Strongwell Looking at Green Composite Materials

The demand for environmentally friendly materials is growing and will continue to grow. Strongwell, perhaps the world's largest pultruder, recently announced their Green Initiative. This is a fantastic move in the correct direction. Products made with composite materials are in fact environmentally friendly. Composites are inherently lightweight and non-corrosive, which is why they are used in wind blades, automotive, and aerospace.

The life cycle of composites needs to be closely analysed. For example, although a steel structure can be recycled at the end of life, the life span may be shorter, and thus, the overall environmental impact could be greater over time. This all needs to be measured on a analytical and straight forward level.

This being said, FRP composites must figure out a recycling solution. Yes composites are "recyclable", but no company is doing it on a large practical scale... Yet...

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End of Life Solution for Plastics and Polymers

Above is a short documentary about a trip to the great pacific garbage patch, a three part series following a voyage to a collection of plastic larger then the state of Texas. The film should create serious questions for anyone involved in the composites, plastics, or polymer industries.

If one thinks about it, we come into contact with plastics constantly on a daily basis, from our toothbrush in the morning, to the synthetic bed we sleep on at night. This dependence is only going to continue. Even our electricity will be created from FRP wind blades and our cars will be manufactured from lightweight polymer composites.

Yet, the composites industry has no end solution for our products. Currently, traditional FRP products goto landfills or incinerators at the end of life. This is unacceptable, and more importantly, unsustainable. The composite industry as a whole needs to continue the search for better materials and further develop a realistic and functional solution for end of life solutions.

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Selecting a Composite Decking Material

Composite decking products, such as Trex, are a different type of composite then we usually discuss here. Unlike traditional FRP composites consisting of a continuous fiber reinforcement such as fiberglass or carbon fiber and a polymer resin matrix, composite decking products, for the most part, are an extruded composite consisting of wood fiber (saw dust) and polyethylene (grocery bags). Composite decking is a replacement for traditional wood and has many advantages, including lower maintenance, no splinters, no termites, etc.

However, many of the composite decking products have downsides as well. From my experience, some composite decking products are susceptible to stains and mold. For example, if part of your deck is in the shade, this area could slowly grow mildew and require occasional power washing, not exactly zero maintenance. Also, BBQ stains and other spills can grab hold to a composite deck and be near impossible to remove.

The best thing to do before deciding on a type of composite deck material, is talk to professionals working with the various composite materials, also ask if you can talk to customers they have worked with.

Composite Material vs Metal

Perhaps the first driving factor for replacing metal components with composite materials was the resistance fiber reinforced polymers have to corrosion. The marine industry began to embrace composite materials shortly after WWII, manufacturing boats impervious to the corrosive salt environment.

Today, modern metal alloys such as aluminum, titanium, and even stainless steel are used in industries, such as aerospace, where corrosion in unacceptable. Although these metals are not "prone" to corrosion, there is still the risk of galvanic corrosion, which occurs when two dissimilar metals are in contact with one another.

In fact, due to the conductive properties of carbon fiber reinforced composites, there is a growing concern in cases where metal components are interacting with carbon fiber components. This is perhaps a major issue on designing the new generation of Boeing and Airbus airframes.

Corrosion will continue to be an issue for metal products, and corrosion will continue to be a driving factor for the integration of composite materials. For a good illustration of this, here is an interesting blog post discussing how the household cleaner Simple Green can corrode aluminum.

Photo Credit: Nomads: will create via flicker

Advanced Thermal Composite Materials

Here is an interesting technical presentation on advanced thermal materials.

Advanced Thermal Materials Overview Slides C Zweben

View more documents from chzweben.

Composite Waste water Pipes

Photo Credit: Roantrum via flicker

Composite waste water pipes are becoming increasingly popular as traditional steel and concrete pipes are due for replacement around the world. Concrete, being a porous material allows moisture to penetrate and corrode the steel reinforcement. This can damage the structural integrity of the pipes, and ultimately will require retrofitting.

Here is an article from WaterWorld on the increasing use of FRP composites in waste water pump stations, the article states:

"Many companies in the wastewater treatment industry make their products out of steel and concrete. But steel is highly susceptible to corrosion caused by various chemicals in the wastewater stream. This tendency for corrosion is often accelerated by chloride-rich environments, such as areas with natural salt water concentrations – ultimately shortening the life spans of these lift stations Concrete stations tend to crack as they settle, resulting in leakage and typically higher maintenance costs. Both steel and concrete stations also are extremely heavy, making them difficult to transport and install."

What are Composite Materials?

Here is an interesting introduction to composite materials from a more technical point of view.
Introduction To Composite Materials C Zweben

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Composite Road Mats - For Oil Fields

The US consumes a ton of oil, far more then we produce, and according to a DOE EIA Report, the US imports about 2/3'rds of the oil consumed, with Canada providing the largest portion of oil to the US. As of June 2009, the US was consuming 2 million barrels of Canadian Oil, or Alberta Tea as I like to call it...

To get these 2 million barrels a day to pipelines, massive temporary roads are constructed, going over the difficult terrain of the tundra and swampy bogs. Giant 8' x 15' mats are placed together to create a road. These roads have massive trucks with heavy loads going back and forth over uneven ground. Needless to say, these mats take a serious beating.

Traditionally, mats are made with thick planks of wood and steel frames. These however are extremely heavy, and do not last as long as desired. More recently, composite materials are being introduced using light weight sandwich panels. The requirements are not easy as the panels need to be stiff, withstand wear and impact, and be able to connect to other panels.

Here is a recent article from the Oil & gas inquirer, describing a composite road mat system using a polypropylene honeycomb core and FRP skins. The article also discusses alternative methods to constructing these roads using wood chips over geotextile mats...

Photo Credit: jakesmome via flicker

Three Words.... Fiber Reinforced Plastics!

I'm sure everyone has seen this before, but for anyone in the composite material or plastics industry, it is worth seeing again.

Pultrusion: Tooling and Prototype Costs

The pultrusion process is known as the most cost effective method of manufacturing FRP composite profiles. this is because once a pultrusion machine is up and running, there is little labor involved. However, in prototyping of profiles manufactured by pultrusion, costs can be extremely high. The largest cost being the manufacturing of a precision ground die (although this is a one-time cost).

Other fixed costs in pultrusion include tooling, set-up, and clean up when finished. These costs are present whether 10 feet, or 10,000 feet are pultruded.

To help lower prototyping costs, Virginia Tech has developed a

"Novel and cost effective pultrusion die technology streamlines the construction processes and reduces tooling costs by as much as 11%. Lead times are cut by almost 50%.

Technology utilizes rapid prototyping and tooling techniques to produce shaping elements comprising the die core with an exterior core housing constructed from readily available pre-cut metal bar stock."

This technology is available for license from the University, and for more information please visit their website here.

Photo Credit: Ebert Composites Corporation

Article on Strongwell from Local Newspaper

An interesting article on Strongwell, the worlds largest pultruder of FRP composites, was written about in the local Bristol, TN newspaper. A fascinating statistic from the write up, Strongwell has never laid-off an employee in the 37 years of business, and currently has over 700 employees.

Full Article