Strong performers

They fly through the air and break records on the racetrack. Composites can be found wherever there is a need for innovation, lightweight construction and high strength. And playing a central role in all this are Fortron and Celstran from Ticona ...

Finding the right reinforcing material could be difficult sometimes when weight savings were also required. But development engineers and material experts from both the aircraft and car manufacturing industries are impressed by the performance of modern composite materials. After all, they know only too well that the composites used in these applications today are exposed to extreme conditions but still manage to ensure smooth functioning.

Long-fiber-reinforced composites with a matrix of semi-crystalline polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) are a good example. They are already being processed into nearly 1000 components for the Airbus A380 prestige airliner, including the wing leading edge nose, ribs and profiles for keel beam stiffening, and interior components such as doors, flaps, steps and floor panels. In lumbar supports, thigh and arm rests and fold-down tables in the seating area, this high-performance plastic is providing ergonomic seating while achieving weight savings of up to 50% in individual elements. Altogether, about one-fifth of the A380 aircraft structure and components is produced from carbon-fiber and glass-fiber composites.

Tough and durable – PPS composites for highly stressed components

There is a good reason why this Ticona material is becoming increasingly established in aircraft manufacture – its perfectly matched property profile. Components produced from PPS composites remain hard, impact-resistant, rigid and dimensionally stable, even when exposed to temperature variations of more than 100°C. In addition, Fortron has shown itself to be resistant to aggressive media such as aviation fuel, engine and hydraulic oils, solvents and antifreezes. With its inherent flame retardancy, it also meets the high safety standards specified for aircraft construction.

Automotive engineering – innovations with fiber-reinforced polymers

In the quest for the optimum material, automotive manufacturers have also turned their attention to composites. Today, for example, composite materials are found in vehicle interiors. Volkswagen, Europe’s largest automotive manufacturer, uses Celstran+ long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (LFT) to produce the support for its generously designed dashboard. The support consists of several components, which are all made in Wolfsburg from the Ticona material. Celstran+ is an advanced long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic specially tailored to the requirements of VW. It offers extremely high quality in terms of rigidity, toughness and surface finish and is generally no problem to process, with a very low tendency to warpage. As an added bonus, Celstran+ is a lower-cost alternative to other thermoplastics.

The new Celstran+ is produced by pultrusion. Unlike conventional methods of producing reinforced thermoplastics, pultrusion ensures uniform fiber coating and distribution in the polymer. This makes the material easy to process and gives it a uniform surface finish. Celstran+ is processed by the automotive industry into components such as control unit boxes, door modules and complete front ends.

Innovative plastics recycling concept

There is even more to Celstran+ than meets the eye, namely a whole new plastics recycling concept. The recovery of valuable materials starts right from the production stage. Long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic production scrap from dashboard support manufacture was previously reground in-house and returned to the original production process as chopped regrind. However, the processor then ran the possible risk of variations in the processing behavior of the material and property profile of the finished part. This is no longer the case with the Celstran recycling concept, which is being used for the first time in the production of dashboard supports for the VW Golf 5 and Golf 5 Plus. Ticona takes back the reprocessed plastic scrap from qualified recycling companies and adds it to virgin LFT material in an optimized pultrusion process. At the end of the process, high-quality Celstran pellets are obtained, which are then processed once again into dashboard supports.