The AVK-Conference will take place from the 13-14 September 2010 in Essen (in conjunction with the Trade Fairs COMPOSITES EUROPE + ALUMINIUM 2010)

For detailed information and registration please visit the following link.

The aim is to develop production-ready technology utilising advanced selective melting processes, allowing the materials to be flow-moulded without affecting the reinforcing fibre properties.

Brochure: AVK_Esprit_Folder

The Esprit project has completed its first year of research and has carried out an extensive programme of locating, manufacturing and characterising the base materials from which the flowing Self Reinforced Plastics will be made.  These are variations on Self Reinforced Polyolefins (srPO), Self Reinforced Nylons (srPA) and Self Reinforced Polyesters (srPet) and some early processing trials have been carried out in order to measure critical temperatures and shrinkage characteristics.

Using SRP materials material usage and component weight is expected to be reduced by 30% for equivalent stiffness over conventional materials, resulting in energy saving in both manufacture and in use through, for example, lighter vehicles.

Early trials of selective heating by means of susceptor additives have shown strong promise and a variety of options are available for development.  The aim is to have SRP systems for existing moulding technology and for new specialist moulding technology in order to maximise the commercial potential for these new materials. 

Partners have made excellent progress in the pultrusion of commingled yarns into a continuous rod which is subsequently chopped into pellets for flow moulding applications.

A custom built line has been running successfully which can produce 5kg/hr of pellets derived from PA, PBT, PP and PET combinations.  A special cutter has been developed as these thermoplastic reinforcements present very different characteristics to traditional carbon/glass reinforcements.

The Esprit project now has a stable basis to efficiently make pellet samples derived from the many modified matrix and reinforcement raw materials being generated by other partners.

A polypropylene based polymer fibre reinforced composite has been created with an extremely high impact strength. The composite, containing relatively long fibres, shows an unusual but highly attractive combination of high modulus, high strain at break, high impact resistance and low notch sensitivity:

• Compared to the polypropylene base material the modulus is increased with almost 100%, the strength is increased with more than 50%, while at the same time the strain at break is still high at over 20%.
• The most remarkable property is the notched impact strength: it increases from 3 to 55 kJ/m². This is much higher than even the best impact modified polypropylenes, while the modulus is much higher.
• Also a self reinforced polyester has been developed that shows a 50% increase in the tensile modulus compared to unfilled polyester, without increasing the density of the material.

These material contain fibres up to 10 mm and can be injection moulded into complex shapes – the challenge being to maintain fibre reinforcement integrity through the whole process.

The optimum processing of the new materials is achieved by standard machines adapted in the areas of plastification, injection phase, the heating of the polymer and the temperature control in barrel and mould. 

The consortium has been selected to encompass skills in materialmodification, machinery building, testing, processing and manufacture resulting in a strong team of participants:

AIMPLAS,  AVK, EATC, Comfil, Fibroline, Fricke und Mallah Microwave Technology, IVW, NetComposites(coordinator), PEMU, Polisilk, Promolding, Regloplas, StructoForm and Ticona.

Further information about ESPRIT project and the partners can be found at: www.espritproject.eu

Celanese takes over FACT Future Advanced Composites Technology GmbH

Kelsterbach, Germany / Florence, Kentucky – December 21, 2009 – Ticona’s parent company, the Celanese Corporation, announced today the acquisition of FACT Future Advanced Composites Technology GmbH (FACT). With its main office in Kaiserslautern and a workforce of about 60 employees, the company is a leading producer of long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT) for injection molding, extrusion, compression molding and blow molding applications. Prior to its acquisition by Celanese, FACT was a subsidiary of the Ravago Group of Belgium. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Your contact:

Henning Küll

Phone: +49 (0) 6107 772 17 97

Fax: +49 (0) 6107 772 72 31

E-mail:  kuell(at)ticona.de

Internet: http://www.ticona.com

“At Celanese we continue to execute our strategy designed to build advantaged positions through the strategic use of cash for high-return projects that grow our business where we have sustainable advantages,” said David Weidman, chairman and chief executive officer, Celanese.

With the new production site in Kaiserslautern, the acquisition supports Ticona Engineering Polymers by building on Ticona’s LFT process technology and broadening specific product offerings, thereby improving the company’s capability to grow with its customers.

“This acquisition will grow the company’s Celstran^® product line, expand industry coverage, and combine the development capabilities of the two companies to satisfy increasing customer demands in the automotive industry and in general industrial applications,” concluded Roeland Polet, vice president, Ticona.

