JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #109 - November/December 2016 - 9

Bruno Sainjon, CEO of ONERA, and Dr Jaiwon Shin, Associate Administrator
for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA.

Under the agreement, NASA and ONERA will work together
to advance technology in the areas of aircraft noise prediction
and understanding human response to aircraft noise through
validation of models using advanced measurement methods and
comprehensive data sets.
The agreement creates a forum through which both agencies can
share technical knowledge and data in order to independently
improve their own capabilities with the overall objective of
mitigating the effects of civil air transportation noise. This
research complements the work currently being performed by
NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
www.nasa.gov - www.onera.fr

Mitsubishi Rayon
and Fiberline Composites
form joint venture
for wind turbine blades
Mitsubishi Rayon will supply
high-performance large tow
carbon fiber produced at its
Otake Production Center
to the joint venture based in
Denmark. The joint venture
will leverage the molding and
processing technologies of
Fiberline, a composite pultrusion manufacturer, to enable
light-weight, price competitive
composite laminates supply to
the wind turbine blade market.
In recent years, the size of
wind turbine blades has become longer as the widespread
installation of off-shore wind
power systems and the increasing importance of low wind

site development demand
more efficient power generation. Such large-sized wind
turbine blades require carbon
fibers replacing conventional
glass fibers due to their rigidity
and light-weight properties. In
particular, composite laminates
made in pultrusion processes
are superior in composite performance and process speed
compared to other carbon fiber
composite materials, this being
reflected in the full scale adoption of these by the world's
leading turbine manufacturer.
Consequently,
pultruded
laminates have become the
industry standard. Mitsubishi
Rayon will seek to expand its
share in the carbon fibers wind
turbine market through this
joint venture.

PGTEX, a Chinese
composite materials firm
opens Texas facility
The producer of advanced
materials,
fabrics,
and
composites for the wind energy
industry, has established its first
North American manufacturing
facility in El Paso, Texas.
Founded in 1998 and based in
Changzhou in China's Jiangsu
province, PGTEX - also known
as the Changzhou Hongfa
zongheng Advanced material
technology - is one of China's
largest domestic producers of
glass reinforced fabrics at an
annual capacity of 80,000mt,
according to PGTEX's website.
35% of the market share in
China for reinforced glass
fabrics used in wind turbine
blades is held by the company.

Opening

NASA and ONERA to collaborate on aircraft noise research
During bilateral meetings in Daejeon, South Korea, NASA
and France's Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches
Aerospatiales (ONERA) signed an agreement to collaborate
on research that focuses on mitigating the effects of civil air
transportation noise.

PGTEX has invested $6.7 million
in the Texas facility known as "Far
East El Paso" so far, according to
the article. The company said it
plans on investing an additional
$11 million in the plant over
the next four years as the North
American renewable energy
market expands.
The company expects to offer
about 150 jobs at the 50,320-sqft facility by 2020, and PGTEX
intends to expand the size of the
plant over the next four years.
www.pgtex.cn

IACMI and LIFT to jointly invest nearly $50M
in Detroit manufacturing facility
In celebration of Manufacturing Day, two Manufacturing
USA institutes, LIFT- Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow
and IACMI-The Composites Institute, announce a combined
investment of nearly $50 million in their shared manufacturing
scale-up facility in Detroit.

Investment

Partnership

in partnership with

The investment will be made over the next 24 months and will
include the acquisition and installation of new manufacturing
equipment to increase the capabilities of the institute, as well
as construction and infrastructure upgrades for the facility to
support the new equipment.
These investments will allow institute members, partners and
others in the industry to conduct research and development
projects, in both lightweight metals and advanced composites, at
the innovative Corktown facility. It will also provide education
space for students and adult learners focused on the composites
and lightweight materials industries.
The nearly $50 million investment will be comprised of LIFT's
$20.5 million and IACMI's $18 million towards equipment with
the rest supporting facility updates and upgrades.

www.mrc.co.jp

No109 November - December 2016

www.iacmi.org - www.lift.technology

/ jec composites magazine

9
http://www.pgtex.cn http://www.onera.fr http://www.nasa.gov http://www.mrc.co.jp http://www.lift.technology http://www.iacmi.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #109 - November/December 2016
