Marketable Composite Materials and Technologies ...

Polymer composite fiber materials

... are our business. Polymer composite fiber materials have considerable performance advantages (e.g. relative stiffness, corrosion resistance, anisotropy) compared to conventional structural materials like aluminum. Over the past decades application of these materials has increased significantly. Particularly areas of application where the criteria of weight and mechanical loading capacity are important show an intensive use of glass fiber or carbon fiber-reinforced polymers. In aircraft construction, 15-45% of the structural weight is already made up from fiber-reinforced polymers. The construction of rotor blades for wind energy plants is not conceivable without the application of glass fiber-reinforced materials. Composite fiber materials play a significant role in the fields of aerospace and wind-energy plants.

At present, further penetration of the market with this material technology combined with an appropriate production technology is failing for different reasons: manufacturing costs, necessary integration of development and manufacture, reliable process management, recycling. These aspects are taken on at the Composite Technology Center Stade in a comprehensive and practice-oriented manner and are applied to an industrial solution representing large-volume series production. The composite technology is further developed within CTC Stade to enable product and process innovations in relevant industries (vehicle construction, mechanical engineering, etc.). This philosophy and general experiences from technology management are reflected in the CTC’s goals and strategy in order to attain technological market leadership and an above-average growth in high-performance composite technology by means of cooperation between industry and research.

New materials and manufacturing processes for future products are developed within CTC Stade. The organizational and spatial proximity to series production facilities of large composite fiber parts guarantees the efficient and effective introduction into series production. The technological demands can be quickly and unbureaucratically determined and production facilities jointly used. The close cooperation between the industry and research facilities guarantees customer-oriented technology development.