The 19-seat hybrid-electric aircraft was conceived to use composite and metal construction. Aura Aero has signed a PAC with EASA to finalize the framework for its CS-23 category certification.
Brudeli’s patented plug-in Powerhybrid technology will use Hexagon Agility CNG/RNG fuel system with Type 4 tanks, enabling Class 7 and 8 trucks to meet ACT and ACF regulations. high temperature insulation
Final airworthiness criteria provides a solidified path for Archer to achieve type certification for its eVTOL aircraft.
Positive progress during eVTOL prototype testing approaches full transition to forward flight, aids in final full-scale aircraft design for completion and testing in 2026.
Lilium is keen to expand its industrial footprint through leveraging of France’s aerospace heritage and vast supplier base in aerospace and electrification, in preparation for the eVTOL aircraft market demand.
Test results exceeded expectations regarding holding hard vacuum, heat load, rapid chill-down and hydrogen fraction goal, leading to flight prototype fabrication.
An Aurora and Boeing team advances its high-speed, vertical lift concept to the preliminary design phase, which features three lift fans, a more refined composite exterior and an uncrewed cockpit.
Nesting, design, GUI and viewing features have been improved or added to the composites design software tool.
Ingersoll Masterprint LFAM printer will be used to produce and demonstrate 100% recyclable tooling that could cut large composite blade development cycles and tooling costs by as much as 50%.
Key structural elements for a 6-meter section of the Airbus biomimetic wing were undertaken by NCC engineering specialists to produce 28 one-off flying parts.
Pioneer in mandrel-based reinforced rubber and composite products, TANIQ offers TaniqWindPro software and robotic winding expertise for composite pressure vessels and more.
Designer and builder of compression molds for composite structures installs seven-axis CNC deep-hole drilling and milling machine to improve productivity.
Passion for rock climbing leads to durable, 30% lighter cam using Additive Molding.
CAMX 2024: Rishon, which combines RCF Technologies’ elastomer and composite fabrics, bonds to metals and most composites, while providing high-temperature operations, sound and vibration absorption, heat insulation and more.
End-of-life wind turbine recycling efforts are underway after the first REWIND consortium kick-off in May.
Brudeli’s patented plug-in Powerhybrid technology will use Hexagon Agility CNG/RNG fuel system with Type 4 tanks, enabling Class 7 and 8 trucks to meet ACT and ACF regulations.
3D printing materials portfolio now extends from unfilled PVDF to carbon-fiber-reinforced PVDF, adding to the end product’s high performance and chemical resistance.
Envalior 30% glass fiber-reinforced Akulon RePurposed material helps Ahrend achieve lighter task chair with closed-loop value chain and reduced emissions.
CAMX 2024: ColorForm and long fiber injection (LFI) technologies by KraussMaffei support automotive, consumer and other end markets in their quest for high-performance, lightweight parts with aesthetic qualities.
CAMX 2024: Machine knives and industrial razor blades supplier American Cutting Edge offers composites manufacturers staple and custom cutting options.
3D printing materials portfolio now extends from unfilled PVDF to carbon-fiber-reinforced PVDF, adding to the end product’s high performance and chemical resistance.
Designed through the European Fibremach project, the equipment provides a greater increase in precision and machining efficiency and integrates a monitoring system that ensures part quality.
Spanish startup Reinforce3D’s continuous fiber injection process (CFIP) involves injection of fibers and liquid resin into hollow parts made from any material. Potential applications include sporting goods, aerospace and automotive components, and more.
The Visa Cash App RB Formula 1 team is collaborating with Roboze to reduce weight and create parts with complex geometries via carbon fiber/PEEK.
Increasingly, prototype and production-ready smart devices featuring thermoplastic composite cases and other components provide lightweight, optimized sustainable alternatives to metal.
CW explores key composite developments that have shaped how we see and think about the industry today.
Knowing the fundamentals for reading drawings — including master ply tables, ply definition diagrams and more — lays a foundation for proper composite design evaluation.
Performing regular maintenance of the layup tool for successful sealing and release is required to reduce the risk of part adherence.
With COVID in the past and passengers flying again, commercial aircraft production is ramping up. The aerocomposites supply chain is busy developing new M&P for an approaching next-generation aircraft program.
Electrification and a focus on sustainability lead to opportunities and innovations in composites, from battery enclosures to structural components and more.
