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CompositesManufacturingThe Official Magazine of the American Composites Manufacturers AssociationMarch/April 2019

Market Prospects

in Pultrusion

Going Green in Your Plant

Opportunities in Oil & Gas

See us at MRO Americas in Atlanta, GA, April 9-11 in booth #4610 or at the North American Pultrusion Conference in Rosemont, IL, in booth #6.

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People | Product | Process | Performance

Ask manufacturers why they choose Composites One and you’ll get the same answer. It’s PERFORMANCE. Delivered by technical sales and service experts

helping them learn the latest processes that can help their business grow. Reinforced each day by customer service reps and local support teams at more than 41 locations across North America. Provided by the deepest, broadest range of traditional and advanced

composites products from more than 600 industry-leading suppliers.

With the best people, the right products and the latest processes, you get performance. Only from Composites One.

That’s the power of One – Composites One.

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The Official Magazine of the American Composites Manufacturers Association

March/April 2019

About the Cover: Creative Pultrusions Inc. supplied 700 shoreline feet of SUPERLOC® Series 1580 sheet pile, along with its proprietary SUPERWALE®, for the Sea Village project located in Egg Harbor, N.J.

Photo Courtesy of Peter Manning, Marine Construction Supply

CompositesManufacturing

Market SegmentsInfrastructure ................................. 5Bridge Replacement

Renewable Energy .......................... 7Experimental Turbine

Departments & ColumnsFrom the ACMA Chair .................. 2

Tech Talk ........................................ 3

Inside ACMA ................................. 26

Features

p. 7

p. 16

Pultrusion with a Purpose .................................................10Pultrusion is one of the most promising segments of the composites industry, with applications in a variety of market segments. Take a closer look at opportunities in three areas – wind energy, infrastructure and utilities.By Susan Keen Flynn

Sustainability: The Future of Manufacturing .................... 16Customers look beyond product performance and price when selecting a manufacturing partner. Customer demand is one of the prime drivers for sustainable manufacturing in the composites industry. Discover how going green can help the planet – and make clients happy.By Mary Lou Jay

Boomtown! ........................................................................ 21With their combination of strength, light weight and corrosion resistance, composites are often the ideal solution for oil and gas infrastructure. FRP is used in everything from pipes and tanks to grating and guardrails.By Megan Headley

2 CompositesManufacturing

Official Magazine of the American Composites Manufacturers Association

PublisherTom Dobbins

[email protected]

EditorialManaging EditorSusan Keen Flynn

[email protected]

Senior Vice President of Events and InformationHeather Rhoderick, CAE, CMP

[email protected]

Editorial Design & ProductionKeane Design, Inc.

[email protected]

Volume 35 | Number 2 | March/April 2019Going Green in the Composites Industry

American Composites Manufacturers Association2000 N. 15th Street, Ste. 250

Arlington, VA 22201Phone: 703-525-0511 Fax: 703-525-0743

[email protected] www.acmanet.org

CompositesManufacturing

From the ACMA Chair

Kevin BarnettCore Molding TechnologiesACMA Chairman of the [email protected]

Sustainability and green manufacturing have become more than buzzwords: They are imperative for socially-responsible

companies that want to contribute to the health of our environment. It’s important for all of us to do our part and take care of the planet. In addition, more customers are demanding sustainable practices as a baseline requirement for business. But admittedly, going green is not easy.

Several years ago, Core Molding Technologies became ISO 14001 certified, which includes supporting standards focused on environmental systems. During the certification process, we discovered a lot of hidden waste streams and identified opportunities to not only recycle materials, but improve our

processes. Looking at your business with an eye toward sustainability can benefit not only the planet, but also your bottom line. This issue of Composites Manufacturing magazine includes an article on sustainable manufacturing on page 16 that may help you begin heading down a greener road in your facility.

Another feature article in this issue focuses on pultrusion. The timing is great because ACMA is hosting the second North American Pultrusion Conference April 8 – 10 in Rosemont, Ill., in partnership with the European Pultrusion Technology Association. The conference will bring together professionals from all segments of the industry, including manufacturers, suppliers, OEMs, senior leaders and engineers. Before heading to the event, you can get inside information on three of the educational sessions in the article on page 10.

Because the composites industry is so broad, it’s great to have programming geared toward niche areas. A few years ago, ACMA adopted an initiative to bolster its Composites Growth Initiative (CGI) committees and help members in a variety of markets. That led to development of the North American Pultrusion Conference and other programming, such as our members-only Composites Technology Days in automotive (and soon in aerospace and infrastructure). I encourage you to take advantage of all the educational and networking opportunities offered by ACMA and become active in one of our 10 CGI committees.

Each of our companies is a bit different in focus, size and location, but we represent one industry – composites. Working together through ACMA will ensure we all thrive.

Sincerely,

Composites Manufacturing (ISSN 1084-841X) is published bi-monthly by the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA), ACMA Headquarters, 2000 N. 15th Street, Ste. 250, Arlington, VA 22201 USA. Subscription rates: Free for members and non-members in the U.S., Canada and Mexico; $55 for international non-members. A free online subscription is available at cmmagazineonline.org. Periodical postage paid at Arlington, VA and additional mail offices.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Composites Manufacturing, ACMA Headquarters, 2000 N. 15th Street, Ste. 250, Arlington, VA 22201. The magazine is mailed to ACMA members and is also available by subscription. Canada Agreement number: PM40063731Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor, ON N9A 6J5, Email: [email protected]. Copyright© 2019 by ACMA. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted without permission from the publisher. ACMA, a nonprofit organization representing the composites industry worldwide, publishes Composites Manufacturing, circulation 9,000, as a service to its members and other subscribers. Opinions or statements of authors and advertisers appearing in Composites Manufacturing are their own and don’t necessarily represent that of ACMA, its Board of Directors or its staff. Information is considered accurate at the time of publication, however accuracy is not warranted.

