Back in April, SGL Group – The Carbon Company – presented a new product in the form of thermoplastic organic sheets based on carbon and glass fibers. At this year’s Composites Europe trade show in Stuttgart, the company presented for the first time long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (LFRTs) and their application, using the example of a front end. In follow-up to the trade show, SGL Group started the commercialization of unidirectional tapes and the presented LFRTs.
UD tapes are composite materials based on unidirectional carbon fibers. The UD tapes can be manufactured using various thermoplastics according to customer requests. For example, a 50k carbon fiber (“SIGRAFIL® C T50-4.0/240-T140”) developed especially for this application is used as a reinforcing fiber. Appropriate sizing of these fibers ensures optimal bonding to the plastic, which leads to outstanding mechanical properties.
The LFRT materials are long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic granules, such as those based on polyamides (PA) or polyphthalamide (PPA). Various glass fibers are used as reinforcing fibers, customized for each customer applications. 24k fibers (“SIGRAFIL® C T24-4.8/240-T140”) and 50k fibers (“SIGRAFIL® C T50-4.0/240-T140”) developed especially for this application are used as carbon-fiber reinforcement.
Product innovations for various industries
The benefits of the two materials lie in their high strength and rigidity coupled with low density. They also exhibit limited creep tendencies and excellent chemical resistance.
According to Andreas Wüllner, Head of the Composite Fibers and Materials Business Unit, “The new products are the ideal additions to our range of thermoplastic materials. The thermoplastics material set of SGL Group gives us the opportunity to work together with our customers in opening up new applications in the industrial field, the automotive and sports goods industries and aerospace.”
Implementation of lightweight structures by means of material combinations
At the Composites Europe trade show, the application of the two new products has been demonstrated using the example of a front end. This component from the automotive industry was manufactured in an injection-molding process with the aid of the LFRT materials. In this procedure, areas under significant local stress are provided with targeted reinforcement by means of UD tapes. Both materials are machined together in a single process step.
Dr. Andreas Erber, responsible for thermoplastic materials at SGL Group, comments: “The combination of the different materials makes it possible to use the right structural design and the appropriate manufacturing process to implement structural elements at optimal lightweight costs.”
SGL Group supports its customers both in engineering and in choosing the materials and production processes for realizing additional fiber composite applications in large-scale production.