KraussMaffei will explain in-situ polyurethane (PUR) overmolding of injection-molded and composite parts and the development of this technology over the last decade. Waruna Seneviratne, director of the Advanced Technologies Lab for Aerospace Systems (ATLAS), will discuss how aerospace and advanced air mobility (AAM) markets can capitalize on this high-rate manufacturing solution. Agenda: What is ColorForm: process, equipment and tooling Pros and cons of the technology High technology solution examples: ColorForm automotive Market references in automotive Demand for future commercial aviation and both AAM and urban air mobility (UAM) What aerospace can learn from automotive for addressing demand for high-rate manufacturing Technological advances enabling material and process improvements for the future Role of ATLAS manufacturing innovation center for promoting advanced manufacturing and workforce development Road map for certification through manufacturing demonstrations
Thermoplastic material systems have been used in aerospace for decades. Their use and adoption continues to grow and Trelleborg has been on the leading edge of development for many of these systems. In this webinar, Trelleborg will be presenting a range of topics from the use of in-situ, automated fiber placement of thermoplastics prepreg for structural and functional products to complex injection molding of thermoplastic interior pieces. It will explore some of the benefits these products provide and the potential for future growth and development. Agenda: Current state of thermoplastics in aerospace Thermoplastic composite use cases for high-performance electric motors and torque tubes Injection-molded thermoplastic interior pieces The future of potential for thermoplastic applications for aerospace
Find out how outsourced, costly tooling can be produced in-house to overcome bottlenecks, reduce costs and protect IP. Agenda: Explore durable casting materials that can be 3D-printed in complex designs Discover industry-proven Sika materials now available for high-speed, additive tooling Explore the benefits of thermoset molds that ensure uniform expansion, optimum bonding with the end part, as well as high durability
Explore next-gen composites engineering solutions in this webinar. Uncover the capabilities of Fives' Composite Optical Automated Surface Tracking (COAST) platform and Advanced Composites Environment Suite (ACES) software, optimizing design, production and quality control. Gain insights into how these end-to-end solutions enhance productivity and deliver measurable results. Join Fives to discover the transformative benefits of a fully-integrated digital solution for revolutionizing manufacturing processes. Agenda: Digital suite: CAD, CAM, robotic automated fiber placement (RAFP) and COAST Video demonstration Value propositions: maintenance and root cause analysis Product offerings (price, etc.) Customer use case
In addition to its proven fire resistance as a pure foam and within a sandwich composite system, the new material offers efficient manufacturing of 3-dimensional geometries and opens new possibilities for direct function integration. Agenda: Manufacturing process of thermoplastic particle foams Sandwich composite component requirements of commercial aircraft interior structures (e.g. FST, Heat Release) Function integration into net shape molded foam parts (e.g. inserts) Potential use-cases in fire critical applications
After having established a strong foundation in kinetic models in a previous webinar, part two delves into the exciting realm of machine learning and its transformative potential for composite manufacturing. While kinetic models have served the industry well, the growing complexity of composite manufacturing demands more sophisticated approaches. In this session, sensXPERT will explore innovative pathways to supercharge your production efficiency and enhance sustainability beyond the limits of traditional models. See how machine learning empowers composite manufacturers to achieve unprecedented accuracy in predicting key production parameters such as temperature, pressure and cure time. This translates to reduced cycle times and waste while increasing production throughput to maximize efficiency. SensXPERT will provide concrete examples and case studies demonstrating how to bridge the gap between meticulously-controlled laboratory experiments and the realities of the production floor, overcoming the limitations of kinetic models. Agenda: Define machine learning, its applications and their impact on composite manufacturing Explore real-world case studies in diverse composites manufacturing applications and how they exploit integration options Correlation analysis: uncovering hidden relationships between process parameters and product outcomes Time series analysis: forecasting production trends Anomaly detection: identifying irregularities
The JEC Forum Southeast Asia is an event organised by JEC The JEC Forum Southeast Asia is organised on June 11 and 12, 2024, by JEC, in partnership with the Thai Composites Association (TCA), bringing together the composite materials community in Southeast Asia.
The 14th edition of the Graphene Conference will take place June 25-28, 2024, in Madrid, Spain. The international gathering includes thematic workshops, B2B networking and an Industrial Forum that dives into a variety of topics, including the latest developments in graphene production methods towards wide scale commercialization and examples of graphene in electronics, energy storage, aerospace and barrier applications.