3www.acmanet.org

Interlaminar Shear Strength[MPa]

Flexural Strength[MPa]

Tensile Modulus [GPa]

Tensile Strength [MPa]

Flexural Modulus [GPa]

Comparative Performance of Basalt Fiber in Epoxy HPRTM

Glass Basalt Carbon

Density [g/cm3]

350%

300%

250%

200%

150%

100%

50%

0%

Tech Talk

A Primer on Composites with Basalt Fiber By Jeff Thompson

Basalt fiber is formed from melted, drawn, basalt rock, which is a

ubiquitous natural resource covering nearly one-third of the earth’s surface, including much of the ocean floor. Many natural formations that have become popular tourist destinations are also made of basalt rock, including Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway and Devils Postpile National Monument in California.

To turn rock into fiber, basalt furnaces are heated to approximately 1,500 degrees Celsius, 200 degrees hotter than similar fiberglass furnaces, to melt the rock before it is drawn through platinum/rhodium bushings to form basalt fibers. As fibers leave the furnace, they are treated with sizing, which prepares them for use in

downstream applications and for binding with resin systems. Sizing for basalt fiber is very similar to fiberglass in chemistry and purpose. Basalt fiber sizing helps protect the fiber and promote adhesion between fiber and polymer.

Basalt fiber is available as continuous material or can also be chopped, milled, twisted, woven, knitted or processed many other ways. It is typically 13 or 17 micrometers (µm) in diameter but can range from 9 to 21 µm. Standard linear densities for fiber range from 68 tex to 4800 tex. Basalt fiber is compatible with any standard resin system.

For use in FRP applications, basalt fiber is processed similarly to fiberglass. Nearly any process that currently uses fiberglass can use basalt as a substitute material with limited changes to key processing conditions.

Here is a selection of continuous basalt fibers.

Basalt rock forms the basis for basalt fiber.P

hoto Credits: M

afic US

A

This diagram was generated using an epoxy HPRTM system at the Fraunhofer Project Center at Western University in London, Ontario.


Basalt fiber, which can easily replace fiberglass as a reinforcement, occupies the middle of the market for both price and performance when compared to fiberglass and carbon fiber. It provides significant mechanical performance advantages over fiberglass while being much less costly than carbon fiber for parts that require added performance. Basalt fiber is stiffer and stronger than fiberglass and has shown, in some circumstances, to provide additional impact performance.

Although basalt is slightly denser than fiberglass, at 2.63 g/cm3, its extra performance advantages mean composites with basalt fiber can be even more lightweight and unlock additional design creativity when compared to

fiberglass. Basalt is also significantly higher performing and more insulative in high-temperature conditions. For example, basalt is used in heat shields and mufflers.

One of the most common market segments for basalt fiber is infrastructure, where alkali resistance, stiffness, strength and overall cost/performance ratio are highly desired. However, basalt fiber is a good reinforcement option in a variety of applications. Companies should consider basalt fiber in the following scenarios:

• When designing a part that needs additional lightweighting or design freedom

• To add strength, stiffness or cost saving (compared to carbon fiber), on its own or with another fiber

• In high-temperature applications• For differentiation

Jeff Thompson is head of sales and marketing for Mafic USA. Email comments to [email protected].

Disclaimer: Opinions, statements and technical information within the Tech Talk column are that of the authors. ACMA makes no warranty of any kinds, expressed or implied, with respect to information in the column, including fitness for a particular purpose. Persons using the information within the column assume all risk and liability for any losses, damages, claims or expenses resulting from such use.

Basalt fiber, which can easily replace fiberglass as a reinforcement, occupies the middle of the market f

or both price and performance when compared to fiberglass and carbon fiber.

5www.acmanet.org 5

Infrastructure

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is turning

to composites for a project to replace the Anthony Wayne Trail Bridge, a deteriorating bridge on a four-lane highway near Toledo, Ohio. Mannik & Smith Group, the design firm on the project, initially didn’t consider GFRP rebar for the structure, which spans one of Norfolk Southern Railway’s busiest rail lines. It specified epoxy-coated reinforcing steel rebar.

“It was about that time that we were introduced to Owens Corning and its GFRP reinforcing product,” recalls Richard Bertz, PE, CEO/president of Mannik & Smith. At first, the firm’s engineers were skeptical about GFRP’s ability to handle the bridge’s heavy traffic loads. But as they researched the product, they became convinced that it would not only work, but also offer many advantages.

Unlike steel rebar, GFRP rebar doesn’t rust, so the concrete deck structure doesn’t degrade as quickly, increasing the longevity of the structure. Plus, composite rebar is lighter, so it’s less

expensive to deliver and faster to install.ODOT agreed to consider using

GFRP rebar for the Anthony Wayne Trail Bridge project as long as it was cost-effective. ODOT bid the project two ways – with steel and with GFRP rebar.

There were several factors that impacted the bids specifying composites. First, the GFRP design required more rebar than a conventionally-built structure. “The parameters that controlled the design were different than with conventional reinforcing steel,” Bertz explains. With steel reinforcements, the material’s bending or tensile strength controls the design; for GFRP reinforcements, either crack control or shear strength control governs the design parameters, he says.

