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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Fiberglass Windows Gaining Popularity

Fiberglass windows have been around for sometime now, but are only recently gaining serious momentum. Fiberglass windows, typically use pultruded profiles for the frames; and since the frames and windows are both essentially made of glass, they expand and contract at the same rate, this creates a longer life window. Less gaps are created between the glass and frame, creating a tighter seal with efficiency gains. Additionally, aluminum window frames, which are conductive, generally are not as energy efficient as fiberglass windows.

The Janurary/February 2010 issue of This Old House, reports that:

"While sales of windows sank 18 percent overall last year, the market for fiberglass models shot up 9.4 percent. Experts attribute the bump to consumers' growing familiarity with the material and that, unlike vinyl, the pricier fiberglass fiberglass is as printable as wood and lasts longer since it expands and contracts with window glass."

Fiberglass windows will likely continue to gain market share as advances in pultrusion resin systems, such as urethane, will lead to higher quality products with increased energy efficiency.

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Photo Credit: JAGwired via flicker

What composite materials are people looking for?

The search giant Google probably knows more about composite materials then anyone in the world. That, and they probably know who in the world is the most interested in composite materials. There is an interesting tool called Google Trends. This little tool allows the public to see what topics are being searched, and their location. This can provide some market insight into where certain composite technologies are finding global interest.

For example, let us look at a composite material terms, and the top five geographical locations people are searching for information. The blue bars to the right are a graphical view of the total number of searches for that particular term.

Composites

1.	Chennai, India
2.	Mumbai, India
3.	Delhi, India
4.	Seattle, WA, USA
5.	Montreal, Canada

Carbon Fiber

1.	San Diego, CA, USA
2.	Irvine, CA, USA
3.	Los Angeles, CA, USA
4.	Sacramento, CA, USA
5.	Orlando, FL, USA

Carbon Fibre

1.	Canberra, Australia
2.	Perth, Australia
3.	Adelaide, Australia
4.	Brisbane, Australia
5.	Bletchley, United Kingdom

Fiberglass

1.	Tampa, FL, USA
2.	Orlando, FL, USA
3.	Portland, OR, USA
4.	St Louis, MO, USA
5.	Seattle, WA, USA

Airbus

1.	Bremen, Germany
2.	Toulouse, France
3.	Hamburg, Germany
4.	Paris, France
5.	Zurich, Switzerland

Boeing

1.	Seattle, WA, USA
2.	St Louis, MO, USA
3.	Phoenix, AZ, USA
4.	Los Angeles, CA, USA
5.	Washington, DC, USA

Pultrusion

1.	Mumbai, India
2.	Delhi, India
3.	Montreal, Canada
4.	Bogota, Colombia
5.	Madrid, Spain

Filament Winding

1.	Tehran, Iran
2.	Mumbai, India
3.	Delhi, India
4.	Milan, Italy
5.	London, United Kingdom

You get the idea... It is really quite fascinating to see what parts of the world are interested in what segment of composite materials. It seems Iran is extremely interested in filament winding; I wonder if homeland security is aware of this?

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University of Maine Composite Bridge

I have previously discussed University of Maine's composite bridge technology. Yesterday there was an article in section D-1 of the New York Times highlighting this composite technology.

Here is the online version of the article, it goes into detail on the design, but essentially, inflatable tubes made of glass and carbon are arched across the span. These tubes are then impregnated while in position, and filled with concrete. Composite panels (I assume pultruded) are affixed on top of the large tube structures, followed by gravel and pavement.

Composite bridges are not new, if fact Asia has been a believer in composite bridge technology for some time now (will try and find supporting information). The upfront costs are often higher with composite materials, however the speed of installation can often outweigh the price premium on busy roadways.

Pultruded Composite Scaffolding

Making scaffolding out of composite materials seems like it should be an obvious decision. Planks would be lightweight, non-conductive, strong, durable, not absorb moisture, and never rot. Although the concept seems like a no-brainer, it has taken time to make inroads.

Wood, steel, and aluminum, the traditional saffolding planks are inexpensive, familar, and proven. For someone to try and enter this market, trying to convince construction companies to switch to a more expensive product, especally in this construction enviroment, would be a serious challenge. Not to mention the hurdel in code certification and the ever present liability risk of someone getting injured using a plank.

This is why my hat goes off to Tim Bothwell, who I have recently learned from this article, that he has been spending many years developing and selling a pultruded composite scaffolding system. His company, Bothwell Composite Plank System, is said to have made 10,000 planks in the last 3 years. Part of his success has been the targeting of niche power generation and offshore oil markets.

It seems Bothwell has partnered with Top Glass out of Italy, which was recently acquired by Kemrock Industries out of India.