The International Composites Summit (ICS) is renowned as the only solely focused UK event for professionals involved in the composites industry. ICS promises to be a unique platform for knowledge sharing, networking, and exploring the latest advancements in composite materials internationally, bringing people together to do business.
Join us at the ACCE 2023 event and learn about how the automotive and transportation industries are advancing with composites playing a key role in the development of electric vehicles and sustainability initiatives worldwide. Lightweight composites are ideal materials for improving vehicle performance, reducing mass, extending range and compensating for battery weight. Polymer composites are enabling lower emission vehicles, reducing the carbon footprint and saving energy to benefit the environment now and in the future. Thermoset and thermoplastic composites are the key to EV, Mobility and Sustainability.
Thousands of people visit our Supplier Guide every day to source equipment and materials. Get in front of them with a free company profile.
Jetcam’s latest white paper explores the critical aspects of nesting in composites manufacturing, and strategies to balance material efficiency and kitting speed.
Arris presents mechanical testing results of an Arris-designed natural fiber thermoplastic composite in comparison to similarly produced glass and carbon fiber-based materials.
Cevotec, a tank manufacturer, Roth Composite Machinery and Cikoni, have undertaken a comprehensive project to explore and demonstrate the impact of dome reinforcements using FPP technology for composite tanks.
Initial demonstration in furniture shows properties two to nine times higher than plywood, OOA molding for uniquely shaped components.
The composite tubes white paper explores some of the considerations for specifying composite tubes, such as mechanical properties, maintenance requirements and more.
Foundational research discusses the current carbon fiber recycling landscape in Utah, and evaluates potential strategies and policies that could enhance this sustainable practice in the region.
In 2018, Teijin broke ground on a facility that is reportedly the largest capacity carbon fiber line currently in existence. The line has been fully functional for nearly two years and has plenty of room for expansion.
Spanish startup Reinforce3D’s continuous fiber injection process (CFIP) involves injection of fibers and liquid resin into hollow parts made from any material. Potential applications include sporting goods, aerospace and automotive components, and more.
Longtime parts manufacturer offers more than composites welding. CW’s conversation with CEO Kjelt van Rijswijk explains KVE’s vision with Daher and where it’s headed.
Steptics industrializes production of CFRP prostheses, enabling hundreds of parts/day and 50% lower cost.
Novel reinforcing patch uses braided sleeve to boost the load-carrying capacity of composite bolted joints.
Workforce pain points and various logistical challenges are putting operations resilience and flexibility to the test, but Industry 4.0 advancements could be the key to composites manufacturers’ transformation.
Envalior 30% glass fiber-reinforced Akulon RePurposed material helps Ahrend achieve lighter task chair with closed-loop value chain and reduced emissions.
Hydrogen storage and high-voltage battery system to support Class 8 heavy-duty fuel cell powertrains developed by Toyota.
Future cabin concepts, rCF floor coverings and panels, noise regulation and other efficiencies will be tested this year using a 777-200ER aircraft.
Markus Beer of Forward Engineering addresses definitions of sustainability, how to approach sustainability goals, the role of life cycle analysis (LCA) and social, environmental and governmental driving forces. Watch his “CW Tech Days: Sustainability” presentation.
Themes at the forefront of JEC World 2024 included solutions for mobility applications and sustainable materials, technologies and processes for composites manufacturing.
CW technical editor Hannah Mason discusses trends seen at this year’s JEC World trade show, including sustainability-focused technologies and commitments, the Paris Olympics amongst other topics.
Closed mold processes offer many advantages over open molding. This knowledge center details the basics of closed mold methods and the products and tools essential to producing a part correctly.
The composites industry is increasingly recognizing the imperative of sustainability in its operations. As demand for lightweight and durable materials rises across various sectors, such as automotive, aerospace, and construction, there is a growing awareness of the environmental impact associated with traditional composite manufacturing processes.
In the Automated Composites Knowledge Center, CGTech brings you vital information about all things automated composites.
CW’s editors are tracking the latest trends and developments in tooling, from the basics to new developments. This collection, presented by Composites One, features four recent CW stories that detail a range of tooling technologies, processes and materials.
CompositesWorld’s CW Tech Days: Infrastructure event offers a series of expert presentations on composite materials, processes and applications that should and will be considered for use in the infrastructure and construction markets.
