low maintenance costs," explains Stefanie Rau. Both products are manufactured in a continuous process on double-belt lines.

Covestro – A Pioneer in Alternative Raw Materials

For even more sustainable thermal insulation of buildings, Covestro now additionally uses alternative raw materials for its production, also to reduce its own dependence on fossil resources. The company is currently working intensively on a CO₂-based raw material for rigid PU foam.

In addition, Covestro and its partners have developed a unique method for obtaining the key chemical product aniline from biobased raw materials. MDI could in future be produced from this bioaniline – another important raw material for rigid PU foam.

Modern Technical Center

A few years ago, Covestro set up a modern technical center for the industrial production of polyurethane foams in order to better support it in aligning its production to current market requirements. Among other things, the plant includes continuously operating systems for the production of insulation boards and sandwich panel elements, which are used for large-area insulation solutions in industrial construction. The goal is to further improve the insulating effect and fire resistance of these products in line with customer requirements and market trends.

Digitalization for Greater Efficiency

Digitalization opens up many opportunities for the construction industry and the associated value chain to increase productivity, make processes more efficient and support sustainability. Covestro pursues a comprehensive strategic program based on three dimensions – digital business processes, digital customer experience and new digital business models.
The implementation of the program begins for Covestro with more efficient operation of its own production and ranges from a comprehensive digital approach of business customers to the development of an innovative chemical trading platform, which is currently being tested. With the new business models, "digital technical services" are particularly important to make customer production even more efficient.
Source: Covestro

 

Researchers Identify Latex Proteins to Enhance Natural Rubber Production

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has announced that the results of joint research projects conducted since 2013 with two universities in Thailand, a major producer of natural rubber, were recently presented at The International Polymer Conference of Thailand 2018 (PCT-8). 

The joint research projects were conducted with researchers at Mahidol University and Prince of Songkla University. The research with Mahidol University succeeded in analyzing proteins contained in sap (latex), the base raw material for natural rubber, and identifying the proteins deeply involved in natural rubber biosynthesis. The research deepens the understanding of the biosynthesis of natural rubber, making it possible to accelerate research related to quality and production.

Evaluating Physical and Chemical Properties of Rubber

The research conducted at Mahidol University entailed the extraction and nano-level analysis of proteins from fresh latex and seedlings from Para rubber trees. The analysis covered more than 800 kinds of proteins contained in latex, some of which were found to be related to natural rubber biosynthesis and stress resistance. In addition, by comparing proteins from different varieties of Para rubber trees, the researchers were able to identify the proteins that promote biosynthesis and the proteins that inhibit biosynthesis. The proteins are expected to be used as biomarkers of biosynthesis.
The research at Prince of Songkla University was fundamental research on natural rubber that focused on analyzing the differences in latex related to different seasons and regions, different varieties and different processing methods. The research also evaluated the presence or absence of changes in the physical and chemical properties of rubber over long periods of time. To date, natural rubber has been a very stable material, from its composition to its physical properties, and it has been highly resistant to external factors. 

Enhancing Maintenance and Development of Natural Rubber Plantations:

Natural rubber is a raw material made from latex taken from Para rubber trees. It is one of the main raw materials used in automotive tires, accounting for about 30% of tires made. However, natural rubber’s production is concentrated in Southeast Asia, which exposes large-scale production to risks from abnormal weather and disease. Expecting tire demand to expand in the future, Yokohama Rubber regards the improvement of the quality of natural rubber and the promotion of technological development contributing to stable production as an important corporate duty. Accordingly, the Company plans to use the results of this research to promote the maintenance and development of natural rubber plantations.

The Yokohama Rubber Group has positioned “Promotion of CSR activities throughout the value chain” as one of the important issues of the Group’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Accordingly, in addition to the above joint research projects on natural rubber, the Group is engaged in activities that will contribute to sustaining farmlands. These activities have included biodiversity surveys on natural rubber plantations and promoting widespread use of an “agroforestry farming method” that contributes to more stable income for rubber tree growers by planting bamboo, fruit trees and other plants in natural rubber forests.

