The manufacturing industry always likes to think of composite material manufacturing as a single, globalized entity that meets customer needs through a variety of highly engineered parts and structures. However, in reality, the composite material industry is a fusion of many highly vertical markets (aerospace, automotive, nautical, consumer, wind energy, etc.), which consume composite materials in various ways. This usage is driven by part performance requirements, cost thresholds, regulations, and customer needs. For example, the materials, processes, and cost parameters in commercial aviation manufacturing are very different from those in leisure boat manufacturing.
Composite materials can meet such diverse needs because they are so diverse themselves. The arrangement of fibers, resins, molds, processes and finishing options allows composite parts to be used in almost every field. Coupled with the tremendous strength, stiffness, durability and lightweight characteristics of composite materials, it is not difficult to understand why the use of these materials is increasing.
Despite the highly customized properties of composite materials, in the next few years, there will be a wide range of materials and process trends affecting the entire composite material industry.
The first is to increase the use of robotics and automation technology, and strive to reduce the exposure of labor in the manufacturing process. This is driven by several factors, including the vision to improve consistency and quality, the vision to reduce costs, and the need for higher volume production.
The second is to strive to get rid of the autoclave. Autoclaves are equally good at strengthening composite laminates, but they are expensive to acquire and operate. This may also be its production bottleneck, hindering the impetus to increase production. Therefore, in many applications, people pay more and more attention to the materials and processes of low-pressure curing (OOA)-resin infusion, resin transfer molding (RTM) and thermoplastic composite materials-especially in large commercial aerospace structures.
Third, thermoplastics are generally on the rise, mainly because they have the following characteristics: OOA (low pressure curing) processing, easy storage and handling (compared to prepreg), and easy recycling.
The fourth is the release of the British Composites 4.0 (Composites 4.0) plan, which is the Industry 4.0 of the composites industry-the entire manufacturing process is completely digital, from design to simulation, to manufacturing simulation, to manufacturing, and then From troubleshooting to part tracking and so on. This will lead to the development and use of complex algorithms that will control the thinking machines in the next-generation composite manufacturing environment.
The fifth is the large-scale development of additive manufacturing (AM) in composite manufacturing. From the initial use of chopped fiber reinforcement in thermoplastics-based additive manufacturing, it has evolved to use continuous fiber reinforcement to manufacture discrete parts as well as tooling and mold components. The industry has also witnessed the emergence of additive manufacturing based on thermosetting materials and new processes that combine additive manufacturing with automatic tape laying machines and automatic wire laying machines.
All these technologies originate and contribute to a highly dynamic and rapidly changing composite material industry. In the subsequent market overview, you will learn how composite materials and processes are used by each of the composite material designers and manufacturers. Adjustments and applications in major end markets. You will also learn how the macro trends in each end market will affect the composite manufacturing industry.