JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015 - 8

- In brief ......................... p8
Prodrive Composites secures
£5 million projects on four
British sports cars
Quadrant opens a plant
for composite materials in
Slovakia
Mitsui signs an agreement
to develop mass production of
carbon fiber composites
- Brittany: composites boosted
by the sea breezes ......... p9
- VN Composites: from prototype to finished part ........ p10

www.prodrive.com

Expansion of Zoltek facility in Mexico
Zoltek Companies will double production capacity at the Zoltek de Mexico
facility (located in Guadalajara, Jalisco,
Mexico) to 5,000 tons per year, beginning in April 2016. Currently, Zoltek is
producing its large tow carbon fiber at its
plants in both Hungary and Mexico. In anticipation of an increase in demand for large
tow carbon fiber, Zoltek has a plan to double
its current global production by 2020 from
the current capacity of 13,000 tons per year.
Zoltek de Mexico is a critical facility for
Zoltek's carbon fiber operations. The facility
has the existing infrastructure needed for
expansion and will prove vital for fulfilling
the demand of carbon fiber, including future
supply to the growing Mexican automobile
industry.
www.zoltek.com

Opening

Quadrant opens a plant for composite materials in Slovakia
The Mitsubishi Plastics sub-subsidiary,
has built a plant for its high-performance
lightweight glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite materials.
Thermoplastic composite materials are
seeing increased demand in highly-durable
automotive applications as well as in nonautomotive sectors like transportation,
building & construction and decorative design. The new plant in Nitra is dedicated to
manufacture SymaLITE lightweight sheets
that combine polypropylene (PP) and glassfiber using Quadrant's technology. With the
expansion in Eastern Europe, Quadrant will

8 jec composites magazine / No98 July - August 2015

add capacity to its global SymaLITE manufacturing base with plants in Europe, North
America and Asia. Quadrant operates the
company under the name Quadrant Plastic
Composites Slovakia s.r.o.
www.quadrantplastics.com

Surface Generation expands in UK & Asia
The provider of advanced materials processing technologies announces that it opens
new technology demonstration facilities
in the UK and Taiwan after trials showed
significant quality improvements in parts
created using its novel injection molding
techniques. The new centers in Rutland,
UK, and Taipei, Taiwan, will be used to
demonstrate its patented Production to
Functional Specifications (PtFS) technology. PtFS provides injection molding
manufacturers with multi-zonal temperature control in the mold, allowing molten
materials to be channeled and cooled more
precisely throughout the process.
www.surface-generation.com

Mitsui signs an agreement to
develop mass production of carbon
fiber composites
The company entered into a cooperation agreement and an equipment lease
agreement with the Innovative Composite Materials Research and Development
Center (ICC) of the Kanazawa Institute of
Technology (KIT) to carry out experimental research concerning production methods
for the fabrication of automotive parts and
other industrial products using carbon fiber
composite materials. The aim of this collaborative initiative is to jointly develop and
implement new manufacturing methods for
a wide range of components and products,
including automotive parts, using carbon
fiber composites. In Europe, motor vehicle
manufacturers play a leading role in the
establishment of structures encompassing all stages from the supply of materials
to processing, and in some cases carbon
fiber composite materials are already being
used in key structural members for motor
vehicles. There is an urgent need for the
establishment of mass-production systems
for carbon fiber composite materials for use
in automotive parts and other products in
Japan.

Agreements

Announcement

Prodrive Composites secures £5
million projects on four British
sports cars
The cars will be built in the UK by three
different vehicle manufacturers and the
company will supply a range of composite components as a tier one supplier.
Components being manufactured for each
sports car include carbon aero packs with
rear wings, diffusers and front splitters, as
well as further exterior trim parts such as
bonnet vents and sills. In one case Prodrive
will be producing a full carbon interior. Several of these components will be made using
Prodrive's patented TPP injection process
which can half unit costs.

Expansion

Companies & Business

in brief

www.mitsui.com
http://www.quadrantplastics.com http://www.prodrive.com http://www.surface-generation.com http://www.jeccomposites.com/events/jec-forums-boston-2015 http://www.zoltek.com http://www.mitsui.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015