In addition, contractors turned in higher bids for GFRP because they had no experience with the material and likely wanted to account for any possible unforeseen expenses. “They don’t know what they don’t know,” Bertz says.

When all the bids were submitted, those specifying composites were within one percent range of the project’s total

$13 million cost. “From ODOT’s standpoint, that was a minimal increase for the opportunity to test this out and see how it works,” Bertz says. ODOT selected Miller Brothers Construction as the general contractor and opted to use GFRP rebar.

The bridge replacement project began last year, with completion scheduled for the fall of 2019. Owens Corning is producing the GFRP rebar. The company has worked on almost 90 GFRP-reinforced bridge projects in partnership with Hughes Brothers’ rebar division, which Owens Corning acquired in 2017. The rebar is pultruded from single-end roving fiberglass and vinyl ester resin. A finishing treatment applied to the rebar – cut in 40-, 60- and 80-foot lengths – helps it bond to the concrete.

Building crews will find one major difference between working with GFRP and steel rebar. “It’s one-quarter the weight of steel, so it’s easier to manage the bars around the site,” says John Amonett, general manager of infrastructure at Owens Corning. “We find the number of man hours required to install an

Bridging the Gap Between Steel and GFRP Rebar

Photo C

redit: Toledo Blade/D

avid Patch

Demolition of the Anthony Wayne Trail Bridge near Toledo, Ohio, began last year. The replacement bridge on the four-lane highway will feature FRP rebar.


Infrastructure

equivalent length of fiberglass ends up being anywhere from one-third to one-half less than with steel.”

GFRP’s lighter weight also reduces the potential for workers to be injured when they lift the rebar or accidentally drop it. And, unlike epoxy-coated steel rebar, GFRP rebar isn’t slippery when wet.

Both Amonett and Bertz expect an increased use of GFRP rebar for bridge projects over the next few years. One reason will be the December 2018 release of the second edition of the LRFD Bridge Design Guide Specifications for GFRP-Reinforced Concrete from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (ASHTO). In both editions of the guidelines, bridge deck design is typically controlled by maximum crack width and shear limitations. However, the second edition increased the allowable maximum crack.

If Mannik & Smith engineers had been able to design the Anthony Wayne Trail Bridge using the updated specifications, they could have increased

to lower their bids to more realistically reflect installation costs. And an increased demand for GFRP reinforcements could lower manufacturing costs due to economies of scale.

“We already know that on a life-cycle cost, GFRP will be a good savings, but for cash-strapped organizations – whether it’s a DOT or a local public agency – the first cost really matters. We are pretty confident that very soon that cost will be below the epoxy-coated steel,” says Bertz. “My belief is that 10 to 15 years from now, just as epoxy-coated reinforcing steel became the norm, GFRP and CFRP products will be more and more integrated and prevalent in bridge design.”

That’s slowly beginning to happen. In addition to the Anthony Wayne Trail Bridge, Mannik & Smith also designed a 700-foot-long bridge for a local government agency that will go over the Maumee River. The deck and part of the parapets will be designed with GFRP. ODOT has also directed Mannik & Smith to redesign two bridges with GFRP rebar that will soon go out to bid.

Mary Lou Jay is a freelance writer based in Timonium, Md. Email comments to [email protected].

the bar spacing by ½-inch and thereby used less rebar. That, in turn, would have reduced the cost differential between GFRP and steel rebar.

Several other economic factors are helping GFRP rebar gain a foothold in infrastructure projects, including tariffs on imported steel, which have contributed to price increases for steel rebar. “ODOT released information that shows the cost of reinforcing steel has gone up 18 percent in the last year,” says Bertz. “So when you factor that in, we’re to the point where this [GFRP] product is going to be less expensive than reinforcing steel.”

Amonett points out that unlike steel’s volatile pricing, the cost of fiberglass has remained predictable and stable. This makes GFRP rebar a prudent option for contractors, who may prefer to choose a material with more stable pricing when they’re bidding projects that will continue for two or three years.

In addition, as contractors become more experienced and comfortable with GFRP reinforcements, they’re likely

Workers pour concrete over GFRP rebar for the Miles Road Bridge over the Chagrin River in Cleveland, one of nearly 90 projects for which Owens Corning has supplied composite rebar.

Move the FRP Rebar MarketForward

Join your peers on the FRP-Rebar Manufacturers Council, one of ACMA’s 10 Composites Growth Initiative committees. The council promotes the growth of FRP reinforcement in concrete and masonry applications through development of quality procedures, industry specifications, performance standards and field application guidelines. For more information or to join, contact Sarah Boyer at [email protected].

Photo Credit: Loiretech

7www.acmanet.org

Ken Visser, co-founder of Ducted Turbines International (DTI) and

associate professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering at Clarkson University, has a dream. He wants to produce the first commercially-viable ducted wind turbine for U.S. homeowners, schools, businesses and farms to generate their own electricity. If the CFRP blades on the most recent prototype perform as expected, he will be one step closer to his goal of making sustainable electricity globally accessible.

“My vision is that we could drop a box in the middle of some community that doesn’t have any power, and they could assemble the wind turbine, get it up and running and generate power,” says Visser, who started DTI with Paul Pavone. “Having the ability to make that kind of impact, that would be the greatest!”

