HEERLEN, Netherlands — March 9, 2017 — DSM makes its return this month to JEC World, the largest international gathering of composites professionals, when the event takes place in Paris from March 14-16. The company is leveraging its vision and in-depth knowledge to develop a growing portfolio of high-performance composites, including Dyneema® Carbon and Dyneema® flexible composites, along with a range of thermoplastic unidirectional (UD) tapes, and Somos 3D printing materials. Visitors to JEC World 2017 will have the chance to see, touch and learn more about all these products.

DSM understands that for materials engineers and designers, every incremental improvement in performance can provide a vital advantage. That’s why it works constantly to enhance the properties of advanced materials, making them stronger, lighter and more durable.

DSM — the developer and producer of Dyneema® ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMwPE) fiber — has found a way to leverage the fiber’s extraordinary properties in diversely different end uses. Combining Dyneema® with carbon fiber yields a hybrid, thermoset resin-based composite called Dyneema® Carbon. The resulting material significantly improves the performance of pure carbon composites in terms of weight, impact resistance, ductility and vibrational dampening.

At the other end of the spectrum, its Dyneema® flexible composites are taking strength and durability to new highs. These fabrics dramatically increase tear, puncture and abrasion performance compared with 500D nylon, while also cutting weight and reducing bulk.

“By collaborating closely with brand owners and partners up and down the supply chain, we are developing novel applications that make the most of all that Dyneema® fiber can offer in the form of both hybrid and flexible composites,” says DSM Dyneema President Golnar Motahari Pour. “And the results are impressive.”

Marrying carbon with Dyneema® fiber can increase impact energy absorption by up to 100% while removing the risk of splintering, she noted. As part of a hybrid composite, Dyneema® can bring its lightweight strength to products currently using pure — from golf clubs and field hockey sticks to racing bike frames and steering wheels. DSM is working with Toyota Motor Sports, for example, and evaluating Dyneema® Carbon for wider use in racing cars. It already is being used in the OMP-brand racing steering wheel. OMP says that using Dyneema® Carbon hybrid composite has helped them to achieve a superior balance in stiffness and impact resistance, resulting in improved driver safety.

As a fabric component, meanwhile, Dyneema® flexible composites are becoming increasingly popular in high-performance sports apparel and athletic sportswear, such as outdoor jackets and compact, waterproof, roll-top backpacks. These materials can be tailored and optimized for strength, stretch and weight, as well as for thickness overall and at specific points or along predetermined load paths. They have found use in an emergency outdoor jacket, for example, that is superlight (less than 80 grams total), as well as wind- and waterproof. It is ideal for hikers, cyclists and others to use as an easily packable jacket that can keep them warm and dry in emergency circumstances.

UD tapes offer lightweight strength
Also at JEC World, DSM will display its latest advances in unidirectional, continuous fiber-reinforced, thermoplastic tapes — products that help the automobile industry to address its growing need for lightweight design. The firm’s broader strategy extends well beyond just supplying the product, to offering robust application and design support.

As a result, DSM is forming business partnerships to make large-scale, lightweight, UD tape-based components with brand owners, leading suppliers and plastics converters.

DSM’s polyamide-based UD tapes with carbon or glass fiber longitudinal reinforcement are proving to be a viable, lightweight alternative to metal in several applications. UD tapes and tape-based sheets support structural and semi-structural components, as well as injection molded parts with localized UD tape reinforcement. Such tapes have fiber contents up to 65% by weight and widths from 6 to 800 mm.

In one current application, a demonstration vehicle door panel made from UD tapes developed within the European Union-sponsored ENLIGHT project shows the extreme lightweighting possible with such materials. Tapes provided by DSM in carbon fiber-reinforced EcoPaXX®, as well as fabric sheets woven from the tape, were thermoformed and glued to make the panel, which is 60% lighter than state-of-the-art, steel-based designs, while still fulfilling safety requirements. The full composite door consists of structural panels and a tape-wound side impact beam over an extruded permanent mandrel.

