MATERIALS | REINFORCING FIBRES
Figure 1: Performance comparison of different E-glass and S-2 glass reinforcements in PEEK resin Source: AGY
Zoltek, which was acquired by Toray (already a major supplier of carbon fibres) four years ago, says its PX35 fibre has become the standard commercial carbon fibre material of choice across various industries. “By utilising an abundant textile-based precursor and employing a propri- etary high throughput carbonisation process, Zoltek PX35 remains the lowest cost carbon fibre on the market,” it says. Rapidly growing demand for industrial grade carbon fibre for use in wind, automotive, and other commercial applications is a key driver in the decision to expand, the company says. “It is clear that the utilisation of Zoltek’s carbon fibre is on the rise across a variety of industries, in particu- lar, for automotive and wind energy applications,” says Yoshihiro Takeuchi, President and CEO of Zoltek. “A key part of the Zoltek strategy is to maintain supply availability for commercial markets. This latest capacity expansion will support this strategy as we see continued demand growth in our major markets.” Another company that says it has the solution to
the current high cost of carbon fibres is Procotex. Dieter Henau, Sales Manager at the company, says price and also concerns over recyclability and reuse have been holding back the use of carbon fibre in automotive applications in particular. “Procotex can deliver all kinds of recycled carbon fibres or para aramid fibres to the compounding industry,” he says. “Last year 1,000 tonnes of recycled carbon fibre were delivered to the thermoplastic-thermoset
40 COMPOUNDING WORLD | October 2017
industry.” Recently Procotex introduced a milled carbon fibre in granulate form. Henau says Procotex has the ability to cut, mill or
shorten carbon fibres into the lengths required by compounding customers. “We are easily talking about offering recycled carbon fibres cheaper by 30% and more than first grade carbon fibres with a minimal loss of quality such as tensile strength, modulus, etc. In volumes, carbon fibre could cost only 6 €/kg in comparison with a double digit for new carbon fibre grades. Fibres can be supplied with sizing compatible with a broad range of thermoplastics. Many projects with recycled carbon fibres are starting up now,” Henau says.
Performance glass Meanwhile, the glass fibre reinforcement industry has been responding with the development of special high performance grades. AGY has been producing S-2 Glass chopped fibres for a number of programmes for a couple of years now, with com- pounders using the fibres to improve mechanical performance over compounds containing E-glass, says Iain Montgomery, the company’s Director of New Business Development. The company started at the top of the thermoplastic pyramid with high temperature products such as PEEK and PEKK and now has a range of chopped fibres sized for use in a number of different resins, he says. These include various polyamides, PC, PBT, and PVDF. “S-2 Glass fibres have always been viewed as a high performance material, which improves the
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