Source: Yokohama Rubber Co

 

Indorama Ventures and Loop Industries launch a JV to manufacture and commercialize sustainable Polyester Resin

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, one of the world’s leading petrochemical companies, and Loop Industries, Inc., a leading technology innovator in sustainable plastic resin and polyester has launched a 50/50 joint venture company to manufacture and commercialize sustainable polyester resin to meet the growing global demand from beverage and consumer packaged goods companies.
The world-class manufacturing footprint of Indorama and proprietary science and technology of Loop will form a world leader in the ‘circular’ economy for 100% sustainable and recycled PET resin and polyester fiber. The JV will use an exclusive worldwide license for Loop’s technology to produce 100% sustainably produced PET resin and polyester fiber.

Aloke Lohia, Group CEO of Indorama Ventures, said, “At Indorama Ventures, we continue to pursue the right opportunities to fill gaps that are intrinsic to our sustainable and profitable business by deploying resources in order to support the circular economy. This joint venture with Loop Industries emphasizes our belief in recycling and is aimed at investing in new technologies that can steer further our aspiration of being a world-class chemical company making great products for society.”

Daniel Solomita, Founder and CEO of Loop Industries, commented, “We are excited to launch this partnership with Indorama Ventures, who provide a global leadership platform in petrochemical manufacturing and a shared commitment to sustainability. This joint venture combines each of our companies’ area of expertise so that we may both play a leading role in the global shift by business and consumers to the circular economy. This is a first strategic step in our global commercialization plan and mission to accelerate the world’s shift toward sustainable plastic and away from the traditional, take, make and dispose economy.”

OCSiAl’s Graphene Nanotubes Replace Ammonium Salts & Carbon Black in PU System

Graphene nanotubes have demonstrated their ability to impart permanent and homogeneous anti-static properties to polyurethane (PU) materials, overcoming previous difficulties with nanotube dispersion in PU systems. The recently developed nanotube-based concentrate TUBALL MATRIX 202 has already built up a solid track record in applications such as industrial rollers and castors, PU shoes, printing rollers and cleaning pigs. 

TUBALL MATRIX 202 - Concentrate of High-quality TUBALL™ SW CNTs

OCSiAl’s TUBALL graphene nanotubes are rapidly gaining ground in customer-oriented applications with high-performance requirements. One remarkable example is PU discs in cleaning pigs for industrial pipelines. To avoid explosions and fires while also preventing static noise and improving diagnostic accuracy, manufacturers of cleaning pigs are replacing ammonium salts as an anti-static agent with TUBALL MATRIX 202. In addition to a permanent and stable resistivity level of 10^7–10^5 Ω·cm, the preliminary results have shown a 30% reduction in the rate of equipment failure. 

Applications of TUBALL MATRIX 202

• Another specific application of TUBALL MATRIX 202 is anti-static shoes, where the PU elastomer material used in the outsole and midsole allows the shoes to be used in various static-sensitive facilities in the chemistry, oil and gas, electronics and mining industries. 
• These nanotubes have also been well received by industrial roller manufacturers, as PU printing rollers can now be produced with a permanent volume resistivity level of 10^8–10^6 Ω·cm without dust formation at the facility and while preserving the essential mechanical performance characteristics such as abrasion resistance and hardness. 
• TUBALL MATRIX 202 is also gaining ground in rollers and castors used in the mining industry, where anti-static properties are critical for safety reasons. 

According to data supplied by one of OCSiAl’s customers, graphene nanotubes preserve or even improve mechanical properties of the system, whereas previously the 6.5 wt.% of carbon black that had been used for anti-static purposes led to a nearly two-fold reduction in tear strength. 

The TUBALL MATRIX 202 concentrate carrier is a plasticizer based on fatty carboxylic acid ester derivatives. 

To obtain a resistivity level of 10^9–10^5 Ω·cm, the working dosage range of graphene nanotubes is 100 times less than the working dosage of ammonium salts, 500 times less than that of carbon black, and 1000 times less than that of conductive mica.

In comparison with ammonium salts, graphene nanotubes enable a wider range of resistivity levels that are totally independent of humidity and temperature conditions, and these nanotubes’ superiority over carbon black is rooted in their easy dispersion and the preserved mechanical properties of the system. 

Source: OCSiAl