Explore the cutting-edge composites industry, as experts delve into the materials, tooling, and manufacturing hurdles of meeting the demands of the promising advanced air mobility (AAM) market. Join us at CW Tech Days to unlock the future of efficient composites fabrication operations.
Thermoplastics for Large Structures, experts explored the materials and processing technologies that are enabling the transition to large-part manufacturing.
Explore the technologies, materials, and strategies that can help composites manufacturers become more sustainable.
A report on the demand for hydrogen as an energy source and the role composites might play in the transport and storage of hydrogen.
This collection features detail the current state of the industry and recent success stories across aerospace, automotive and rail applications.
This collection details the basics, challenges, and future of thermoplastic composites technology, with particular emphasis on their use for commercial aerospace primary structures.
This collection features recent CW stories that detail a range of tooling technologies, processes and materials.
Marine industry constituents are looking to take composite use one step further with the production of tough and recyclable recreational boats. Some are using new infusible thermoplastic resins.
Balsa core is laid up into the hull of Innovation Yachts’ 2023 Ocean Tribute Award-winning LBV35 catamaran.The reinforcement is volcanic fiber (i.e., basalt), the matrix a room temperature-cured, bio-derived epoxy. Photo Credit: Innovation Yachts/Marion Koch
The marine industry has long been at the center of engineering composites materials, methods and workforce development. As advanced composites have evolved, many industries have benefited from research done for the sake of competitive sport, the America’s Cup in particular. Where materials have been adapted from other industries, race boats have provided a proving ground by fatiguing material combinations in real-world corrosive environments. Strain gauges and failure analysis have become part of high-end race programs, and new processes are sometimes developed.
An increasing awareness of boats’ environmental impact makes today’s marine industry fertile ground for the testing and refinement of new materials designed for recovery and reuse (circularity). Other end-of-life (EOL) strategies are being pursued as well, such as the use of flax fiber that will ultimately biodegrade. As other industries increasingly embrace composites, boats and the molds used to produce them could also become a market for recycled materials.
Every year, CW publishes online articles devoted to the outlook of several composites-related end markets including “Composite end markets: Boatbuilding and marine,” a broad synopsis that reviews new developments in marine that were reported that year. This article specifically examines material suppliers and boatbuilders that are early purveyors and adopters of infusible, semi-thermoplastic resins, as well as a builder who is combining a novel reinforcement with bio-epoxy while developing their own methods for the recovery and reuse of composite materials.
Arkema (Colombes, France) is reported to be first-to-market with an infusible thermoplastic recyclable resin, Elium. Custom boatbuilder and experienced offshore sailor Lalou Roucayrol of Neo Sailing Technologies (formerly Lalou Multi, Talais, France) led the prototyping effort and has been the face of Arkema Racing’s high-profile rollout. His protégé, Quentin Vlamynck, led the Ocean Fifty division across the Atlantic in the single-handed 2022 Route du Rhum: Destination Guadeloupe, race sailing the 50-foot trimaran Arkema 4. Though Vlamynck was deprived of first place by 18 minutes, the boat’s performance generated significant interest. With the boat renamed Solidaires en Peloton, Vlamynck remained a top competitor in 2023.
The Ocean Fifty Class trimaran Arkema 4. Photo credit: Arkema
Although Arkema 4 was not entirely made using Elium, interesting use was made of the ability to recycle and reuse the resin. Notably, the molds for the floats (amas) were made from fiber-reinforced Elium and were then recycled and the resin reused to build parts of the boat’s deck, canopy and fairings. The first boat built using Elium was Arkema 3, a foiling monohull built by the same team prior to Arkema 4 to compete in the Mini 6.50 Proto Class.
The future of Elium use in volume yacht production may turn on its adoption by Arkema partners and major boatbuilding players Beneteau Group (Croix de Vie, France) with support from custom builder MultiPlast (Vannes Bretagne, France) and Brunswick Corp. (Mettawa, Ill., U.S.), with its several brands including Boston Whaler. A smaller startup, Northern Light Composites (Monfalcone, Italy), utilizes Elium across its sailboat line encompassing the Ecoracer25, the Ecoracer30 and the EcoFoiler. The 30-foot Ecoracer30 uses a combination of virgin and recycled carbon fibers, as well as flax fibers, adding to its sustainability focus.
