composites | LFTs
and China, said it was doubling capacity at its plant at Nanjing to around 10,000 tpa. “Based on the success of the first line in Nanjing, Ticona is ramping up production to meet the continued demand of this product by our global customers,” Michael Harding, global
business line director LFRT products at Ticona said of
Above: Polytec produces a number of
underbody and structural LFT- D PP parts for VW group,
which is one of the leading users of LFTs
such as crash structures, seat frames and engine mounts in the automotive industry and at construction industry parts including mounts and frames for façade and photovoltaic units. The latest addition to the product line is the impact modified Ultramid Structure B3ZG9 LF with 45% glass for energy absorbing applications. Among the first commercial applications for the
materials are a series of hand axe handles and garden tool connector elements used by German horticultural equipment maker Freund-Victoria. BASF also designed an injection moulded wheel for the Smart forVision electric vehicle concept shown last year at the Frankfurt automotive show. Injection moulded in a highly glass reinforced Structure grade, the 6kg part is said to meet all the performance requirements of a traditional alloy wheel but with a 30% weight saving. BASF says it sees the future for LFTs in metal
replacement, where the polymers can offer particular advantages over die cast metal components. Energy absorbing parts are an obvious area of interest. To date, the company has been supplying the market with LFT-G materials from a pilot scale pultrusion line. However, a spokesperson says it is currently investing in production scale plant. The company has also extended the scope of its Ultrasim computer modeling software to support development of long fibre reinforced products.
Far right: This Spriform hybrid test
component, produced on
KraussMaffei’s IMC LFT-D equipment,
combines the strengths of reinforced
thermoplastic sheet and LFTs
56
Asian expansions While Europe continues to play a leading role in the global LFT market, the leading suppliers are increasing their capacities in the fast growing Asian region, where future growth is expected to lie. Late last year, JNC Corporation set up a new wholly-owned subsidiary in China – JNC Polyfine Asia – to manufacture its Funcster range of LFT-G PP compounds. The 7,000 tpa plant will be located at Changshu in Jinagsu province and is due to begin production in September of this year. It will focus on automotive industry applications. Earlier last year Ticona,
which produces its Celstran LFT products in Germany, the US
COMPOUNDING WORLD | January 2012
www.compoundingworld.com
the move at the time. Chinese car maker Chang’an Automobile is just one of the Asian car makers to turn to LFTs. Its use of Sabic Innovative Plastics’ Stamax LFT PP for the front end module of its CX30 car – launched at last year’s Shanghai Auto Show – was said to be a first for a Chinese-developed model and yielded a 4kg weight saving (see Compounding World, May 2011, page 47). Meanwhile, North American LFT compounds and
technology company PlastiComp announced this month that the 12th
production line worldwide to use its
proprietary LFT Pushtrusion technology will begin operation in Korea next month with an undisclosed customer. PlastiComp director of sales Michael Sandeen says the company has just completed expan- sions at its LFT manufacturing unit and Technical Development Centres at Winona in Minnesota that represented an investment of close to $4m in its business. The investments will underpin ongoing growth in its LFT activities – he reports sales growth of 50% in 2011.
Construction opportunities “The energy and transportation markets get a lot of press for LFT applications and developments due to the sheer size of the opportunities. Other markets, such as building and construction, consumer goods, and industrial segments also have promising developments for engineered LFT materials,” says Sandeen. “It’s the recurring theme – strength to weight, durability, ergonomics, cost for performance.” Last year, PlastiComp secured a US patent covering
a novel process for production of fibre reinforced thermoplastic composite rebars (reinforcement rods for the use in concrete construction). These use a combination of a sheath of LFT resin which is extruded onto a continuous fibre reinforced tension core. The
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