Hall 17 | Booth C22
Organic sheets are lightweight fibre composite parts with a thermoplastic matrix. The plate-shaped fibre composite material made of fibre tissue or fibre layers is embedded in a thermoplastic matrix, which is typically a plastic film. The individual layers of film and reinforced fibre are consolidated with heat and pressure and then cooled down to organic sheets. The plates can be reformed to component parts by reheating them. Reifenhäuser Reicofil is the first to use nonwovens instead of film for the thermoplastic matrix.
New rollable fibre reinforced plastic combined with nonwovens (photo: Reifenhäuser Reicofil)
Reifenhäuser Reicofil will present its development of a new fibre reinforced plastic and the corresponding process to manufacture it. The semi-finished product is said to be the first lightweight material on the market to combine reinforced fibre and nonwovens. In tests at the RWTH Aachen University, where the new semi-finished product was directly compared to the current market standards in automotive engineering and aircraft construction, the new material came out well in manufacturing process as well as for product properties.
The development of this new semi-finished product means that an entire production step can be dispensed with during manufacturing. The production of the thermoplastic matrix (nonwovens) and its layering with reinforced fibre is done inline in one production step when manufacturing the new semi-finished product. In contrast to organic sheets, here the layers are not consolidated directly but rather wound onto reels. The layers adhere to one another but remain flexible. Both the consolidation of the layers and forming them into lightweight component parts then occurs once again in one single step. By combining individual production steps, less heating and cooling is required. The developers are anticipating positive effects to the energy efficiency of the entire process. The new semi-finished product can also be produced in large widths up to approximately 3m and without limit to its length. Organic sheets are limited to widths of approximately 1.3m.
The benefits of nonwovens
During consolidation, that is the pressing together of individual layers, nonwovens are said to have advantages over films: tests have shown that the melt is distributed more uniformly between the reinforced fibre. When they are pressed together, flaws no longer occur, because air can escape through the nonwovens. When pressing film together, air is frequently trapped, reducing the strength of the finished component part.
During subsequent processing of the finished component part, organic nonwovens also have advantages due to their better drapability. According to Reifenhäuser Reicofil, it was shown in tests that extreme angles and details could be formed. Up to now forming has been tested only on smaller component parts up to a size of 200mm x 200mm. The developers anticipate these results will be transferable to larger parts. For more in-depth testing and further development of this technology to make it market-ready, the developers at Reifenhäuser Reicofil are currently looking for partners in the industry. Together, it is planned to investigate the new lightweight construction markets which can be opened by the new semi-finished product and the new manufacturing process.
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