Arkema business manager Nicolas Valloir, working in the Americas, explains that Brunswick Corp. has set some demanding targets and that Arkema’s joint R&D with them is ongoing. Valloir is less connected to the Benateau Group effort, but says that its First 44e has been well received and that other Elium models are in development. Arkema has been working with Merritt Precision (Merritt Island, Fla., U.S.), a Correct Craft company, on Elium molds. In Canada, Arkema has also recently participated in infusing a 45 footer, the largest Elium boat to date.
Elium is comprised of a thermoplastic acrylate copolymer cured by reacting monomers and oligomers of methyl methacrylate (MMA), an unsaturated ester, to become a poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). As with unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester resins, a peroxide initiates the reaction. Elium also contains a base promoter, tributylamine or an iron salt, but does not contain cobalt, styrene or bisphenol A (BPA), making it less harmful to humans and the environment.1 Elium became “commercially available” in the fourth quarter of 2023. A sprayable version is available in Europe, though Arkema is also still assessing this option.
While boatbuilders may not have much experience with acrylic resins, many work with methacrylate adhesives such as Plexus (ITW Performance Polymers, Danvers, Mass., U.S.) or those from Arkema’s Bostik division. Boatbuilders also frequently work with clear acrylic sheet for portlights and other windows, windscreens and hatches. Those with non-marine construction experience may have come across acrylic products from EPS (Marengo, Ill., U.S.), including the emulsion PMMA resin Forton used to toughen glass fiber-reinforced gypsum (GFRG) panels. A lower toxicity than alternative aromatic resins makes these products more pleasant to work with — and likely safer.
Like unsaturated polyester, Elium resin cures at room temperature. Being a thermoplastic, Elium’s relative ductility gives it epoxy-like characteristics, enabling reinforcement fibers to take intermittent loads without fatiguing and ultimately cracking the matrix. Unlike many epoxies, no post-cure heat is necessary for Elium to achieve its full mechanical properties.
Part of an exclusive partnership with Arkema, Beneteau Group’s new eco-friendly boat concept, the First 44e, was made entirely from Elium resin and is the first such offering from a major production sailboat builder. Photo credit: Benateau Group
What makes a polymer thermoplastic is a discernable melting temperature (Tm) between its glass transition temperature (Tg) and its degradation temperature (Td). “Malleable and Recyclable Thermosets: The Next Generation of Plastics,” a 2019 University of Colorado paper in the journal Matter2, discusses a range of novel polymer chemistries, among them covalent adaptable network (CAN) polymers. In the 2020 article, “Vitrimers, the reprocessable thermoset,” CW noted both the origin of many of these technologies in the lab of French (originally Polish) physicist Ludwik Leibler of ESPCI ParisTech and the centrality of research at the University of Colorado.
Since that article, novel CAN and vitrimer chemistries have been covered extensively in CW. While they are not always fully recoverable by the application of heat alone, recovery is often possible because interlocking molecular bonds can be chemically “unzipped.” Unlike epoxy, some semi-thermoplastic resins attain their full strength at room temperature without post-cure. In many cases, they are:
Arkema’s Elium resin achieves at least some of the advantages of other thermoplastics while being less novel than vitrimers and reversible epoxies. Being relatively simple in its chemistry yet impressive in its properties, Elium is the first thermoplastic to gain significant use within the marine industry. That it’s mostly compatible with existing boatbuilding methods is an additional virtue.
This graphic from Beneteau illustrates circularity as the concept applies to the company’s First 44e model made with Elium. Photo Credit: Beneteau Group
There are variations of Elium targeted to different markets. “Elium 188 or 191 series resins dedicated to marine and wind markets lead, after radical polymerization initiated by an organic peroxide, to a strictly linear polymer. This polymer can be softened to be compounded,” says Arkema global business director Guillaume Cledat. “Since Chebil et. al.1 was written, the formulation of Elium resins have been improved to be more robust and easier to use. A crosslinked version is available for markets where recycling is less crucial.”
With EOL Elium-based composites coming onto the market in the next few decades, action is being taken now to be ready to receive these materials for recycling or reuse. “We can count on consumables made from Elium-based composite materials to arrive in 2024-2025, with production waste from the manufacturing of boats and wind turbine blades,” says Arkema research engineer Jean-François Devaux. “These account for 5-10% of composite materials made, and this waste contains significant volumes of Elium resin, which we want to recover and reuse.” Hence the importance of demonstrating the feasibility of recycling processes to specialist operators, as well as their financial viability.
