SGL Carbon Group and Fraunhofer IGCV officially opened the Fiber Paving Center (FPC) at the SGL Carbon Group's Mettingen branch. The system manufacturers Composite and BA Composites and the leaders of the Munich University of Technology carbon composites are their partners, and the Coriolis Group and Cevotec are also planning to participate in this cooperation.
For lightweight design related to carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP), efficient continuous production is the key to further development of this material in more applications and industries. In fiber laying technology, automation, load path optimization, efficient material laying and fiber cutting all play an important role, because this technology is ideal for industrial production.
After the FPC was first demonstrated at the JEC World conference in Paris in March this year, the opening of the center was officially celebrated on September 17. About 150 guests from the political, scientific and industrial fields attended the opening ceremony.
FPC covers an area of more than 500 square meters and supports customers to develop new production concepts and display them through prototype production. In addition, SGL Carbon Group can produce fiber-reinforced components in large quantities. Both dry and prepreg thermoplastic matrix systems can run smoothly here.
Preparations for the provision of secondary and primary structural components to aerospace companies and automotive component manufacturers around the world are already underway. The work of the center is closely related to the work of the SGL Carbon Group Lightweight Application Center (LAC), which is also located in the Mettingen branch and works with customers to develop new lightweight structures, processes and prototypes.
The FPC team consists of engineers, doctoral students, and technical staff, so the relevant core disciplines comprehensively cover the composite manufacturing process chain. Dr. Jürgen Köhler, CEO of SGL Carbon Group, said: "For us, the lightweight series production of composite materials is a key element of the company's growth strategy, and we hope to be able to make fiber-reinforced plastic components into the industry. Benchmarking. One of the keys is the right production method-the fiber laying method is a good choice. With FPC, we can now provide this technology to the aerospace industry or other industries at the industrial level. "
Andreas wllllner, head of the Fiber Materials Business Unit at SGL Carbon Group, explains: "The establishment of the FPC has enabled us to accumulate deep expertise in the field of fiber laying, while also being equipped with fully functional equipment. For many of our For customers, this is a great opportunity to go beyond existing capabilities to produce components from fiber-reinforced plastics. "
Dr. Klaus Drechsler, director of Fraunhofer IGCV and head of the Technical University of Munich, said: "The Fiber Laying Center clearly reflects the Fraunhofer Association's mission to transfer knowledge of fiber-reinforced plastics to research and industrialization of industrial applications. In addition to our daily collaboration at the center, we are also trying to strengthen knowledge transfer, such as publishing a paper on FPC, combining different carbon projects sponsored by the German federal government as part of a cutting-edge cluster competition or campus carbon 4.0 project.