DTI’s wind turbine has a 3-meter-diameter rotor, comprising an aluminum hub and three CFRP composite blades, with a surrounding 3.7-meter-diameter GFRP duct. The ring-shaped duct – also called a shroud – increases airflow through the turbine blades. A Clarkson University alumni’s company, Empire Fiberglass Products Inc., manufactured the duct, and Vistex Composites fabricated the CFRP blades with funding, in part, from a National Science Foundation grant.

Vistex and DTI worked together to design the blades to reduce costs and maximize performance. The blades were

hand laid, using 12 to 16 layers of snap-cure epoxy woven prepreg with mostly 0/90 degree fiber orientation. The formed uncured blades were then sandwiched between a temperature-controlled rigid mold and a combination of Vistex’s Pressure Focusing Layer (PFL™) and a rigid compression mold. The PFL is a soft, compliant layer with varied thicknesses and geometries across the composite as determined by Vistex’s proprietary

modeling and optimization process. Jaron Kuppers, co-founder and chief technology officer of Vistex, says the process produces parts with material properties that are comparable to or better than autoclaved parts but with a significant cost reduction.

DTI’s first turbine prototype, tested in 2016 at the University of Waterloo’s wind tunnel, utilized milled aluminum blades. Visser wasn’t necessarily looking for a composite solution for the current

Renewable Energy

ExperimentalTurbine to Bring Wind Energy to the Masses

DTI co-founder Paul Pavone, left, and strategic advisor Mike Derrick stand next to the finished prototype wind turbine rotor.

Photo C

redit: Ken V

isser, Clarkson U

niversity/Ducted Turbines International


Renewable Energy

prototype. For him, it is all about making small wind turbines affordable – whatever the material.

Consequently, Vistex focused on short cycle times. The company can achieve a 30-minute cycle using the snap-cure prepreg from Axiom Materials and a heated tool. This will allow Vistex to fabricate more than one blade per hour and thousands of blades per year, per mold once in full production. That’s fast enough, says Kuppers, to make the CFRP blades cost competitive when using Vistex’s PFL process. “We were able to reduce the costs as compared to aluminum – and not just the kilowatt per hour, but the actual price of the blades,” he says. “We are at near-price parity with aluminum or cheaper when we’re in mass production. That’s not something you hear very often.”

Kuppers says that CFRP provided other advantages, too. The 0/90 degree

From left, Clarkson University graduate students Ben Kanya, Nojan Bagheri-Sadeghi and Dan Valyou assemble the wind turbine duct.

Photo Credit: Ken Visser, Clarkson University/Ducted Turbines International

ROSEMONT, IL (OUTSIDE CHICAGO) · APRIL 8 – 10 , 2019 | REGISTRATION IS OPEN

N O RT H A M E R I C A N P U LT R U S I O N C O N F E R E N C E

Learn more at acmanet.org/2019pultrusion

Program topics include: Materials, Design Techniques/Simulation, Connections/Joining, Standards Development, Research & Development, Equipment Design/Tooling

Exhibit and sponsorship opportunities are available. SEE WEBSITE FOR DETAILS.

Browse the conference program and register today for the must-attend conference.

Browse the conference program and register today for the must-attend conference.

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fiber orientation provided bending rigidity as well as torsional flex. Future versions will have ±45º fibers for a stiffer torsional response. This design enables passive blade feathering at high wind speeds, mitigating the dangers associated with extreme wind. “That [kind of customization] is something you can only do with composites,” asserts Kuppers. “You could never do something like that with aluminum.”

The CFRP blades, which are wider than typical turbine blades, are also strikingly lighter. Each aluminum blade in the first prototype weighed approximately 8 to 10 pounds, while the CFRP blades in the latest prototype are 2.4 pounds. The lighter, wider blades can capture low winds that other small wind turbines cannot. “That really helped with the price-per-performance metric,” says Kuppers. “The blades could have even been more expensive than aluminum and still have been worthwhile in terms of dollar per kilowatt hour.”

Reduced costs are imperative if DTI is to succeed in making a commercial small wind turbine. According to Visser, purchasing a small wind turbine today to power the average homeowner usage of 10,000 to 20,000 kilowatts per year costs between $75,000 and $80,000 installed. “Who’s going to shell out that kind of money?” he asks. He estimates that the DTI turbine will sell for around $24,000, and two of them would be sufficient to power the average home. Thanks to its ducted design and other features, the wind turbine is also expected to generate twice as much energy as a regular open-rotor turbine of the same size, says Visser.

DTI expected to complete installation of the CFRP-bladed turbine on the roof of Clarkson University’s Blade Test Facility this winter. Once mounted, the team planned to measure energy generation, noise and vibration levels, and blade performance. “If it performs like it should then the only [issue] would be total system cost,” says Visser.

Casey Hoffman, CEO and co-founder

Read More About Renewable Energy

New advancements in composites are redefining the energy industry. For more articles about how composites help enable the use of wind and solar power, visit www.compositesmanufacturingmagazine.com and check out the Energy articles under the “Market Segments” tab.

of Vistex, is optimistic. “I think a lot of people have this preconceived notion that composites are so expensive and there’s no way they can afford it,” he says. “But with our technology, we’re really finding that we can help customers realize that these materials are not out of the realm of possibility.”

It will be a while before consumers can purchase a DTI turbine. Visser and Kuppers say that additional CFRP prototypes may be needed. Once the design and materials are finalized, the turbine will be tested for nearly a year by the Small Wind Certification Council (SWCC) to obtain certification, which is important because it enables consumers to receive federal and state incentives. In New York, such incentives could reduce the cost of the turbine to under $5,000. “I can’t think of too many people

who wouldn’t take advantage of that,” concludes Visser.