Both forms of Elium recycling involve crushing or chopping the composite first. Either process can be followed from there.
Recycling by thermal depolymerization (TDP). Heating the crushed/chopped composite above the resin’s Tm initiates thermolysis, allowing it to melt or “self-heal” to a flat sheet. The original fibers remain; separating them out is not part of this process. This will not result in the restoration of the composite’s original mechanical properties, but there are possible uses for materials recovered in this way.
“I think making pellets to use in 3D printing or an injection machine makes a lot of sense,” says Valloir. “It’s easy, you keep the fiber in it. And then, for example, if you grind a conventional ABS with 50% Elium scrap you save 50% of the cost and you enhance the property of ABS about 20%. That makes a lot of sense, technically speaking, financially speaking and as a waste stream strategy. The resulting product is recyclable as well, so it's a loop.” Arkema is working with the REVEL project to refine this process and study the resulting material’s properties and potential applications.
Recycling by solvolysis. Recycling Elium by solvolysis involves introducing specific chemicals and heating them along with the crushed composite material to about 400°F, turning the solid resin into a gaseous monomer. The resulting liberation and recapture of constituent chemicals enables new Elium resin to be created without the loss of physical properties. By this process, molds utilized in the construction of parts of the trimaran Arkema 4 were recycled to become part of a finely tuned racing machine, as described earlier. If this can be instituted on an industrial scale, circularity can be realized. Liberation of the reinforcement having been accomplished, the fibers (as shorter strands due to the initial crushing) can be recycled as well. Arkema’s partner programs working on this recycling technology include the ZEBRA program, which focuses on wind turbine blades, and MMAtwo, which is specific to acrylics.
(Left to right) Lalou Roucayrol of Neo Sailing Technologies (formerly Lalou Multi) and Arkema Racing, Jeroen Wats of Ultimate Boats (ExoTechnologies), Norbert Sedlacek Koch and Marion Koch of Innovation Yachts. The three men are noted offshore racers as well as boatbuilders, while Marion is a standout sailor in her own right with yacht and sports equipment design credentials. Photos Credits: Arkema, ExoTechnologies and Innovation Yachts
Like Lalou Roucayrol, Jeroen Wats is a successful offshore sailboat racer turned boatbuilder. Cognizant of the environmental impact of boats, and with a desire to innovate, Wats formed TYNC (The Young Naval Architects) in 2015, then set up a composites lab, 360 Quantillion Ltd. (Castletown, Isle of Man, U.K.). 360 Quantillion is a reference to the gallons of water in the sea. The lab is now the materials R&D hub of ExoTechnologies (Douglas, Isle of Man, U.K.).
“I love sailing, but I love the planet more.” explains Wats, now ExoTechnologies’ founder and chief innovation officer. “In Europe, 250,000 metric tons of glass fiber goes to landfills each year. Glass fibers are the new asbestos. Their annual production emits the same CO2 as seven countries.”
Moreover, recycling methods like solvolysis degrade fiberglass. Without a reinforcement that’s recoverable with its mechanical properties intact, would the recycling proposition be worthwhile? “You can separate a thermoplastic resin from the fibers, but the fiber is not reusable for the simple reason that it does not retain its strength,” notes Wats. In search of a durable, affordable material that could be reused at EOL, he tested thermoplastic resins with reinforcements other than E-glass, S-glass or carbon fiber. The quest resulted in ExoTechnologies’ Danu.
The reinforcement chosen for Danu, which Wats is keeping close to the vest, “handles the impact of chemicals very well.” In addition, “when we tested Danu and we saw the mechanical properties, we thought: This is much stronger than we ever dreamed! In some areas we were approaching carbon fiber properties.”
Answer in hand, Wats was introduced to Shane Mugan, the Irish owner of a Scottish boat company, Ultimate Boats. Together with an American partner, retired NOAA officer Michael J. Silah, they founded ExoTechnologies to promote sustainable composite solutions across multiple industries. Because wind blades are thick near the hub, the amount of material in a single wind blade is far greater than in most boats, so future production boat construction could utilize recovered material if the quality can be maintained. “The benefit, I personally think, of chemical recycling [solvolysis] is that if you’ve got a biaxial, you get a biaxial back,” explains Wats. He sees the goal not as recovering degraded short strand fibers, but as recovering significant lengths of woven or stitched fabric.