Bundling production capacities

FACT will become part of the newly established Celstran GmbH and be managed under the umbrella of the Ticona organization. Within the framework of business integration plans, the existing Celstran production that employs about 25 people in Kelsterbach will be relocated to Kaiserslautern by mid-2011. By consolidating the two existing LFT production facilities at Kaiserslautern, the corporation expects to realize technological and production engineering synergies that will benefit customers and strengthen Ticona’s competitive position.

Ticona’s production site in Kelsterbach will be closed in mid-2011 in order to make room for the expansion of Frankfurt Airport. The new plant that Ticona is currently building in Frankfurt’s Höchst Industrial Park for the production of the engineering polymer Hostaform^® POM will be fully operational by mid-2011.

Broad range of applications for long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics

LFTs are versatile engineering polymers in the form of pellets with a fiber length of about 10 millimeters. Thanks to their combination of mechanical properties, impact strength, creep resistance and low warpage, these thermoplastics are extremely well-suited for metal replacement applications. Structural components in the automotive segment such as instrument panels and modules as well as fan rotors in the industrial sector are just a few examples of current applications using Ticona’s Celstran LFT.

Except where indicated otherwise, all brand names listed here are registered trademarks of Ticona or their affiliated companies.

About Ticona and Celanese

Ticona, the technical polymers business of the Celanese Corporation, produces and markets a broad range of engineering polymers and generated sales of $1.06 billion in the 2008 business year. The company has approximately 2,000 employees worldwide and operates production, compounding and research facilities in the USA, Germany, Brazil and China. For further information please visit www.ticona.com.

Celanese Corporation – As a global leader in the chemicals industry, Celanese Corporation makes products essential to everyday living. Our products, found in consumer and industrial applications, are manufactured in North America, Europe and Asia.  Net sales totaled $6.8 billion in 2008, with about 65% generated outside of North America.  Known for operational excellence and execution of its business strategies, Celanese delivers value to customers around the globe with innovations and best-in-class technologies.  Based in Dallas, Texas, the company employs approximately 8,000 people worldwide. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.celanese.com.

The first meeting started at the 14th of March 2000 in Frankfurt/Main. In the meantime there have been a lot of discussions, meetings, ideas and activities.

We are looking forward for the next 10 years and will summerize some activities, which we will show up in March next year.

We wish everybody a mery christmas and a good start in 2010!

As his successor Mr. Jochen Reichhold (Faurecia Innenraum Systeme GmbH) was elected with one voice. He will chair the group from now on.

PPG introduces TUFROV 4575 LFT fiber glass roving

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 9, 2009 – PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) is now offering TUFROV 4575 long-fiber thermoplastic (LFT) fiber glass roving to customers worldwide. TUFROV fiber glass is designed for the automotive industry and other applications requiring a high-performance LFT product.

TUFROV 4575 fiber glass has demonstrated 20-percent tensile strength improvement and 40-percent impact performance improvement over current LFT products. It achieves maximum adhesion with polypropylene resins and offers improved hydrolytic stability.

“Customers are experiencing improved throughput and physical properties using this new PPG product,” according to Curt Thielker, PPG global market manager, LFT. “In numerous applications, the new TUFROV fiber glass has demonstrated excellent surface characteristics in ’show surfaces’ because of its exceptional glass dispersion.”

This new TUFROV fiber glass expands the global footprint of PPG’s LFT product line. LFT fiber glass products by PPG support a variety of resin systems, helping customers to reduce costs and improve component performance. According to PPG, they are “greener” alternatives to traditional thermoset composite materials and also offer superior performance.

About PPG
Pittsburgh-based PPG is a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass and fiber glass. The company has more than 140 manufacturing facilities and equity affiliates and operates in more than 60 countries. Sales in 2008 were $15.8 billion. PPG shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: PPG). For more information, visit www.ppg.com.

–091009TUFROV4575Global–

TUFROV is a trademark of PPG Industries.

Next time that it will be on the road again is the Composites Europe 2010 in Essen.

Looking forward meeting you there!

For detailed Information please see the press release enclosed.

From the 27th to the 29th of october the EATC show-car was present at the Composites Europe.  The 4th European Trade Fair & Forum for Composites, Technology and Applications.

The car could be seen in Hal 2 and was very well visited as you see at the little impression below.

We are looking foward meeting you the next time!

The EATC show car was shown at the “aerospace day” of the DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) on September, 20th, 2009. More than 100.000 visitors in total were at the show in Cologne (for details see http://www.dlr.de/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-1/86_read-19885/). Even the premier of North Rhine-Westphalia took the chance to inform himself of the activities of the AVK and the EATC.