Melissa O’Leary is a freelance writer based in Cleveland. Email comments to [email protected].


Pultrusion with a Purpose

These three market applications highlight the unique capabilities and benefits of pultruded products.

By Susan Keen Flynn

Pultrusion is one of the most promising segments of the composites industry. The pultrusion end market in terms of value is expected to reach $2 billion by 2020, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 4.8 percent, according to a report by

market research firm Markets and Markets.From April 8 – 10, pultruders will gather at the North American Pultrusion Conference

in Rosemont, Ill., to learn about new technologies, processes and products. Among the speakers will be experienced industry professionals discussing opportunities in three market segments: wind energy, infrastructure and utilities. Composites Manufacturing magazine’s managing editor talked to those experts for a sneak peek at their presentations and insight into application opportunities for pultruded products.

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Market Segment: Wind EnergyFor more than a decade, wind energy has been the biggest

market for Zoltek Corporation’s industrial carbon fiber, says David Purcell, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Zoltek, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Toray Group. “Most carbon fibers are associated with aerospace and high-end sporting goods, which tend to have less price sensitivity,” he says. “Zoltek approaches the market from the opposite end, on a cost-plus basis. It is not our primary goal to get qualified into aerospace programs. Instead, we try to compete with glass fiber, aluminum, steel and other base building materials.”

When Zoltek began selling carbon fiber for the wind energy market in the early 2000s, most wind blades were made from a combination of fiberglass prepregs and fabric. “Carbon fiber fabrics can present handling challenges and have the potential

One of the many applications for pultruded products is conductor cables. CTC Global has supplied composite cores for more than 40,000 miles of aluminum conductor cables around the world.

to wrinkle, and they have to go through the infusion process. Prepregs can have the same issues, and they are sensitive to the manufacturing environment. The degree of tack changes with how humid or cool the facility is,” says Purcell. “Since most wind blade manufacturing facilities are not closely climate controlled, they were looking for something more robust.”

Pultruded CFRP provided the solution, says Purcell. Approximately six years ago, pultruded CFRP spar caps and wind blades entered the market. Zoltek’s pultruded profiles are pre-cured, thick-ply carbon fiber laminates suited for structural reinforcement applications. “The pultrusion process locks in

Photo C

redit: CTC

Global


much better fiber alignment in the final composite, which alleviates many of the processing issues related to fabrics and prepregs,” says Purcell.

Zoltek’s pultruded profiles are available in a variety of standard formats, including flat plates and round rods. The profiles incorporate ZOLTEK PX35 continuous tow carbon fiber, made from a textile-based precursor and manufactured in a proprietary process. The 50K fibers have a tensile strength of 4,137 MPa (megapascals) and a tensile modulus of 242 GPa (gigapascals).

Purcell says that millions of meters of carbon fiber pultruded products are being used in the wind energy market every year. Zoltek’s biggest customer is Vestas, which makes all of its wind blades using CFRP, he adds. “The rest of the wind industry has taken notice of the advantages of using carbon fiber, especially carbon fiber pultrusion,” says Purcell.

One of the biggest benefits is ease of storage and handling of pultruded profiles. “You can store it outside in a tent because it’s a fully-cured composite,” says Purcell. “You can cut it up and grind it – whatever you need to do, just like handling 2 x 4s.” Pultrusion also improves cycle times, especially in spar cap manufacturing, he says.

“There is a general recognition that pultrusion is the lowest cost way to continuously produce composites with very little scrap, running 24/7,” says Purcell. “That’s very attractive for end users looking for a specific price point.” In addition to wind energy, Zoltek has seen interest from the automotive industry for pultruded products for bumper beams, roof support structures, door intrusion beams and more. Because these applications are more complex than standard unidirectional pultruded profiles, Zoltek has a strategy.

“While we forward integrate where it makes sense with our more basic pultruded profiles, we also recognize that we cannot be the experts in everything,” says Purcell. “When end users require more complex shapes, we work closely with pultrusion partners. That’s where they add the most value.”

Market Segment: InfrastructureCreative Pultrusions Inc. has been manufacturing FRP

pultrusion products since 1973. One of its niche markets is waterfront applications, including foundation piles, bulkheads

and fendering systems. The company supplies pipe piles, sheet piles and some composite accessories.

“Wood has been the primary material of construction, however wood has issues because it leaches chemicals into the environment and it doesn’t last long,” says Dustin Troutman, director of marketing and product development for Creative Pultrusions. Concrete and steel have also been traditionally used in waterfront applications, but they corrode in salt water.

Composites are ideal for many of the often-heard reasons: They are strong and corrosion resistant. They have another advantage for waterfront applications. “Composites are ideal for fendering systems because they have the ability to absorb a lot of energy,” says Troutman. “So we take that perceived disadvantage – lack of stiffness – and

use it in combination with the high strength of composites to act as an energy-absorbing member.”

Creative Pultrusions has provided products for everything from high-end residential to big commercial projects and military installations. In 2016, it supplied 132 pipe piles for the new Defense Fuel Support Point (DFSP) at the U.S. Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego. The 88-foot-long SUPERPILES® are

Zoltek makes standard pultruded profiles, such as these flat plates, for a variety of markets.

Photo C

redit: Zoltek Corporation

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made with a polyurethane resin reinforced with electrical-grade E-glass and E-CR glass. The 16-inch diameter piping is ½-inch thick and was filled with 6,000 p.s.i. expanding concrete at the fuel pier prior to being driven into the San Diego Bay.

