October 2014 – CryoGas International26

Long Island, New York has a geologic foundation of metamorphic rock dating back 200 to 350 million years. Its next lay-er was formed during the Cretaceous Pe-riod 72 to 100 million years ago. Both of these early substrata were blanketed with gravel, clay, and sand deposited by glacial activity. A final layer rises from Long Is-land Sound forming the hills of the North Shore then sloping into the flat sand beach-es of the South Shore. This land mass is now home to a new technology, which re-flects Mother Earth’s layering and additive geologic process.

The technology is the process of compos-ite and additive manufacturing. Compos-ites are defined as materials in which two or more constituents are brought together, producing a new material consisting of at least two distinct components, with result-ant properties significantly different from those of the individual constituents.

The process uses Carbon Fiber Rein-forced Plastic or CFRP. This carbon fiber composite material is the combination of carbon fibers with plastic resins or a matrix such as polymers. Each carbon filament thread is a bundle of many thousands of carbon filaments. A single carbon filament is a thin tube with a diameter between five and eight micrometers.

The history of advanced composites, while not as old as the geology of Long Is-land, dates back to 1500 B.C. The Egyptian and Mesopotamian settlers used a mixture of mud and straw to create a strong and durable building material. Straw was used to reinforce other ancient products such as pottery and boats. Straw was the precur-sor and the mud functioned as the matrix

cles. The racing circuit has benefited from advancements in this technology due to the combination of multiple physical proper-ties for modern race cars. Sporting goods, oil drilling, and infrastructure projects such as bridges, tunnels, and skyscrapers routinely incorporate composite technol-ogy. A very visible example of the use of composites is in wind energy equipment which uses composites in the manufacture of wind blades.

The industrial gas market has several companies who utilize composite cylin-ders for applications around the world. Worthington Industries, whose SCI Alter-native Fuel cylinders were developed in 1970, has composite cylinders used for natural gas and hydrogen. In 1997 Lux-fer Gas Cylinders’ LCX product line was introduced. LCX cylinders are up to 70 percent lighter than steel cylinders and up to 30 percent lighter than all-aluminum cylinders with the same gas capacity. Air Products installed its SmartFuel® High Pressure tube trailer to its fleet. A first for the European hydrogen market, the trailer will deliver large volumes of hydrogen at high pressure to Air Products’ new, public-ly accessible refueling station in Heathrow, UK. The developments are part of the FCH JU Hydrogen Transport in European Cities (HyTEC) initiative led by Air Products.

Having made the historic tour of natu-ral geology and composite technology, we now turn our attention to Nassau County, New York on Long Island in what is called “The Cradle of Aviation.” This is where the Composite Prototyping Center (CPC) is located. This facility, located near the spot where Charles Lindberg made his

By Kevin Carr

Composite and Additive ManufacturingMaking Products and Progress with Layers and Mixes

Composite and Additive Manufacturing

Composite Prototyping Center inPlainview, New York

or resin. In 1200 A.D. Genghis Khan gave his invading armies a military advantage of stronger and more accurate bows made from wood, bone, and animal glue compos-ite material. Marching through the history of composites to the late 1800s, Thomas Edison used carbon fibers as filaments for early light bulbs. In 1935, Owens Corning developed the first FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastic), now known as fiberglass. In 1946, the first commercial composite boat hull was manufactured. Brandt Goldworthy revolutionized the sport of surfing when he introduced the first fiberglass surf board. From surf boards, Goldsworthy invented the commercial process known as pultru-sion, which accelerated the manufacturing process for products such pipes and poles. The 1960s brought the first commercial use of fiber on airplanes by the “Father of Ad-vanced Composites” George Lubin. This was followed by the introduction of carbon fiber from products derived from oil pro-cessing in the 1970s, which has excellent structural properties. In 2012, the global market for carbon fiber composite materi-als and products reached over $13 billion and that market is forecasted to grow at an annual rate of seven percent.

The physical properties of carbon fiber are many. Carbon fiber has a high strength to weight ratio compared to metallics. This strength is combined with high flexibility, high tensile strength, low weight, high re-sistance, as well as high temperature toler-ance and low thermal expansion.

