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News Release from: VDW
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 05 June 2007
Heavy tractor+trailer built in CFRP
The CFK-Valley members The Team Technology, and Carbo Tech Composites, have agreed with the British MIRA organisation to develop a heavy EU tractor-trailer in carbon-fibre-reinforced plastics.
CFRP - substantial advantages Light weight commercial vehicles support climate protection - manufacturers with CFRP competence at EMO Hannover 2007 The CFK-Valley members The Team Technology (TTT), Hamburg, Germany, and Carbo Tech Composites (CTC), Salzburg, Austria, have signed an agreement with the British Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) on the manufacturer-independent development of the first heavy EU tractor-trailer made from carbon-fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRP) The articulated vehicle will consist of a carbon-fibre laminated construction for the chassis, the basic structure and the driver's cab, plus a series of add-ons and internals
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 19 Jul 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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* Weight advantages and integrated functions - with comparable values for rigidity and mechanical strength, CFRP is about 70% lighter than steel and around 40% lighter than aluminium.
Costs using CFRP are only about 20% higher.
Another advantage is the options for functional integration.
There will be no need for mechanical fastening or welding of additional components.
All additional vehicle functions - such as pallet cases, spare wheels or collision guards - have will already been integrated in the trailer's total weight of 3 to 3.5 tonnes.
* Light weight construction is 'fashionable' - and carbon-fibre laminated materials are for this purpose are claimed to be almost impossible to beat.
However, the lightweight material is not the easiest of substances to handle.
Ria Kaiser, a graduate engineer and a managing partner of the project associate TTT said: "For mechanically processing CFRP components, you need extremely high-strength, wear-resistant tools.
There's a definite need for some development work here.
That's why mechanical processing is currently being reduced to a minimum." She said it will involve more stringent requirements for tool and mould construction.
She said: "The more you reduce the amount of mechanical processing involved, the more complex the resultant mould will be." * New lightness in mechanical engineering as well - the possibilities offered by the light weight material CFRP, though, are by no means exhausted by applications involving vehicle construction.
Hans Juergen Lange, also a managing partner at TTT, explained: "Just as we have addressed the topic of commercial vehicles made of CFRP, every manufacturer of machinery and tools now has an option for optimising his mechanical processes by reducing the masses of heavy moving parts in stationary machines.
Because light running means: less energy plus minimised wear and tear." One of the acknowledged experts when it comes to CFRP processing is Prof Dr-Ing Wolfgang Hintze, responsible for production engineering at the Institute for Production Management and Engineering at Hamburg-Harburg Technical University, Germany.
He is also a member of CFK-Valley Stade e V.
He said: "With CFRP the dynamic response of machine tools and handling equipment can be enhanced when the mass of the slides or spindles requiring acceleration is reduced." The same, he said, applies for any oscillating levers and slides in, for example, packaging or textile machines, and printing presses.
By reducing the centrifugal forces involved, CFRP construction permits higher rotary speeds for fast-running rollers.
Alternatively, the load on bearings can be reduced, with resulting gains in useful lifetime.
"Finally." said Prof Hintze, "Using CFRP enables thermally caused deformation of machinery and equipment to be reduced, thus achieving enhanced precision." In Prof Hintze's estimation, the precondition for cost-efficient use of CFRP and 'still a frequently encountered obstacle' is CFRP-friendly component design, along with the know-how and availability of economical production processes.
Machining CFRP poses ultra-tough requirements in several respects for the machine tools and process technology involved.
1 - The hard carbon fibres cause extremely high abrasion wear, which necessitates cutting materials and coatings of maximised hardness.
2 - The high-strength fibres have to be cut in such a way that they are not detached from the far softer resin matrix.
* Innovations needed for machines, tools and moulds - tight tolerances are required by the large CFRP structures.
As Prof Hintze said: such tight tolerances: "Are not usually achieved by present-day process routes." He said: "In comparison with metalworking, there are still significant knowledge deficits when it comes to working with CFRP." Problem-solving strategies for machining such tooling include diamond cutting materials and coatings.
These would be used with specific hard-metal substrates and tool geometries that are formulated to CFRP processing needs.
There are particular challenges involved, too, for tooling and mould construction.
Efforts are ongoing, for example, to change over from metal moulds to other mould materials such as CFRP.
Prof Hintze said: "This is a field ripe for innovative solutions." Because of the large dimensions involved, conventional metal moulds will be too heavy, and are difficult to handle in actual operation.
For this reason, too, alternative mould concepts were seen as desirable.
Prof Hintze predicted that solutions will emerge, not least from the EMO Hannover 2007 exhibition: "There will be some machinery and tool manufacturers there with specialist competence and experience in CFRP processing of high-end components.
Moreover, potential users can get in touch with CFRP competence networks to contact firms and research institutions that possess proven expertise on the subject of fibre-reinforced materials".
* About the CFK-Valley Stade - the internationally focused organisation CFK-Valley Stade e V is a competence network that ranks among the most capable in Germany.
There are approximately 70 prestigious companies and research facilities operating through a closely meshed network of research, development and production.
One of the principal protagonists in Stade is the Airbus Group, whose Center of Excellence is the largest manufacturing facility in Europe for CFRP light-weight structures.
* About EMO - EMO Hannover 2007 will take place from September 17-22.
The event is the largest and most international meeting point for the world's production technologies.
EMO presents all technologies used in metalworking, e g: cutting and forming machine tools as the heart of industrial production; precision tools; surface treatment; software and controllers for the entire production technology range; automation systems and components; measuring, testing, and quality management systems; machines and systems for tool and mould building; etc.
The target group of EMO visitors include the major industrial sectors like machine and plant construction; the automotive industry and its parts suppliers; aerospace technologies; precision mechanics and optics; shipbuilding; medical engineering; tool and mould building; steel and lightweight engineering; etc.
The last EMO Hannover in 2005 was the venue for 2,000 exhibitors on 160,000m2 of net exhibition floor space attracting more than 160,000 trade visitors from over 80 countries.
** Contacts are as follows.
* CFK-Valley Stade e V
* Hamburg-Harburg Technical University - Institute for Production Management and Engineering - Prof Dr-Ing Wolfgang Hintze
* TTT The Team Technology - Dipl-Ing Ria Kaiser and Hans Juergen Lange
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