“The circular economy works when the virgin materials are more expensive than the recycled materials, and the quality is the same,” Wats continues. “With Danu, from a wind turbine blade you can make another wind turbine blade, from a wind turbine blade you can make a boat, or you can upcycle from a boat to make another wind turbine blade! And if not, let’s say recycled fibers go into a landfill; that has no ecological effect at all. Nature goes back to nature. There is no boric acid in it, and no toxics like you have with fiberglass.”
“Danu is a recipe named for the Celtic mother of Earth,” says Wats, describing the composite he developed. “It’s a technology around existing resins and fibers. The processes are where we’ve innovated. We were recently granted a U.K. patent and are now approaching sailboat builders.”
Ultimate Boats, an ExoTechnologies subsidiary, produces fast foam-collar RIB-style boats using Danu composites, often for government agencies in the U.K. Photo Credit: ExoTechnologies
The Ultimate Boats Co. (Clydebank, Scotland), an ExoTechnologies subsidiary, utilizes Danu throughout its product line, making it the first powerboat company to incorporate an infusible thermoplastic resin. “At Ultimate Boats, we made the first prototypes of the new hull in fiberglass, as we were developing Danu at that stage,” said Wats. “Then we switched — literally overnight — and have been building Danu boats since. It was that simple.”
“The strength in Danu is that the proposition is not expensive,” Wats adds. “People think it’s inferior, but it’s considerably stronger than GRP [glass fiber-reinforced polymer] and it’s fully recyclable, so it’s future proof technology. It’s the answer to upcoming legislation, eco-taxes and starting immediately, it’s the answer to tender applications if you’re doing deals with government.”
Armor is another market for Danu, made still more appealing by Kevlar’s recent supply issues. “We did a ballistic test and reached Level 3 according to the National Institute of Justice on a 5-pound, 12-millimeter-thick sample,” says Wats.
“We have something which is ballistic, recyclable, sustainable, circular and affordable,” he continues. “We’re not a commodity fiber, don’t get me wrong, but by the time you’re done you can build a boat with Danu that’s competitively priced.”
Innovation Yachts founder and managing director Norbert Sedlacek Koch had polar adventures in mind when conceiving Ant Arctic Lab, said to be an Open60AAL yacht. His wife and partner Marion Koch directed the design and engineering. Photo Credit: Innovation Yachts/Christophe Favreau
Because the process of “carbonizing” carbon fiber requires high heat, the material has a significant carbon footprint. CW has previously discussed an alternative, basalt fiber. As explained by author Karen Mason in “The still-promised potential of basalt fiber composites”:
“The fact that the raw material for basalt fiber is naturally occurring leads to one major technical hurdle: inconsistent raw material properties. That is, rock mined from different locations varies in the specific quantities of iron, magnesium, and other constituents.”
This problem is reportedly overcome by Isomatex S.A. (Gembloux, Belgium), the primary, but not exclusive, supplier of reinforcement fiber to Innovation Yachts (Les Sables d’Olonne/Vairé, France). Isomatex claims the ability to supply consistent product due to its sourcing and processing methods. It also claims the advantages of volcanic fiber closely parallel those of basalt fiber. Isomatex fiber brands include Filava and its successor, Tenron, an aerospace-grade mineral fiber. Note that Innovation Yachts refers to all of the reinforcement fibers it works with as “volcanic fiber” or “pure mineral fiber.”
By whatever name, these volcanic fibers are processed from the form of igneous rock that results from lava cooling quickly at the Earth’s surface. Said to be “extrusive,” this mineral is naturally aphanitic (fine-textured) relative to other igneous rocks. While volcanic fiber production involves melting basalt rock to 1,400-2,200℃, that requires less energy than the process of producing carbon fiber from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) or pitch.
All of the boatbuilders featured in this article emphasize toughness over stiffness in their approach to engineering. With that as the agenda, Filava and Tenron reinforcement fibers offer several advantages, including low density and high tensile strength with greater elongation to break than carbon fiber. Isomatex also claims recyclability.
Innovation Yachts’ 2023 Ocean Tribute Award-winning LBV35 catamaran. Photo Credit: Raúl Blanco
Besides primary structures such as hulls and decks, volcanic fiber may have another boatbuilding application. Some race boats are now built of carbon fiber prepreg/epoxy heated in female molds. In many cases, those molds are made of carbon fiber to match the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the hull material. Unlike other reinforcements, the thermal expansion of basalt or volcanic fiber may be sufficiently like that of carbon fiber to make it a substitution candidate.
