CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/517026
23 CompositesWorld.com NEWS N E W S N S N E W S E N W S W Epsilon K1 Concept Epsilon Composite's K1 concept: Filament winding + pultrusion What if it were possible to combine the best features of pultrusion and flament winding? Epsilon Composite (Gaillan en Médoc, France) is doing just that and, declares Matthieu Landais, business development manager for Epsilon in the Americas, "It's a revolution for extra-large structures!" Already a specialist in pultrusion of carbon fber and high-performance resin systems, active in industrial, energy and ofshore markets and an Airbus-qualifed aerospace part supplier (see, for example, short.compositesworld.com/ ECBigBridg), Epsilon intends its K1 concept for long shapes that can have variable cross sections. K1 involves flament winding of glass or carbon with the addition of carbon fber/ epoxy axial stifening elements that are pultruded separately and then incorporated into the part during the winding process. The pultruded stifeners add strength and stifness, and their number, size and location in the part and the type of carbon fber used (options range from large-tow, indus- trial-grade to ultra-high-modulus fber) is dependent on the application and part design, says Epsilon Composite sales director Romain Coullette. Epsilon has more than 20 fully automated pultrusion lines at its Gaillan en Médoc facility, of which two are dedicated to K1 projects. Last year, those two lines turned out pultrusions totaling more than 3 million m in length. The company's large-part focus includes wind blades, high-voltage power-transmission towers, infrastructure elements, such as support columns, and more. Landais says one recent, massive K1 project for a client in the Middle East involved architecture: fabrication of 70 large pillars, 14m high, which consumed nearly 100 MT of carbon fber. Epsilon Composite formulated a custom, high-temperature-capable epoxy for the project. Three layers of pultruded elements gave the pillars the required buckling stifness. K1 also has been used to produce large, stif- ened carbon fber rollers for Epsilon's industrial clients. More recently, at JEC Europe 2015, the company show- cased a one-third scale, but still massive, 12m demonstrator vertical-axis wind turbine blade (top right photo). A cutaway view (photo at left) showed the pultruded stifeners (black). Wind blades and struts are a promising market for Epsilon. "The K1 process is very fast and repeatable and ofers part weight savings up to 30%," claims Coullette, adding, "We produced the demonstrator blade in one day." He notes that Epsilon Composite plans to license the K1 technology for specifc business cases. For more information | www.epsilon-composite.com CW's March 2015 feature, "Autocomposites Update: Engine oil pans" (p. 66), incorrectly identifed the source of a proprietary steel/plas- tic/steel sandwich material used in a commercial automotive engine oil pan. The material, known as Quiet Steel, is produced by Material Sciences Corp., based in Elk Grove Village, IL, US. CW incorrectly credited its genesis to Materials Sciences Corp. (Horsham, PA, US). CW regrets the error. North Coast Composites delivers the complete parts solution. For 35 years North Coast Tool & Mold has been an industry leader in the manufacture of molds for high performance composites. Y ISO9001-2000 AS9100B C o m p o s i t e s The Companies of North Coast North Coast Tool & Mold Corp. North Coast Composites, Inc. www.northcoastcomposites.com 216.398.8550 CORRECTION Source (both photos) | Epsilon Composites