The closed-mold doctors will be "in" at the COMPOSITES 2012 show in Vegas. 15 partners to demo different tech and materials for a range of products.

Composites One, along with the Closed Mold Alliance and over 15 industry partners, will host  comprehensive, ongoing demonstrations of closed-mold technology –on the show floor – during COMPOSITES 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Presentations will take place in a specially designed staging area at Booth #629, Wednesday, February 22, and Thursday, February 23.

At the event, manufacturers can experience work cells demonstrating closed-mold processes such as Light Resin Transfer Molding (Light RTM), the Vacuum Infusion Process (VIP), and Flex Molding to produce replica wind-turbine blades, a half hull, and a mini boat hull. Highlighting this year’s event will be the latest technologies that enhance closed-mold production.

New this year will be the introduction of a specially formulated CCP Composites OptiPLUS infusion resin for tooling to the Vacuum Infusion Process. Vacuum Infusion, ideal for making large and small part tooling, has benefits traditional tool manufacturing does not.

“The importance of a quality manufacturing process is key to successful tooling,” says Composites One VP Greg Shymske. “With infused tooling, manufacturers find improved heat resistance, extended mold life, faster build times, as well as a significant reduction in styrene emissions.”

Also featured this year will be Flex Molding Technology, developed by Magnum Venus Plastech, and improved upon by the Closed Mold Alliance. The program will feature a video demo of how to make a silicone bag using the Flex Mold Process. Afterward, a live demo using the same silicone bag will feature production of a replica wind blade. In addition, new Flex Molding Controls will be featured in all work cells during the two-day demonstration.

This year, the Lean Mean Closed Mold Machine will feature demonstrations of advanced composite technologies, including Axiom Prepreg, Huntsman Epoxies, MIT Recycled Carbon Fiber Preforms, and Bayer Polyurethane Resin Systems. These presentations will showcase a number of different parts including a tractor hood and a motorcycle engine cover.

“We recognize the importance that emerging technologies have to composites manufacturers today,” says Shymske.  “And by including products that offer high performance properties, no styrene emissions, and environmentally-friendly features, we will demonstrate that these products have a place in many composites markets, as well as being a perfect complement to closed mold processes.“

New to the demonstrations this year will be the launch of the Sprayomer technology by SR Composites.  This flexible bag system is well suited for a variety of parts. The demonstration will also showcase the CARTM process and benefits it offers to those manufacturers using closed molding today.

The Lean Mean Closed Mold Machine at COMPOSITES 2012 will also showcase a micro-infused resin technology that can be used in closed molding. MIRteq is a highly versatile material in so far as it is viscous at room temperature and can be poured, pumped, sprayed and machined to deliver a wide range of engineering solutions.  Access to the technology is available exclusively through Composites One.

All closed mold demonstrations will feature Magnum Venus Plastech (MVP), the industry’s leading meter/mix equipment manufacturer with specific expertise in closed mold processes and a member of the Closed Mold Alliance.  The program will also be presented with the assistance of Alliance member RTM North Technologies, North America’s leading Light RTM experts. Composites One is a member of the Closed Mold Alliance. Throughout the event, industry experts from the Alliance, along with the Composites One Closed Mold Team, will be on hand to answer questions about closed-mold processes, discuss equipment and materials, and help manufacturers learn how to put closed mold to work in their operation.

The live demos at COMPOSITES 2012 are the culmination of a joint effort between Composites One, the Closed Mold Alliance and its supplier partners: Airtech Advanced Materials Group, Airex Baltek, Arkema, Axiom, Bayer Material Science, CCP Composites, Chemtrend, Chomarat, Huntsman Advanced Materials, ITW Plexus, JRL/Marine Composites, Kit Concepts, Magnum Venus Plastech, MIRteq, MIT, Owens Corning, RTM North Technologies, RTM North Solutions,  Sprayomer, Syrgis, Vectorply, and Wacker Silicones.

“Composites One and the Closed Mold Alliance is the one place where manufacturers can find leading industry closed mold experts who can offer them a roadmap to successful closed mold conversion,” says Shymske.

Composites One
www.compositesone.com

Closed Mold Alliance
www.closedmoldalliance.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

The main toolbar of GL Bladed gives users access to data entry screens which allows defining various turbine components.

Software called Bladed provides wind turbine and component manufacturers, certification agencies, design consultants, and research organizations a design tool that has been extensively validated against measured data from a wide range of turbines. The developer says the software is the industry standard for the design and certification of onshore and offshore turbines. It lets users conduct the full range of performance and loading calculations. Based on Windows, it supports calculations of combined wind and wave loading, with full aeroelastic and hydroelastic modeling. It has been validated by Germanischer Lloyd for the calculation of wind-turbine loads for design and certification.