The expandable concrete created ‘composite action’ between the piles and concrete – essentially permitting the pile structure to act as one unit, says Troutman. “The contractor utilized a concrete formula that was specially formulated to meet adhesion specifications and create composite action,” he says. Prior to installation, West Virginia University’s Constructed Facilities Center validated the concrete bond strength by testing samples filled with the special concrete.

Validation is critical, says Troutman. “Just manufacturing pultruded products and putting them out there is one thing. But how do you ensure that the mechanical properties you are designing to are actually the mechanical properties that your part has?” he says. “I think the next big jump in our industry will be validation of design methodologies, mechanical properties and the means of production.” In addition to validating its products, Creative Pultrusions also is ISO 9001:2015 certified, which provides customers added reassurance that it provides high-quality products.

Market Segment: UtilitiesWhen a tornado ravaged Oklahoma City in 2013, steel

transmission towers twisted under the 210 mph winds and crumpled toward the ground. Aluminum conductor cables hanging between the towers were shredded. But one component remained intact – the pultruded composite cores.

“With composites, electrical towers and transmission lines will be a lot more rugged,” says Clement Hiel, Ph.D., owner of Composite Support & Solutions Inc. (CSSI). “Thin steel sections buckle in tornados; properly-engineered composite sections don’t have that problem.”

Hiel founded CSSI in 2001 to expand the knowledge base in composite material technology and develop innovative products. One of those products is the aluminum conductor composite core (ACCC) cable for transmission lines. Utilities have traditionally relied on aluminum conductor steel-reinforced (ACSR) cables. The ACCC features a CFRP rod, surrounded by a thin insulating layer of GFRP, which prevents galvanic corrosion. They are manufactured simultaneously via pultrusion.

There are many benefits to using composites rather than high-strength steel as the core material in aluminum transmission cables. A primary advantage relates to line losses. Electricity is transmitted from power plants to consumers through a vast interconnected network of towers and transmission lines. The U.S. electrical grid comprises 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and 5.5 million miles of local distribution lines, according to Scientific American magazine. Transmission over such long distances creates power losses ranging from 6 to 24 percent, says Hiel.

“In the past, grid operators and regulators considered line losses as an intractable problem that was part of life. It was also a problem they did not worry much about because costs were passed on to the consumer,” says Hiel. “Now, times have changed because we have been moving toward an

Creative Pultrusions supplied 132 pultruded pipe piles for the Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego.

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"There is a general recognition that pultrusion is the

lowest cost way to continuously produce composites with

very little scrap, running 24/7. That's very attractive for

end users looking for a specific price point."–David Purcell, Zoltek Corp.


Join Pultruders in the Windy City

Industry professionals will gather in Rosemont, Ill., outside of Chicago, April 8 -10 for the North American Pultrusion Conference. Program topics include materials, design techniques and simulation, joining technologies, standards development, research and development, tooling and more. For more information and to register, visit http://bit.ly/2019pultrusionconference.

environmentally-sensitive and low-carbon world and long-established business models and practices no longer rule.” He says that aluminum conductors with pultruded composite cores can reduce line losses by 25 to 40 percent.

ACCC is also stronger than ACSR. The hybrid glass fiber and carbon fiber composite core has a tensile strength of 2.2 GPa, while high-strength steel core has a tensile strength of 1.9 GPa. In addition, ACCC is 70 percent lighter and more compact than traditional stranded steel core. This allows for the addition of compact, trapezoidal-shaped aluminum strands around the composite core, which enables the incorporation of up to 28 percent more aluminum, says Hiel. “When you put more aluminum in the conductor, you increase its capacity to transfer power – what the industry calls ampacity,” he says.

Another advantage of ACCC relates to sag. Aluminum conductors expand when heated, causing slack between the towers. “Carbon fiber has virtually zero coefficient of thermal expansion, making it a far superior product than a steel strength member,” says Hiel. “The result is that the cable virtually doesn’t sag.” This, in turn, means that towers can be placed farther apart on new construction and rebuilds. For line refurbishment – called reconductoring – utilities can use existing infrastructure with ACCCs to double their capacity thanks to low thermal sagging properties.

CTC Global has manufactured the pultruded composite cores, which were patented by Hiel, for a decade. They have

A side-by-side comparison of steel-reinforced aluminum conductors (left) and composite-reinforced aluminum conductors. The inner black part of the composite core is made from CFRP, while the outer layer is GFRP.

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installed more than 40,000 miles of ACCC worldwide. Hiel says the potential for applications like this – and other composites in infrastructure – is endless. “The U.S. was built on steel, aluminum and concrete,” he says. “It needs to be rebuilt on composites.”

Susan Keen Flynn is managing editor of Composites Manufacturing magazine. Email comments to [email protected].

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REGISTER TODAY

NASCAR will be in town. Rooms will sell out!

► DARPA - Tailorable Feedback and Forming ► JAMS – Joint Advanced Materials & Structures, by FAA Centers of Excellence ► Leadership Education Tracks ► NASA/Advanced Composites Project ► Sea-Based Aviation Structural Materials ► xC Consultants Start-up Competition

NEW LOCATION!

Visit sampeamerica.org to secure your registration today.

Early Registration ends April 29

The SAMPE 2019 program will feature Keynote Speaker Greg Hyslop, Chief Technology Officer at Boeing, followed by a technical program featuring content specialized for entry level professionals, to the most seasoned.