Finally, DSM offers a broad series of products in its Somos® 3D print material portfolio for use with the stereolithography 3D printing process.

With the aim of helping its partners to engineer success, DSM offers a diverse and growing range of composite solutions. Be sure to stop by the firm’s booth at JEC World (Stand A78, Hall 6) at Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre to meet with DSM experts, and learn more about how these and other products can help to give you a competitive advantage.

Posted March 9, 2017

Source: DSM Dyneema

TOKYO — March 7, 2017 — Toho Tenax Co., Ltd., the core company of the Teijin Group’s carbon fibers and composites business, announced today that its German subsidiary Toho Tenax Europe GmbH (TTE) has developed a new compound, based on recycled thermoplastic carbon fiber material and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) thermoplastic. A serial aircraft “Wing Access Panel” was manufactured as a demonstrator part.

The closed-loop-concept from production residues via Tenax®-E COMPOUND to final part was the awarded winner at JEC Asia 2016 in the category “Recycling” in Singapore on November 16, 2016. At the coming JEC World 2017, Toho Tenax will exhibit its thermoplastic recycling solutions and several application options.

Compound

Tenax®-E COMPOUND rPEEK CF30 is a reinforced material combination of waste materials generated during processing of Tenax ThermoPlastics　and recycled semi crystalline PEEK polymer, which contains 30 percent carbon fiber by weight and offers a high performance in strength and stiffness for injection molding applications.

This compound has an almost identical performance to virgin standard material in terms of tensile modulus and strength, which also includes elongation, viscosity, chemical resistance, abrasion and a very low moisture to absorption ratio, to round off the highlight characteristics of this recycled material. The created value of this compound is linked to the combination of high performance materials as well as a low-cost price of 40-60 percent compared to virgin carbon fiber reinforced PEEK compounds.

In conjunction with its partners, an OEM Aircraft manufacturer and Sintex NP Group, we have demonstrated that a serial Aircraft “Wing Access Panel“ can be manufactured to prove the performance of the recycled granules. The Sintex NP Group was selected as the partner responsible for the part manufacturing process based on Tenax-E COMPOUND rPEEK CF30 and the assessment of material processability compared to today’s virgin material standards within their production processes. It was shown that it is possible to combine best performance with full manufacturing and design flexibility without any parameter adjustments in the production chain. This way Tenax-E COMPOUND rPEEK CF30 is able to reduce the part costs significantly.

TTE and Teijin Kasei Europe will cover the European market. “By separating the market into Aerospace, Industry and Automotive, both companies can use their strengths in the corresponding market segments”, so Falk Ansorge, Sales Manager Aerospace at TTE. TTE will concentrate on creating applications in the Aerospace field. Teijin Kasei Europe already supplies PC, PC/ABS and PC alloy compounds to various industries mainly for automotive applications, so that their product range is ideally widely expanded with Tenax-E COMPOUND rPEEK CF30.

ThermoPlastic Recycling Solutions

Toho Tenax developed three different ThermoPlastic Recycling Solutions: Compound, Chips and Crushed. They are reinforced material combinations made of recycled Tenax TPCL and Tenax TPWF and recycled semi crystalline PEEK polymer to offer high performance in strength and stiffness for injection molding applications.

Toho Tenax have been active for many years in the CFRTP market and intelligently developed the product range of Tenax® ThermoPlastics (TPUD, TPCL and TPWF). These materials offer a rapid production and processing, low scrap rates, high mechanical performance, strong chemical resistance and recyclability. The TPCL are qualified for the application in primary composite structures in the A350XWB aircraft, Airbus’s new-generation extra-wide-body midsize jetliner. In consideration of the aircraft production ramp-up and the increasing material consumption of these high valuable materials, efforts have been made to develop recycling solutions with an immediate effect. Toho Tenax’s intention was to develop a closed-loop-concept for the thermoplastic materials and to reconvert the exceptional properties of this high performance material combination.