Bladed uses a self-consistent and rigorous formulation of structural dynamics. This provides consistently reliable and accurate results, and forms a solid foundation from which to continue to extend the structural model with features as part of the ongoing development program.

The software has several specialist bolt-on modules covering steady state analysis, dynamic-load simulations, analysis of loads and energy capture, batch processing and automated report generation, interaction with the electrical network, and model linearization for control design.

The developer says the software is the industry standard for the design and certification of onshore and offshore turbines. It provides a design tool extensively validated against measured data from a wide range of turbines and lets them conduct a range of performance and loading calculations. Bladed offers a Windows-based interface and supports calculations of combined wind and wave loading, with full aeroelastic and hydroelastic modeling. It has been validated by Germanischer Lloyd for the calculation of wind turbine loads for design and certification. GL Garrad Hassan’s approach to the calculation of wind turbine performance and loading has been constantly evolving since 1984 . The corresponding ongoing software development has maintained GL Garrad Hassan’s reputation for delivering reliable tools for use in the design and certification of wind turbines.

Bladed software includes comprehensive models of complex wind fields which can excite the turbine.

Bladed V4 uses a new, completely self-consistent, and rigorous formulation of the structural dynamics. This provides consistently reliable and accurate results, and forms a solid foundation from which to extend the structural model with many new features in the ongoing development program. New features for Bladed V4 include:

• Modeling of Individual blade modes, valid for pitch angle
• Allowance for non-symmetrical rotor
• Fully coupled flapwise, edgewise, and torsional degrees of freedom in three-dimensional blade modes
• Advanced definition options for blade geometry and structure
• Torsional degree of freedom modeling for all tower types

Bladed is used by wind turbine and component manufacturers, certification agencies, design consultants and research organizations across the world. An educational version provides a world class tool for teaching wind turbine technology.

GL Garrad Hassan
www.gl-garradhassan.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

VABS V3.6 provides optimized meshes for FEA work especially on thin structure such as wind turbine rotor blades.

A provider of efficient high-fidelity modeling software for aerospace, energy composites, and other advanced materials has released VABS 3.6. The developer says the software is the tool of choice for efficient and accurate modeling of composite slender structures such as wind-turbine blades, helicopter rotor blades, high-aspect ratio wings, composite bridges, and other slender structural components.

The main feature of VABS 3.6 is an improved method of optimizing the finite-element mesh.  V3.6 is several times faster than the previous version for large problems. The slower I/O (Input/Output) performance reported by some users was corrected. Furthermore, V3.6 can handle larger models, which cannot be analyzed by previous versions.

“For a realistic blade meshed with 200,000 degrees of freedom (DOFs), using a typical laptop, VABS 3.6 takes less than 20 seconds for constitutive modeling (Timoshenko model), while VABS 3.5 takes about 4 min. for constitutive modeling,” says AnalySwift CTO Dr. Wenbin Yu. “Of course, if one uses Dynamic Link Libraries, it will be even faster because a significant portion of time for large problems is spend by I/O with hard drives.”

“While VABS is already known for its efficiency in realistic multiphysics blade modeling, this version is even more appealing by taking it to the next level,” says AnalySwift President Allan Wood. Yu adds that VABS is the only tool capable of rigorously modeling 3D slender solids with complex buildup structures, such as composite wind-turbine blades. The efficient high-fidelity tools offered through AnalySwift let companies bring products to market more quickly and at a lower cost with the best available compromise of accuracy, efficiency, and versatility.

The technology in VABS is said to make it the first efficient high-fidelity modeling tool for composite beams, saving users many orders of magnitude in computing time relative to more complex and time-consuming 3D finite-element analyses, without a loss of accuracy. Engineers can now confidently design and analyze real structures with complex internal construction due to this unique efficient high-fidelity feature.  For instance, structures as complex as real composite rotor blades with hundreds of layers are easily handled by a laptop computer.

AnalySwift LLC
www.AnalySwif

Windpower Engineering & Development

The company says it is making the move in response to the growing demand of a low-cost carbon fiber prepreg supply in wind energy and other applications. “Our strategy has been to commercialize carbon fiber and broaden its use in industrial applications through low-cost and supply availability”, says CEO Zsolt Rumy. “Unfortunately, the current carbon fiber prepreg supply is fragmented and geared towards aerospace markets rather than industrial use. We are addressing this shortfall by consolidating the supply chain and forward integrating into prepreg manufacturing for select industrial applications.”