Program highlights include:

75TH ANNIVERSARY Celebration & Events

INTERACTIVE TOURSRoctool, Hendrick Performance

& Composite Resources

GOLF TOURNAMENT & RECEPTION

KEYNOTE SPEAKERGreg Hyslop, D.Sc.

Chief Technology OfficerThe Boeing Company

Join us in Charlotte, North Carolina for SAMPE 2019!


Composites manufacturers make

operational changes that are environmentally friendly

and fiscally sound.

By Mary Lou Jay

Sustainability: The Future of Manufacturing

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Composites manufacturers are accustomed to having their products evaluated on properties like performance and pricing. But customers may soon be assessing another aspect of their businesses: the sustainability of their manufacturing operations.

The Environmental Protection Agency defines sustainable manufacturing as “the creation of manufactured products thorough economically-sound processes that minimize negative environmental impact while conserving energy and natural resources.” Sustainable manufacturing practices should also enhance employee, community and product safety.

Customer demand is one of the biggest drivers for the introduction of sustainable practices in the composites manufacturing industry. “The sustainability of a supplier’s business is very important to customers in markets like wind energy, transportation and building materials,” says Mike Gromacki, president of Dixie Chemical Company. “When there’s a sustainability orientation of the market, and the growth is tied to sustainability issues, the participants in that market are generally held to a higher standard.” In other words, if you want the business of wind energy producers – and lots of other companies – you’d better be prepared to show that your own operations are sustainable.

“It’s similar to what happened in quality,” Gromacki continues. “The automotive sector was focused on improving quality, and they drove that down into their supply chains. [They said,] ‘If we’re going to be focused on quality, you’re going to be focused on quality and your suppliers are going to be focused on quality.’”

Composites manufacturers recognize the competitive advantages of sustainable practices. “If you take a longer view of what sustainability means, it’s taking out the waste and cost and things that are non-value-add. If you want to compete on a global basis, you need to be thinking in those terms,” Gromacki says.

One example is the shift that some manufacturers are making from thermoset composites to thermoplastics, says Sameer Rahatekar, research lecturer in manufacturing at the Enhanced Composites and Structure Centre at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. Since thermoplastic components don’t require the high temperatures and long cure times that thermosets do, manufacturers can produce them more quickly. That improves the efficiency of their operations, reduces energy consumption and cuts costs. In addition, thermoplastics, unlike thermosets, can often be recycled several times, which is both an environmental and an economic advantage.

Government mandates are also spurring the growth of sustainable manufacturing practices in some areas. The European Union’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation, for example, requires all manufacturers to identify and manage the risks of the


chemicals that they use. If the EU authorities deem chemicals too dangerous or too difficult to manage, they can ban them. To avoid these restrictions, composites manufacturers are developing more environmentally-friendly alternatives for chemicals like the chromium used in paint and the halogens that provide fire-retardancy properties for composite materials.

Finally, many companies believe that sustainable manufacturing is simply the right thing to do. “We live and play in the communities where we work, constantly reminding us what it means to be a good neighbor,” says David Cooper, vice president of glass reinforcements at Owens Corning. “Operating in a way that protects our environment ensures we are, and are seen as, responsible citizens.”

Encouraging the Right Mindset

Owens Corning has been working for many years to improve the sustainability of its manufacturing processes. In September 2018, for the ninth year in a row, the company was recognized for its efforts with a place on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.

“We incorporate sustainability into our business operating model. We don’t view sustainability as an expense to manage, but as an opportunity to grow,” Cooper says. “We set very challenging targets across the company, and we plan appropriately to achieve success – the right teams, the right processes, the right financial resources.”

Owens Corning has already introduced sustainable practices into several of its composites manufacturing facilities. These plants recycle process water and use it for cooling towers and landscape irrigation. The company recently launched an initiative called the Material Revolution to transform its composite business into a sustainable enterprise. The long-term goal is to achieve zero glass-waste-to-landfill through what the company calls its four pillars: reduce, reuse, recycle, reincorporate. A cross-functional team has been dedicated to implementing this Material Revolution.

“The first step is to change our mindset from accepting glass waste as a material loss to realizing that material byproducts add value to our business,” Cooper adds. Getting employees into the right mindset and getting them to become engaged in the process is critical when a manufacturer is trying to become more sustainable.

“You have to have a lot of different perspectives on where the waste and the costs are, where the opportunities are,” Gromacki says. The mistake that some companies make is giving a single employee or a single department the task of improving sustainability instead of bringing it to the whole business, he says. Gromacki asserts that companies get better results when they set up something similar to the employee circles used for

quality improvement processes. Quality circles consist of a small group of employees who meet regularly to solve problems related to quality and/or performance. Similar teams for sustainability issues could identify areas where a company could become more sustainable and suggest ways to make improvements.

Managing the ChangeIn the past, companies that wanted to go green or conserve

energy usually took a piecemeal approach, putting in better windows, adding insulation or switching out the types of lights that they use. But moving toward real sustainability requires something more.

“We believe that the key is using some type of organized management system,” says Gromacki. “The companies that are successful are using a systematic approach; they have a good platform, and they aren’t doing it as one-off projects.”

Companies could adapt an existing total quality management system or follow a process for earning a certification like ISO 50001 – energy management. Dixie uses the International Sustainability Rating System from DNV GL, a global quality assurance and risk management company.

