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SGL Group leads project for automotive carbon fibres

05 Jun '17

2 min read

Courtesy: SGL Group

Germany’s leading carbon company, SGL Group, is set to lead a consortium of eight UK companies in an 18 month research and development project to produce lightweight carbon fibre composite components for the automotive industry. The project is titled “Thermoplastic Overmoulding of Structural Composites for Automotive Applications” (TOSCAA).

The project aims to develop the technology of thermoplastic components for automotive serial production among all levels of the value chain, from SGL Group to automotive end users, represented in this project by Jaguar Land Rover.

The overall TOSCCA expenditure is £2.8 million with total funding of £2.1 million by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency. SGL’s share of investment is just under £0.6 million, receiving 50 per cent support. The key role of SGL in the consortium is to provide carbon fibre composite raw materials based on a thermoplastic matrix. These materials include long fibre tapes and sheets together with short fibre compounds for overmoulding, recycled fibre materials, and continuous fibre based materials.

The carbon fibres are produced at SGL’s manufacturing site Muir of Ord (near Inverness), further support comes from the company’s newly established Lightweight and Application Centre (LAC) in Meitingen, Germany. This includes know-how and engineering expertise as well as providing unidirectional tapes and organic sheets. The materials are used to develop new and innovative composite designs and to manufacture prototypes for structural components within existing car models. This will demonstrate the suitability of such composites for these demanding applications and open the door for future exploitation.

Grant Andrews, technology manager at SGL Group in Muir of Ord said, “With TOSCAA our expertise in using carbon fibres in thermoplastic composites will grow and it will enable us to improve our support for all our customers using carbon fibres in the automotive sector as well as in other innovative applications. Thermoplastic components combine important advantages such as short cycle times, weldability, repairability, and recycling.” (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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