technology | LFTs Right: LFT
production line showing roving allocation at the Borealis plant at Monza in Italy
including polyaryletherketones, providing further possibilities for metal replacement in other markets such as transportation.” The LFT technology will also be applied to Solvay’s Amodel PPA and Ryton PPS portfo- lios and the Technyl polyamide 66 range (produced by Solvay Engineering Plastics). Borealis is another polymer major prominent in PP
in 2010 acquired FACT (a German company founded by Tapio Harmia but sold to Ravago in 2005). SABIC for its part acquired GE Plastics, which had earlier bought LNP. LNP had formerly been part of ICI, the original developer of “cable-coating” LFT technol- ogy, and offered product under the Verton brand. SABIC also acquired LFT technology through its acquisition of DSM’s polyolefins business, which had developed StaMax LFTs in a joint venture with Owens Corning (OC sold its share to SABIC in 2003). DSM had previously offered the Fiberstran range of LFTs but halted production after a patent dispute with LNP. SABIC now offers LFTs based on numerous base polymers. Several Japanese polymer suppliers, notably
Sumitomo Chemical and Chisso (now Japan Polypro- pylene Corporation, JPP), have also developed LFT technologies.
Right: KTM
manufactures this motorcycle rear frame in Fibremod
CB401SY LFT from Borealis
Adding capability Last October, Solvay acquired Epic Polymers, saying the company’s LFT technology would complement its offering of high performance lightweighting materials for larger automotive semi-structural parts. Epic was established some years ago by two LFT experts from within LNP – Fred Panhuizen and Jörg Konrad. The company has developed its own LFT technology focused on its Strator PA66 range. “Demand-led growth for these sophisticated tailored materials offering superior mechanical and thermal properties, coupled with high impact resistance, strength and stiffness at elevated temperatures, is driven by the
need to reduce fuel consumption and lower CO2 emissions,” according to Solvay. At the time of the Epic acquisition,
Augusto Di Donfrancesco, President of Solvay’s Specialty Polymers business unit, said the move would enable Solvay to “provide larger semi- structural parts for the automotive sector, our key market, and develop expertise to apply LFT technology to core polymers
32 COMPOUNDING WORLD | May 2016
LFTs with its Fibremod pultrusion technology, which is proprietary (Borealis uses the term PP-LGF to describe its grades). A Borealis plant at Monza in Italy was the first to be equipped with a Fibremod production line in 2013. This February, Borealis said it was expanding its total Fibremod capacity to 10,000 tonnes/yr. Current grades are based on polypropylene with ultra-broad molecular weight distribution. Borealis demonstrated automotive parts produced in
Fibremod PP-LGF for the first time at the VDI Interna- tional Conference on Plastics in Automotive Engineer- ing in Mannheim, Germany, in February. The company said the most promising area of development is in structural carriers. It says is at an advanced develop- ment stage in pilot projects with several Tier 1 suppli- ers including Brose, which has supported ongoing development of a PP composite sheet-based solution in combination with LFT PP for production of lightweight door carriers. A collaboration with Takata, one of the world’s leading suppliers of airbags, has led to development of a next-generation airbag housing made of PP-LGF and composite sheet.
Research options Much development work on LFTs in Europe, especially Germany, has been carried out within industry-research institute partnerships. FACT, for example, was a spin-off from the IVW Institute for Composite Materials. Five years ago, soon after leaving FACT, Tapio Harmia set up Easicomp, which acts primarily as a service provider in the field of LFTs. Easicomp also collaborates with the IVW, and is part of the European Alliance for Thermo- plastic Composites (EATC), whose members have “a concerted com- mitment to the technological
advancement of long fibre reinforced thermoplastics over the complete product chain.” Easicomp’s services include
assistance in LFT product development as well as production for companies making
their first moves in the field. If products are sufficiently successful, it may also help customers in setting up their own production. Harmia brought
several of his colleagues from FACT to Easicomp, so the company has a significant fund of knowledge and
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