JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #95 - Special JEC Europe - March 2015 - 88

CFRP

Carbon composites: Material systems with
improved mechanical behaviour for various industries

Currently Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) are used in several
industries with individual technological and economical challenges.
Nevertheless the material utilization for an optimized lightweight
structure and cost efficient manufacturing processes are cross-industrial requirements to enable the breakthrough of CFRP in high volume
structural applications. The article gives an overview on state-ofthe-art technologies as well as on ongoing R&D activities along the
entire value chain.

omposites in general, and especially CFRP, have been used in the
aerospace sector for decades due
to lightweight design requirements for
increased flight performance, as well
as reduced operating costs that usually
balance the upfront investment in more
expensive material and process technologies. Since material performance is
the key factor, mainly high-end prepreg
systems are being used.
With respect to civil transport aircraft, it
can be expected that the share of CFRP
has already reached its maximum with
approximately 50% of the airframe's
total weight for long-range versions such
as the Boeing 787 or Airbus A350XWB.
The next challenge is to ensure that
this also applies to best-seller short
range aircraft such as the Boeing 737
or Airbus A320 successors as the split
of operating costs and production sizes
are significantly different in comparison
to long-range versions, resulting in new
requirements for high volume and lower
cost composite technologies.

The comparative situation for automotive applications is slightly different. Key
drivers for lightweight composite design
are much more the upcoming governmental regulations and society needs,
which require more efficient cars for the
near future, with reduced fuel consumption and emissions. So far, composite
technology has only been established for
niche cars but the step to high-volume
automotive applications is very high.
Low-cost material systems have to be developed as well as structural concepts for
car bodies and automated manufacturing technologies. Repair and recycling
are other important topics. As a first

By
Prof. Dr. Klaus Drechsler,
Technical University Munich (TUM)
Prof. Dr. Peter Middendorf,
University of Stuttgart
Dr. Andreas Erber,
SGL Group

step towards high-volume production
of a composite car, BMW started with
the i3 and i8 and other manufacturers
like Audi and Daimler will follow soon.
While BMW is using a full composite
concept for the life module, others
will focus on hybrid structures at the
body-in-white or component level. For
all processes, the state-of-the-art is the
high-pressure RTM technology based
on textile preforms (mainly non-crimp
fabrics and braids) and epoxy resins.
Cycle times under ten minutes are
realistic based on existing materials and
processes, but the latest developments
promise significant improvements with

Fig. 1: Composite evolution in aerospace (Boeing + Airbus)

88 jec composites magazine / No95 March 2015

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #95 - Special JEC Europe - March 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #95 - Special JEC Europe - March 2015