Chomarat — a France-based textile manufacturer that comprises three business units including Composites, Textiles and Fashion — has won a JEC Innovation Award in the carbon category for its C-PLY Bi-Angle™ unbalanced thin-ply biaxial carbon reinforcement non-crimp fabric (NCF), developed in collaboration with Stanford, Calif.-based Stanford University's Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics and Korea-based Hanyang University's Department of Mechanical Engineering.

According to Chomarat, the fabric can help reduce weight and composite processing costs while providing mechanical properties including superior strength, no matrix cracking, reduced deformation through anisotropy, and improved strength and durability in laminates, among other properties. It is suitable for composite solutions in areas such as automotive, sport and leisure products, wind energy components, and tube and pipe products. It can be made using fibers such as carbon, e-glass, S2-glass and aramid. Suitable laminating techniques include hand lay-up, low refractive index, reflective foil insulation, resin transfer molding, vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding and prepreg.

C-Ply Bi-Angle Carbon NCF is going into carbon road-racing bicycles manufactured by American Artisan Bicycles Inc., Sonoma, Calif., which is using the material to make frames that weigh less than 800 grams but retain strength properties and offer good ride characteristics.

October 30, 2012