St. Louis is home to Zoltek’s headquarters and one of their four carbon fiber manufacturing facilities. The new location will also serve as a technical center for carbon-fiber applications, specifically targeting wind energy and automotive applications.

Wind energy is a leading application for Zoltek’s prepreg carbon fiber due to its unique and inherent characteristics (high-stiffness, high-strength, lightweight). Recent trends in wind energy have spurred wind-blade manufactures to create longer turbine blades. Carbon-fiber composites have proven ideal for wind blade turbine reinforcement, letting longer blades capture more wind energy, even at lower wind speeds.

Automotive is a growing application for carbon fibers, where the strength-to-weight ratio of carbon fibers enables vehicles to be lighter weight and therefore more fuel-efficient. Other applications include offshore drilling, infrastructure repair, marine, and other applications requiring a high strength and light-weight material.

In addition to the two production facilities in St. Louis, Zoltek has carbon fiber manufacturing facilities in Hungary, Mexico, and Texas.

Zoltek Corp.
www.zoltek.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

A Leitwind turbine blade.

Rotor blades, like aircraft wings, are essentially cantilevered beams with aerodynamic exteriors. Early blades were made of wood. More recently, they are manufactured of fiberglass and epoxy resins by reaction injection molding in rather complex equipment. The quest for greater power will demand longer blades which as led designers to examine carbon fibers as one way to take weight out and increase fatigue life.

Other recent materials include a two-component epoxy that increases production of large blades thanks to a new curing agent. To assure that blade molds fill completely and fast, the epoxy reacts slowly at first. Heat applied later speeds the curing and releases the part for production of the next blade in a shorter period than previously possible. Hence, cycle times for blade manufacturing can be cut by up to 30%. Production becomes more flexible because the new resins work over a broader temperature range than conventional products.

Coatings: In the wind industry, coatings are aimed mostly at blades because they are constantly moving in air and exposed to the weather. However, there are coatings for towers and bolts as well.
Pitting in blades can roughen the surfaces enough to create unstable harmonics that decrease the turbine’s efficiency, while increasing maintenance and repair costs. In steam turbines, pitting or corrosion can cause cracks in the metal. Coating wind turbine blades can prevent the damage. Manufacturers of metal coatings suitable for the wind industry say they are durable, cost-effective, and eliminate common delamination and pitting problems. The coatings spray or roll-on to ensure coverage that’s resistant to harsh weather. Manufacturers say the resins and metals can be applied to almost any substrate. The resulting surface is said to look and wear like cast metal without the traditional expense and weight. The metal coatings do not conduct electricity, are non-corrosive, and can be finished, sanded, polished, brushed, machined, or given a patina just as any forged or cast metal.

Another blade surfacing material uses fluoropolymers in a film application. The manufacturer reports that its advantages include 20-year performance, longer than traditional paint and gelcoat. The chemistry and nanotechnology has been developed to meet the needs of modern wind-turbine blades and has proven longevity in demanding architectural tasks. Its performance advantages include absolute UV stability, minimal dirt pickup, excellent abrasion resistance, and low reflectivity.

Trained operatives can apply the coating quickly, easily, and with little equipment. There are no sprays, solvents, or mixing so the surface quality is not at risk from human error and the working environment is far safer.

Another coating in flake and powder form, actually a high-temperature resistant thermoplastic, has a higher share of hydroxyl end groups to make it polyethersulfone compatible with high-performance epoxy resins. Composites based on such high-temperature-resistant epoxy resins usually stay brittle unless modified with heat-resistant impact modifiers. A recent powder form allows using it more easily in the resin. Its use requires no solvents.

Windpower Engineering & Development

Additionally, the Products section of the website includes details on Zoltek’s three primary carbon fiber product lines: Panex 35 (reinforcement), Panex 30 (high-purity), and Pyron (fire/heat resistivity).

A carbon-fiber manufacturer has launched a new website at www.zoltek.com. The redesigned is to highlight many applications for carbon fiber, Zoltek Corp. products, and its service appropriate to each. For instance, the Applications section of the website includes details on Zoltek’s carbon fiber products for the industries such as wind energy, automotive, offshore drilling, CNG and pressure vessels, energy storage, friction resistance, and sporting goods.

The new site structure will let users identify which carbon-fiber product is best suited for each application and industry.

Additionally, the Products section of the website includes details on Zoltek’s three primary carbon fiber product lines: Panex 35 (reinforcement), Panex 30 (high-purity), and Pyron (fire/heat resistivity).