Photo credit: kevindooly via flicker

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

Composite Carabiners & the Dollar per Pound Ratio

A common goal for manufacturers of composites is to create and sell products that have the highest dollar per pound ratio possible. The higher the dollar per pound ratio is, the more margin the product will likely have. Lets look at some products/industry and examine their $/lb ratio.

At the low end, are commodity type composite products, typically made with e-glass and vinyl ester, are readily available, and have no significant variations between one manufacturer to the next. An example of this are common pultruded profiles such as I-beams, tubes, rods, etc. Obviously pricing will depend on quantity, but margins are very low and the dollar per pound sales prices can be in the $3/lb range...

At the other end of the spectrum are aerospace composites and recreational composite products. These products, often have a proprietary design, are carbon fiber epoxy, are specialty products, and often carry a brand name. The premium received is often due to the extra weight savings, durability, and extra labor involved in the product.

In recreational equipment, a constantly growing segment of composites and an early adapter of new materials and processes, the price per pound is often extremely high. Bicycles, golf shafts, tennis rackets, even ping pong paddles, all demand a premium. For example, take a surfboard that costs $500 dollars, and weighs 6lbs. The surfboard, constructed from polyurethane foam, woven 14oz e-glass, and vinyl ester resin retails for $83 a lb. (Most of this margin goes to manufacturing...)

One interesting recreational sporting product, not yet composite, is the carabiner used in rock climbing. As of now there is no composite counterpart, this study states that although a lighter weight carabiner would be desirable, it is currently not feasible. (I do not believe this is the case...)

This particular carabiner here, weighs 36 grams, and sells for $23 dollars. By my calculations, this is over $300 per pound for aluminum. A lightweight composite version could absolutely command a premium over this.

These are the type of products composite manufacturers are beginning to look at, niche markets with opportunity.

Photo Credit: Phil Hawksworth via Flicker

Composites Emissions... EPA Fines Composite Pultruder $151k

Not all composite materials are equal when it comes to emissions; different resins have different properties when it comes to VOCs. Additionally, the intensity of emissions varies from process to process, such that wet lay-up, pultrusion, compression molding, autoclave, etc, all have different environmental impacts.

One of the most common resins used in thermoset composites today, is vinyl ester resin. This resin has been long proven, is inexpensive, has excellent corrosion and chemical resistance, and is easy to work with. (long pot life, good vescosity, good shelf life). Unfortunatly, this resin has a moderate Volitile Organic Compound (VOC) content, as the resin is dispersed with a monomer, (most often styerne.) Styrene is known to have health effects, and in large quantities can harm air quality. In fact, the US EPA has described styrene as "a suspected carcinogen" and "a suspected toxin to the gastrointestinal, kidney, and respiratory systems, among others."

By switching to low or no VOC resins such as certain epoxies and polyurethanes, the health risks can be avoided. Although costs are often higher, and often the resins are not yet adapted to the manufacturing process. Additionally, the increased use of thermoplastic resins are also helping reduce volitile emmisions.

As well, the various manufacturing processes of composites variy the intensity of emissions. Wet or hand lay-up, where a laminate is cured open to the air, is far worse then a closed mold oporation. I am curious how the EPA takes this into consideration?

Recently, the EPA fined a Minnosta composites company, Conett Inc. (formally Geotek Inc.) $151,000 for violating "national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants by failing to reduce organic hazardous air pollutants from its pultrusion operations." The compliant can be read here.

As a compairson, here are two other EPA fines from 2003 and 2004, for the use of Styrene in hot tub manufacturing.

If you have any comments or insights, please share...

Photo credit: pfala vis flicker

Pultrusion Industry Slightly Down in Europe

According to European pultruder Exel Composites quarterly reports, net sales were down 11.4% for the 1st quarter of 2009.

With operations in Finland, Austria, Germany, UK, China, and Australia, Exel Composites is a good bellwether company for pultrusion industry health in the European markets. Company president said,

“During the first quarter 2009, the impact of the financial crisis has continued to escalate, affecting also market demand in the pultrusion business negatively, especially in the building and construction and transportation segments,”

More Info:
Exel Composites
Pultrusion Information

First Pultrusion Company in Dubai

Pultron Composites, a pultrusion company from New Zealand is claiming to be setting up the first pultrusion factory in Dubai.

The middle east, and Dubai in particular is a ripe area for structural composites, and in particular pultrusions. The enviroment is extremely corrosive, and it seems they have an abundance of the raw materials FRP composites, ie fiberglass (silca aka sand) and resin (petrolium product).

More information:

AMEInof.com
Pultrusion Information

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