Posted March 7, 2017

Source: Toho Tenax Co., Ltd.

USTER, Switzerland — March 7, 2017 — Yarn spinners already understand the importance of preventing contamination in their products. A total of 3,500 worldwide installations of Jossi fiber cleaning systems — now produced by USTER — is proof of that. The USTER® JOSSI VISION SHIELD solutions are highly effective at removing even the smallest contaminants, including polypropylene. For nonwovens producers, however, the risk of contamination is possibly even greater: in medical and hygiene applications, for example, quality standards are super-critical and zero contamination is essential.

Contaminated yarn is one of the spinner’s biggest headaches, potentially leading to customer claims and rejects when synthetic particles such as polypropylene (PP) remain undetected in cotton until the fabric reaches the dyehouse. Today, the range of Uster Jossi systems is proven to deal with this problem with unbeatable effectiveness, detecting and removing foreign matter from cotton at the spinning preparation stage.

Uster Technologies acquired Jossi AG in 2013 and now applies the Uster Jossi Vision Shield 2 and Uster Jossi Vision Shield T systems, using multiple detection principles to eject all polypropylene particles, however minute. The finest white PP contamination is reliably and efficiently detected with the Uster Jossi MAGIC EYE in combination with the Uster Jossi Vision Shield. Practically all types of foreign matter, including polypropylene and polyethylene, are eliminated by Uster Jossi Magic Eye, with a minimum of waste.

Special challenges for nonwovens producers

Compared to yarn spinning, nonwovens products and processes bring some special challenges and even more demanding requirements. Imagine, for example, a scratchy remnant of polypropylene in a make-up removal pad … or any kind of contamination in hospital products such as absorbent cotton, alcohol swabs, or nonwoven gauze. Such problems would be totally unacceptable. Not surprisingly, markets for medical and hygiene products in the USA, Europe and Asia are extremely quality-oriented.

With developments in man-made fibers, there was a trend about 25 years ago for nonwovens applications to switch from pure cotton to synthetics. Initially, consumers preferred the dry and light texture of synthetic fibers. In the last decade, however, many applications are seeing a return to pure cotton as the favored option, particularly where allergenic issues such as skin reddening and irritation are possible.

Manufacturers of nonwovens for these demanding end-uses now require an efficient contamination control system, guaranteeing a zero-tolerance standard – for defects bigger than 1 mm – in their products. In nonwovens, fiber cleaning is the only way to control contamination – unlike in spinning where yarn clearing can make a final check at the winding stage. Product quality in nonwovens therefore depends absolutely on the efficiency of the fiber cleaning system, which makes investment in the Uster Jossi Vision Shield system a logical step.

Nonwovens: Big In Japan

Most of the machinery for nonwovens hygiene products is made by Japanese companies and Japan itself plays a leading role in manufacturing goods for medical and cosmetic applications, as well as food packaging materials. “Japan is growing as a market for Uster fiber cleaning systems, thanks to these nonwovens applications,” says Oswald Baldischwieler, Product Manager Fiber Cleaning within Uster Technologies. “The combination of Uster Jossi Vision Shield and Uster Jossi Magic Eye supports the manufacturers to control contamination continuously at a high level.”

USTER at Index

The importance of the nonwovens sector for Uster Jossi systems is demonstrated by the company’s presence at the forthcoming INDEX 2017 event in Geneva (Booth no. 4418), the largest global meeting point for the nonwovens market. Uster believes that its technology which is already well known and appreciated in cotton spinning will attract wider interest at the exhibition from manufacturers of bleached cotton and other quality-critical nonwovens products. “With Uster Jossi Vision Shield and Uster Jossi Magic Eye, the whole production is checked, for every category of contaminants including synthetics,” says Baldischwieler. “Nothing can escape the detection power of these systems.”

Posted March 7, 2017

Source: Uster Technologies Ltd.