Thirty years ago, carbon fiber was a space-age material, too costly to be used in anything except aerospace. Today, however, carbon fiber is used in wind-turbine blades, automobiles, infrastructure, and many other applications. Thanks to carbon fiber manufacturers such as Zoltek who are committed to the commercialization concept of expanding capacity, lowering costs, and growing new markets, carbon fiber has become a viable commercial product.

Zoltek Corp.
www.zoltek.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

The Dual-Station XYZ Robotic dispenser accurately and quickly dispense 1 and 2-parts adhesives and sealants such as silicone, epoxy, urethane and acrylic for bonding, gasketing, potting, encapsulating, molding, and sealing applications.

A robotic dispensing system is said to improve adhesive dispensing and product assembly by eliminating problems such as the need to speed production, adhesive out of position, too much or not enough adhesive, excess waste, scrap or repairs and high production costs.

 The Dual-Station XYZ Robotic dispensing system, from Sealant Equipment & Engineering, accurately and quickly dispense 1-part and 2-parts adhesives and sealants such as silicone, epoxy, urethane and acrylic for bonding, gasketing, potting, encapsulating, molding and sealing applications. The robot and dispensing system together stores all the dispensing programs created for every different part and is quickly recalled to start a production cycle.

 The dispenser provides multiple capabilities for current and future production such as an ability to apply adhesive to two different parts having two different beads paths, or for parts needing two different adhesives applied, or to maximize the production rate for identical parts. Within each dispensing program, the adhesive or sealant can be applied at different flow rates to ensure proper material bead size or material flow to eliminate air entrapment.

 The most common process has station-1 dispensing adhesive while a part is loaded in station-2. When station-1 completes dispensing, the robot in station-2 begins dispensing at the same time station-1 is being unloaded and reloaded to repeat the cycle. Loading and unloading can be performed manually or robotically. The best 1-part and 2-part dispensing systems use a positive-rod displacement controlled by servo-drive motors for fast and accurate bead profiles and flow rate dispensing. Sealant Equipment’s model Servo-Flo 401 and 801 metering systems are sized by total volume required and 2-part material mixing ratio.

Sealant Equipment & Engineering Inc.
SealantEquipment.com/robot-dispensing

Windpower Engineering & Development

Iowa State engineers, left to right, John Jackman, Vinay Dayal and Frank Peters conduct research in the Wind Energy Manufacturing Laboratory. Photo by Bob Elbert.

A laser in Iowa State University’s Wind Energy Manufacturing Laboratory scanned layer after layer of the flexible fiberglass fabric used to make wind-turbine blades. A computer took the laser readings and calculated how dozens of the layers would fit and flow over the curves of a mold used to manufacture a blade. And if there was a wrinkle or wave in the fabric – any defect – the laser and computer would find it.

 “Waves in the fabric are bad because they can’t take the load,” said Vinay Dayal, an Iowa State associate professor of aerospace engineering. “And if a blade can’t take the load, bad things happen to the turbine,” said John Jackman, an Iowa State associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering. The two are working with Frank Peters and Matt Frank, associate professors of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, to operate and develop Iowa State’s Wind Energy Manufacturing Lab.

The lab has been open for about a year and was built as part of a three-year, $6.3 million research project. The study is a joint effort of researchers from TPI Composites, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company that operates a turbine blade factory in Newton, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. The researchers’ goal is to develop low-cost manufacturing systems that could improve the productivity of turbine blade factories by as much as 35%.

The researchers’ tasks include:

• Study how lasers can analyze the fiberglass fabric used to manufacture turbine blades

• Develop technology for the nondestructive evaluation of turbine blades

• Analyze and improve wind blade edges

• Mmake precise 3-D laser measurements of 40-meter wind turbine blades, and

• Develop new fabric-manipulation techniques for automated blade construction.

Dayal said one example of the lab’s capabilities is the ultrasound equipment that lets researchers measure whether there’s enough glue to hold the two halves of a turbine blade together – all without cutting into the blades.

 The ultimate goal of the lab research is to make wind energy a more cost competitive. To make a point, Peters pulls out a U.S. DOE bar graph that shows the 2010 cost of wind energy was $0.082/kWh. The department’s goal is to reduce the cost to $0.06/kWh by 2020.

 Peters said the lab can help meet that goal in part by developing better, more efficient manufacturing methods. The result could be bigger, longer-lasting wind turbine blades. And that could mean more power at less cost. “Manufacturing in this industry is done largely by hand,” says Peters. “Our goal is to find ways to automate the manufacturing.”