Innovation Yachts doesn’t generally employ prepreg, and often dispenses with a female mold in favor of building directly on a male jig. Like Greenboats (Bremen, Germany), a flax fiber boat construction company, Innovation Yachts utilizes bio-epoxy resin. Experimentation continues in the Innovation Yachts lab, but it’s a choice it stands by for the moment after having built boats using several resins, all supplied by resin development partner BTO Epoxy (Amstetten, Austria). Innovation Yachts continues to develop its own method of recycling its volcanic fiber/bio-epoxy combination, not only to provide a comprehensive approach to producing green boats, but to give the potential to incorporate recycled material into boat molds, bulkheads and interior panels.
Innovation Yacht’s display at Boot Düsseldorf in January featured the first boat, called the Volcat 16, to be built with Isomatix’s new “pure mineral fiber,” Tenron. Photo Credit: Innovation Yachts
“We have pursued our own composites development program since 2009, and probably have the most extensive basalt/volcanic fiber test database in the nautical industry having tested fiber from Asatec, Isomatex, Basaltex, DBF, Mafic and others,” says Norbert Sedlacek Koch, CEO of Innovation Yachts. “We developed several solutions with Isomatex starting in 2015. On our Open60AAL [boat], we used Filava for the most critical areas of the hull; for the rest, we used a unidirectional volcanic fiber that we produced from 2012 till 2015, FipoFix, along with ASA.TEC roving.” FipoFix was a UD volcanic fiber Innovation Yachts produced in-house from 2012 to 2015.
Innovation Yachts is not the only boatbuilder using basalt (or something similar). Windelo Catamaran (Canet en Roussillon, France) builds basalt fiber-reinforced boats, and Northern Light Composites uses both basalt and Arkena’s Elium resin to build its Ecoracers. Even so, Innovation Yachts has lived up to its name, earning its LBV35 catamaran the 2023 Ocean Tribute Award from Boot Düsseldorf.
Isomatix has just introduced a new mineral fiber, Tenron. Innovation Yachts presented the Volcat 16, in Düsseldorf in January 2024, representing the world’s first boat build from this mineral fiber. Use of Isomatex reinforcements in the wind energy sector is also being actively explored.
When reflecting back on the developments explored in this article, it seems that the goal of implementing a truly circular recycling strategy through the use of more sustainable fibers and resins in boatbuilding, or across several industries at a large scale, may be ambitious but achievable. Implementation will take coordinated efforts on several fronts involving end users, regulators, industry groups and government incentives — something we can already observe via the ongoing development in novel materials and processes. Those rising to the challenge are commended.
1Chebil, MS (April 2021). Oxidation and unzipping in ELIUM resin: Kinetic model for mass loss. Hal Open Science.
2Jin, Yinghua (December 2019). Malleable and Recyclable Thermosets: The Next Generation of Plastics. Matter.
Stephen Ditmore worked in yacht design in the 1990s and then with plaster and cast stone for about 12 years where his work included the 3D modeling of a replica senate chamber elliptical dome ceiling made of glass fiber-reinforced gypsum for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Massachusetts. In 2014 he returned to school to study composites and quality assurance. Currently, he writes about polymers in medicine, transportation, renewable energy and the marine sector, and about medical clinical trials.
The quest for a sustainable source of acrylonitrile for carbon fiber manufacture has made the leap from the lab to the market.
The structural properties of composite materials are derived primarily from the fiber reinforcement. Fiber types, their manufacture, their uses and the end-market applications in which they find most use are described.
A look at the process by which precursor becomes carbon fiber through a careful (and mostly proprietary) manipulation of temperature and tension.
Transforming decades of design and RTM production reliability into more sustainable, next-generation composite propellers.
Composites automation specialist increases access to next-gen technologies, including novel AFP systems and unique 3D parts using adaptive molds.
Holding the new Guinness World Record at 11.98 meters, the 3D-printed composite water taxi used a CEAD Flexbot to print two hulls in less than 12 days.
In 2006, guest columnist Bob Hartunian related the story of his efforts two decades prior, while at McDonnell Douglas, to develop a thermoplastic composite crytank for hydrogen storage. He learned a lot of lessons.
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