Composites, adhesives and tooling on show

Industrial structural composites, adhesives and tooling materials will be on show from Huntsman Advanced Materials at Composites Europe 2006 in Germany.

Industrial structural composites, adhesives and tooling materials will be on show from Huntsman Advanced Materials at Composites Europe 2006 (Hall 1 Stand 240, 20th to 22nd September 2006, Essen, Germany).

There will also be a keynote presentation on the development of a new toughened adhesive with improved fatigue resistance.

These latest product and technology innovations reinforce Huntsman Advanced Materials' position as a global leader in the provision of advanced technical solutions for industry by utilising different chemical formulations.

Huntsman Advanced Materials supplies a wide range of Araldite structural adhesives to the world's manufacturing industries including automotive, aerospace, construction and sport and leisure.

At Composites 2006, a number of new adhesives specially developed for the aerospace industry will be shown including a unique Araldite epoxy based aerofoil-fill syntactic paste.

Developed by the Araldite team in conjunction with Rolls Royce and the University of Sheffield, Araldite 1641A/B is so innovative it won the 2006 JEC Composites Innovation Award (aeronautics category).

Originally designed for use on the Trent 900 aero engine, Araldite 1641 A/B is a very low density two-component syntactic paste which exhibits exceptional noise and vibration damping characteristics.

It can be used as a replacement for traditional metal reinforcements in aerospace engine components such as outer guide vanes (OGV).

Huntsman's Advanced Materials is a leading global producer of epoxy specialities and high-value thermosets for fibre reinforcement technologies.

It provides solutions adapted to many composite production methods including Resin Infusion, Filament Winding, Pultrusion and Huntsman's patented Conti Duo process.

Two multifunctional epoxy resins suitable for a range of processing systems including resin transfer moulding, resin film infusion, pre-pregs and filament winding, will be highlighted at Composites 2006.

Araldite MY0600 is a trifunctional epoxy resin unique in its ability to provide structural matrices with higher modulus and greater toughness, MY0600 is particularly suitable for aerospace applications.

XB 9721 is a multifunctional epoxy resin, suitable for high temperature industrial applications.

XB 9721 offers a long pot life at process temperatures and excellent mechanical performance even at elevated temperatures.

Developed by Huntsman, Resin XB 3523/Hardener XB 3458 and Resin XB 3585/Hardener XB 3458 are two new epoxy systems designed for Automotive RTM applications.

Both systems have a high glass transition temperature (120 to 130C) together with excellent transparency and surface quality.

With good rheology and long pot-life, XB 3523/XB 3458 has been successfully used in an application on the BMW M3 CSL (vacuum assisted process).

The cure cycle of 12 minutes at 130C provided a glass transition temperature of 123C, while the excellent transparency enabled the design detail to be highlighted.

XB 3585/XB 3458, is a highly cost effective resin injection moulding system, particularly suitable for serial part production.

This has been ably demonstrated with an application on a BMW M3 and other high-performance sports cars.

High gloss, glass fibre reinforced parts were obtained after a cure cycle of 30 minutes at 60C.

Both these systems meet customer needs for minimal cycle times, production equipment required, mould temperature, injection pressure and reinforcement construction, without compromising good mechanical properties.

Huntsman Advanced Materials has developed a structural bonding adhesive technology based on two patented concepts that provide both high mechanical performance and easy processing characteristics.

The first patented concept of chemical thixotropy has been specifically developed to allow easy pump dispensing of low viscosity products without slump on vertical surfaces.

The second patented concept, based on a synergistic combination of nano-materials with selected curing agents, provides an exceptional level of toughness without compromising thermal performance or causing a significant impact on initial product viscosity.

RenPaste LMD2537/LMD2539 is a new high-temperature two-component epoxy paste (SMP) with a heat deflection capacity of up to 200C.

A patented process using this paste with aluminium honeycomb substructures has been developed for the rapid production of large master models and high temperature resistant tools.

It offers significant advantages over traditional board and epoxy "pattie" based methods, in applications where surface quality is a critical factor.

Tooling applications using board materials are well established processes.

Nevertheless there are still opportunities to provide new products.

Joining the range along side the high performance RenShape BM 5055 is a new epoxy board offering a temperature resistance of 120C with very good surface quality and milling performance.

It will enlarge the field of application for epoxy boards to lower end applications for which PU boards are not temperature resistant enough.

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