  Working with the four faculty researchers are Wade Johanns, Luke Schlangen, Huiyi Zhang and Siqi Zhu, graduate students in industrial and manufacturing systems engineering; and Sunil Chakrapani, a graduate student in aerospace engineering. Funding for the lab has been provided by TPI, the U.S. DOE and the Iowa Office of Energy Independence. Other lab partners include the Iowa Alliance for Wind Innovation and Novel Development and Iowa State’s Center for Industrial Research and Service.

Researchers say the lab has already advanced their understanding of turbine blade manufacturing and is helping to develop automation that could one day be used in manufacturing plants. “In the early stages of the research there were a lot of investigations to understand all the problems we’re addressing,” Frank said. “But now we’re at that phase where real intellectual property is coming out of the lab.”

 Iowa State University
iastate.edu

Windpower Engineering & Development

The red dots on the map mark Composites One facilities.

Eagle Registrations Inc., a third-party certification body that audits businesses to meet international standards, has certified Composites One LLC in Monessen, Pennsylvania, to the ISO9001:2008 with AS9120:2009 Rev A Standard. The assessment was conducted in accordance with requirements of AS9014A. Eagle Registrations is accredited under the aerospace Registrar Management Program.

The ISO family of standards relates to quality management systems and helps organizations ensure they meet customers needs by establishing clear operating procedures and documentation conformance to those procedures as well as identifying areas for continuous improvement. The standards are published by the ANAB (ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board) International Organization of Standards and require third party independent confirmation of conformance to the standards. Composites One’s Monessen location passed the independent certification audit and will receive ISO:9001 certification. In addition,  AS9120 certification – a Quality Management Standard specific to military, defense, and aerospace for distributors – was also achieved which puts Composites One in a unique position to service the aerospace and advanced composites customers who require this certification.

“This is a major accomplishment for the organization and credit goes to those who led the effort,” said Composites One President Leon Garoufalis. “Our Monessen DC and Corporate Teams put in a great deal of extra effort to make this happen – on time and without major or minor non-conformities identified, in the first audit.”

“ISO Certification will improve our documentation and internal processes and build additional credibility with our customer base,” added Garoufalis. “We now have the ability and knowledge to certify other locations if required by our customers to address their specific needs.

EAGLE Registrations Inc.
www.eagleregistrations.com

Composites One
www.compositesone.com.www.eagleregistrations.com

Windpower Engineering & Development

Lux Research forecasts market growth for advanced composites based on carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, and graphene. The combined market is on track to expand from $7.0 billion this year to $25.8 billion in 2020 – an average compound annual growth rate of 16%.

Wind energy, powered by stringent renewable energy standards and larger installations offshore, will overtake aerospace as the largest user of advanced composite materials. The overall market for advanced composites – based on carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, and graphene – more than triples to $25.8 billion by 2020, according to a research report.

The use of advanced structural materials by makers of wind turbines will increase from $2.5 billion in 2011 to $15.4 billion in 2020, as growth in aerospace lags, despite the introduction of new aircraft, such as Boeing’s Dreamliner, that use large quantities of carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRPs), according to the report by Lux Research. In 2020, wind energy will account for nearly 60% of the market for composites, up from today’s 35%.

“Despite serving as a flagship for commercial success of CFRPs, the volumes in aerospace are relatively limited. Boeing currently has the capacity to produce only two Dreamliners per month and is striving to raise this figure to 10 by the end of 2013,” said Ross Kozarsky, a Lux Research Analyst and the lead author of the report. “In wind, 18,405 MW of capacity were added in the first six months of 2011, which translates to over 1,000 turbines per month.”

Lux analysts found that the combined market for these materials would rise from $7.0 billion in 2011 to $25.8 billion in 2020, reflecting an average compound annual growth rate of 16%. Among Lux Research’s other key conclusions:

• Aerospace to lose ground but has potential upside. The aerospace market will grow at a healthy 13% annually over the next decade to $6.3 billion, boosted by Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and Airbus’ A350 XWB, both of which are built with 50% advanced composites. Boeing’s year-end decision on whether to use aluminum or carbon-fiber composites for its next-generation 737 aircraft offers a significant upside.
• Auto industry still a sleeping beast. The auto industry will be the second-largest growth sector with a 17% growth, spending $2.1 billion by 2020. Still, the sector will remain far short of its mammoth potential over the next decade.

• Oil and gas remains a laggard. Industry-wide conservatism and persistence with steel will keep oil and gas a laggard in the use of advanced composites. This sector will register the slowest growth – a mere 5%, rising to $427 million in 2020.

The report, titled “Carbon Fiber and Beyond: The $26 Billion World of Advanced Composites,” is part of the Lux Research Advanced Materials Intelligence service.

Lux Research
http://www.luxresearchinc.com/

Windpower Engineering & Development