The industrial markets which composites now serve are predominately aerospace, including commercial and military planes, helicopters, UMV Drones, and space vehi-

Composite photo of CPC floor

October 2014 – CryoGas International 27

Composite and Additive Manufacturing

famous flight to Paris in the “Spirit of St. Louis,” is a national center for the develop-ment of composites for broad commercial use. The CPC is a regional not-for-profit company. The 25,500 square foot CPC fa-cility is not meant for mass production. Its core mission is to enable all organizations to meet the needs of advanced composite manufacturing by providing access to es-sential training, workforce development, process technologies, and testing capabil-ities. This state-of-the-art facility has been operational for four months. In collabora-tion with industrial partners and local insti-tutions, like Stony Brook University, CPC has begun meeting its prime objectives of assisting companies to become qualified suppliers to Original Equipment Manufac-turers (OEMs) and prime contractors for composite components and assemblies.

In its Plainview, New York facility the circle of CPC manufacturing technology begins at the 1,200 sq. ft. class 100k clean room where the Single Ply Auto Cutter/La-ser Projection System (Gerber/ Virtek) as-sists in the process of hand layup and vac-uum bagging. The Laser Projection system makes nesting, picking, kitting, and lay up of plies more efficient A ply is a thin layer of composite material approximately 5–10 thousands of an inch think. When you fab-ricate a composite part you place ply over ply on a tool until you build up to the thick-ness that you need. Each ply goes on at a different angle to the one before it based on the technical design parameters and the stress specifications.

Next are the two massive Bondtech Auto-claves that are used to consolidate and cure the composite piles. The first is a dwarfing eight foot diameter by twenty-foot long unit with the capability of working at 165 psi at 450°F. The next is an impressive five foot by eight foot tunnel-like unit, capable of 300 psi and 800°F. These Autoclaves have nitrogen atmospheres supplied by a CryoTech MicroBulk installation.

As we move to the next area you see an Automated Fiber Placement Robot (Auto-mated Dynamics Corp.) which can fabri-cate a part up to 90 inch long by 48 inch cross-section/diameter. You then walk by two compression/heated presses (Wabash MPI). The larger one applies 250 tons of pressure at 800°F and the smaller one ap-plies 100 tons. Beyond the Filament Wind-ing System, which manufactures parts such

as storage tanks up to eight meters long and five feet in diameter, is the RTM/VARTM Resin Injection/Infusion System (APT). The system is equipped to process two component epoxy composite formulations at elevated (max. 285°F) temperatures. Rounding the tour, approaching the apex of technology, is the 3D Printer by Stratasys. This unit rapidly prototypes directly from CAD files using Fused Deposition Mod-eling Technology or FDM, an efficiency similar to Michaelangelo sculpting the Pieta but without any marble chips to clean-up. This is known as additive manufacturing and is considered by many to be a technol-ogy that will significantly change the way many products are fabricated. In July, Gen-eral Electric announced (gereports.com) it would install 3D printing systems to fabri-cate jet engine fuel nozzles in its Auburn, Alabama plant. When it opens in 2015, the Auburn plant will be producing fuel nozzles for the next-generation LEAP jet engine with this additive manufacturing process.

The markets involving composite and additive materials require various levels of stress, especially those destined for aviation and defense. To ensure these standards, a

materials test and inspection lab is a require-ment. CPC has a Universal Test Machine and an Impact Tester both from Instron. Other diagnostic tools such as a digital mi-croscope, Ultrasonic Flaw Tester, and Faro Arm CMM are also available on site.

Philip Coniglio, Vice President of Opera-tions of CPC, said, “By building this world class composite prototyping facility and giving all organizations access to CPC’s fully equipped production line equipment, technologies, and wealth of expertise, we can help those who take advantage of these resources to become qualified suppliers of composite components and assemblies.”

For more information on CPC contact Phil Coniglio, VP of Operations, at pconiglio@compositepro.com or visit www.compositepro.com.

To learn more about CryoTech’s Micro-Bulk service contact Tom Brusca, Senior Gas Specialist, at tom@gwsco.com, or visit www.gwsco.com.

Kevin Carr is Vice President of Publishing for CryoGas International. He can be reached at kcarr@cryogas.com.

10339 N. Industrial Park Dr. P.O. Box 315 Brazil, IN 47834

Also in Sacramento, CA and Houston,TXwww.technifab.com

Manufacturers of Cryogenic Equipmentsales@technifab.com

Phase Separators Cryogenic DewarsTank Switchers Vacuum Jacketed Pipe

812.442.0520

Technifab Products has been satisfying customers since 1992

because, We Know Cryo…®

Manufacturing products that delivercryogenic liquids quickly, with a more

consistent flow, and fewer losses.

Dependable service you can trust andquality installation when you need it.

Nitrogen to Helium and LNG to HydrogenTechnifab solves problems

Products Providing Solutions

We Know Cryo ®