MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Carbon Company and the chemical company BASF have concluded the joint research of a new composite material system as an important development step of their collaboration, as per BASF's press release.
The system aims at enhancing the cost-effectiveness of manufacturing thermoplastic carbon-fiber composites, for example in injection procedures (T-RTM: thermoplastic resin transfer molding) and reaction injection molding. The composite is based on a reactive polyamide system and compatible carbon fibers. A carbon-fiber surface-or sizing-specially designed for the matrix system as well as tailored thermoplastic reactive systems mean that lightweight structural components for, say, the automotive industry can now be manufactured quickly and easily.
This collaboration between SGL Group and BASF was launched back in October 2012. On the basis of the now-complete material research, the transfer of the special systems made from carbon fibers and matrices into specific applications of customers in the automotive industry is now under way.
As part of this collaborative project, SGL Group developed a new sizing formulation for the carbon fibers. In addition, special processes for manufacturing carbon-fiber-based textiles such as fabrics and braidings were also developed. To produce Non-Crimp-Fabrics (NCF), special threads are used that enable processing in the reactive polyamide system.
BASF's role in this project was to process SGL Group's newly developed carbon fibers using the T-RTM technique and to characterize them comprehensively both chemically and mechanically. The BASF research team is continuing to work intensively on the development of caprolactam-based thermoplastic reactive systems.
Thermoplastics-based carbon-fiber composites combine the properties of carbon fibers such as high rigidity and low weight with the familiar processing advantages of thermoplastics, allowing them to be formed, recycled and welded. This helps make carbon fiber technology an even more viable proposition for large-scale production in a number of different applications.
As MRC wrote before, in October 2014, BASF and Archroma agreed on the sale of BASF’s global textile chemicals business to Archroma, a supplier of specialty chemicals to the textile, paper and emulsions industries.
BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF had sales of over EUR74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year.
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