Europe has gathered many outstanding companies in the field of high-performance fibers and composite materials, such as the German SGL Group (SGL), the Belgian Solvay Group (Solvay), the Dutch Royal DSM Group (DSM), and the British National Composites Center NCC), German Aerospace Research Laboratory (DLR) and other scientific research institutes. In recent years, the trend of light weight has vigorously promoted the development of high-performance fiber composite materials in automotive engineering, aerospace, construction and other industries. In 2019, Europe conducted in-depth research on the application of high-performance fibers and composites in many fields such as automotive and marine applications.
On April 7, 2019, British Liverpool (BriggsAu? TomotiveCompany, BAC) officially launched the "MonoR" sports car. It is the world's first mass-produced car that uses graphene-reinforced carbon fiber in every body panel "MonoR". Graphene reinforces the structural characteristics of the fiber, making the panel stronger and lighter, with better machinery and Thermal performance also makes "MonoR" have higher performance.
In November 2019, the French Chomarat Group (Chomarat) developed carbon fiber reinforced materials for the cruiser 435 and 465 models of Gustavsburg, Sweden (Arcona Yachts). In order to obtain better permeability during the pouring process, Cho-marat deeply researched the best structure of high-performance C-PLYTM, and developed the high-performance C-PLYTM carbon fiber non-crimp fabric (NCF) to make it have a higher Mechanical properties and compatibility with various resins, and can achieve better cost-effectiveness. Chomarat's infusion technology for the hull and deck of cruisers incorporates up to 70% of carbon fiber into the laminate, which can bring structural design advantages, high-quality surface quality and reduced overall component costs.
The German SGL Group, as the world's leading manufacturer of carbon graphite materials and related products, is the only European company that occupies a major share of the world carbon fiber market. In 2019, SGL seeks to develop more business development methods and expand the role of carbon fiber composite materials in more fields. On April 30, 2019, SGL cooperated with Shanghai Weilai Automobile Co., Ltd. (NIO) to jointly develop a prototype of a carbon fiber reinforced plastic battery case for electric vehicles. The battery case is 40% lighter than traditional aluminum or steel battery cases and has high rigidity. And the thermal conductivity is 200 times lower than that of aluminum, which can better protect the battery body from external cold and heat. In addition to this, the composite material also imparts excellent airtightness, waterproofness, and corrosion resistance to the battery case.
The Technical University of Munich (TUM) team has collaborated with experts from SGL to develop an optimization model for the capsule of the hyperloop train (Hyperloop) (Figure 8). This model uses SGL's prepreg carbon fiber braided material, which is optimized by design and material. The capsule structure weighs about 5.6 kg, which is about 10% lighter than the previous model of 6.1 kg. In addition, unlike the previous plastic solutions, the shell lining of the transport cabin is also completely made of carbon fiber material, reducing its weight from 1.5kg to only 0.7kg. The model won the championship for its R & D team at a speed of 463km / h in the 4th Hyperloop train competition held on July 21, 2019.
As early as the Lisbon strategy formulated by the EU in 2000, sustainable development was implemented as an important policy. Today, in Europe, the concept of sustainable development has long been popular. In 2019, European companies have also made new achievements in the recycling of fiber composite materials. British ELGCarbonFibre is a company that realizes the commercial operation of recycled carbon fiber. It owns the world's first and largest carbon fiber recycling plant in the world. On December 4, 2019, ELG assisted the Ineos team to participate in the America ’s Cup regatta, using waste generated during the manufacture of the racing boat to reprocess it into non-woven carbon fiber felt, which was further used to make two fixed hulls. The transport bracket, this recycled material has good performance and can be directly used in the existing process, which fully shows that the carbon fiber composite material can be recycled and reused, reducing the environmental burden. On December 10, 2019, ELG and the University of Hud? Dlersfield ’s Institute for Railway Research (Huddersfield ’s Institute for Railway Research) jointly researched and released the world ’s first carbon fiber composite track bogie called “CAFIBO”. The new bogie is completely made of surplus and recycled carbon fiber materials, is lighter than conventional bogies, and has more excellent vertical and lateral stiffness. The use of this new bogie in railway vehicles can reduce track wear, reduce infrastructure maintenance costs, increase reliability and operational availability, and save energy and slow global warming.
In terms of basalt fiber, the "new blue ocean" of high-performance fiber materials, European companies have already begun to deploy related technologies and production capacity. Russia's Anisoprint launched a new basalt fiber composite material (CBF) for continuous fiber 3D printing technology in June 2019. Parts printed with this material have 30 times the strength of plastic and 2 times the weight of aluminum. Also lighter. German LipexEngineeringGmbH company invested 50 million euros in Russia to start building a basalt fiber production line to meet the rapidly growing market demand for basalt fiber.
In addition to research progress in the automotive and marine fields, Europe is also focusing on aerospace and other fields. On May 2, 2019, SGL Germany and the National Composite Center (NCC) reached a cooperation agreement. The two parties will jointly develop the next generation of composites in response to market needs in the fields of aviation, transportation and oil and gas. Material production technology to improve the utilization rate of composite materials in primary and secondary structural parts. At present, the two parties have used the NCC experimental equipment in Bristol, UK to carry out the research and development of advanced processing technology of carbon fiber fabrics (including non-crimp cloth, etc.). Prototype. On December 3, 2019, SGL and Solvay reached a joint development agreement. The agreement plans to market the first composite material based on large tow medium modulus (IM) carbon fiber for commercial aviation. These materials will be based on SGL's IM carbon fiber and Solvay's main structural resin system to help meet cost reductions. And the demand for carbon dioxide emissions, and improve the production process and fuel efficiency of the next generation of commercial aircraft.
In the past few decades, in order to develop and manufacture materials that can be used in the size of ultra-stable structures for critical-sized devices in spacecraft, researchers have conducted extensive research and developed carbon fiber-reinforced polymer materials. However, the dimensional instability caused by the intrusion and release of moisture is still the basic weakness of the matrix, which limits many applications of composite materials. Silva and others from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom have responded to this challenge by developing a spatially definable physical surface barrier. This barrier is combined with the mechanical properties of the composite material, and thus becomes part of the composite material itself. The resulting fiber-reinforced composite material has mechanical integrity and strength superior to the underlying composite material, while remaining impermeable to water and exhaust. In addition, European researchers have also achieved results in basic research on high-performance fibers.