At Dixie, quality, safety and sustainability are all integrated into the way the company conducts its business. “It’s how we make decisions on everything from what containers we select to what mode of shipment we use,” Gromacki says. Yearly audits of Dixie’s management system by DNV GL help the company focus on deficiencies or weaknesses so it knows where to make improvements.

“We look at all of our usage costs throughout the entire facility on a continual basis,” says Nick Brunson, Dixie Chemical’s director of loss control and sustainability. “If there’s a chance for us to upgrade any of our manufacturing operations with a more energy-efficient system, we are looking at that.”

The company evaluates its progress through monthly reviews of key performance indicators like energy and water efficiency and solid waste generation. After a new program or process is developed and introduced, managers follow the metrics to see if it is effective.

Through this systematic approach, Dixie found that it could eliminate filtration waste in one process by changing a material and improve production by moving to water-efficient processing in batches. The company also switched from wood structural supports to composite structural supports for its cooling towers, so it no longer has to replace them every five to seven years. It’s also using composites for the structural infill for the towers. “Instead of wood rotting away, we have something that will last a very long time,” says Brunson.

Even companies that don’t have full-scale management systems can find ways to make improvements like these. “A good place to start is with a benchmark assessment of where you

"We live and play in the communities where we work, constantly reminding us what it means

to be a good neighbor."–David Cooper, Owens Corning

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are. Then identify where your strongest opportunities are and look at the investment of either time and/or money that will be necessary to implement that plan over a multi-year period,” Gromacki says. “Nobody expects to do it all in one year or in one period of time. So you organize and build a plan to steadily address the issues that give you the best return at the time.”

Moving Toward CertificationFounded in 2012, Steelhead Composites has a customer

base that’s very concerned with sustainability; it manufactures specialty lightweight composite pressure vessels for weight-sensitive energy and fuel storage applications. Although

the company has always had a culture of environmental stewardship, going through the ISO 14001 environmental certification process helped it implement additional sustainable practices.

To qualify for the ISO certification, which it earned last fall, Steelhead had to understand, identify, quantify and plan for all of the significant environmental aspects of its manufacturing and operations.

“It took many months of looking at our systems – waste, energy usage, our manufacturing processes, even down to the nitty-gritty of any cleaning supplies that we might use,” says Marissa Sundy, director of business development. The company

Dixie Chemical Company replaced a wooden support structure for its cooling towers with a composite one (above), which eliminates the need to tear down and rebuild the structures every five to seven years. The company also added a composite infill (shown left before construction) inside the cooling towers.

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also reviewed its compliance with state and local regulatory requirements. By the end of this process, Steelhead had found several areas for improvement.

“We have decreased our cost of solid waste disposal, decreased the cost of liquid disposal and highlighted ways in which we can save on our electricity bill, such as staggering machine start-up times,” Sundy says.

The company’s commitment to improvement didn’t stop with certification. Company managers regularly conduct environmental reviews and track key performance indicators. Every employee is involved. Company-wide meetings each Tuesday often provide further education and training on environmental and sustainability issues. Some team members act as spot checkers to ensure that the company continues to follow sustainable practices.

Companies do have to make a materials, time and financial investment to achieve certifications like ISO 14001. “We believe, however, that the tangible benefits outweigh the investment, not to mention the intangible benefits of increased safety and a smaller environmental footprint,” says Sundy.

She adds that the biggest challenge for companies may be making sustainable practices part of their day-to-day operations. It has to become embedded in their culture, in the company DNA.

Understanding the ScaleGromacki says that employees are generally positive about

sustainability because they can see how it will benefit them. “People know that it’s economic, societal and environmental aspects [of a company’s operations] that are being managed through sustainability,” Gromacki says. “Most people want a company that is doing well in their community, that’s doing well in their industry, that has a good future.” This gives them a stake in sustainability efforts.

Companies that haven’t discussed sustainability with their employees need to have those conversations. Sundy believes that there’s an inevitability to sustainable manufacturing for the

composites industry, as regulators and customers increasingly require environmental quality policies and certifications like ISO 14001.

“Emissions, air quality, water quality and sustainability will fully morph from a nice-to-have to an enforced requirement,” she says. “But we, as manufacturers, shouldn’t wait until we are forced to comply. We can proactively do what we can to make this planet a better place for our children and grandchildren.”

Small-to-medium-sized composites manufacturers may look at the sustainability initiatives of companies like Owens Corning and feel overwhelmed at the thought of launching their own programs. But they need to understand that they don’t have to tackle these issues on that same scale.

“You look at your footprint, and you do what you can do,” Gromacki says. “The challenge for sustainability is what part we can do to improve our own performance. Then it becomes more easily implemented.”

Mary Lou Jay is a freelance writer based in Timonium, Md. Email comments to [email protected].

What's on the Horizon for Sustainable Manufacturing?Projects going on at university research centers today could improve the sustainability of the composites

manufacturing process in the future, according to Sameer Rahatekar, research lecturer in manufacturing at the

Enhanced Composites and Structure Centre at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom.

For example, researchers are looking for alternatives to autoclave processing, since its high temperatures and high

pressures consume a great deal of energy. Microwave technology is one possibility, but it’s not easily scalable due to

its potential side effects on humans. Electric heaters that use nanomaterials are another possibility, but at the moment

they are being used only in academic labs, Rahatekar says. In these experimental applications, the nanomaterial

heaters show a 35 percent improvement in energy efficiency over conventional heaters.

Other researchers are looking at ways to reduce the energy required for the production of the materials that go into

composites. Plasma technology and/or microwave technology might cut the amount of energy required for carbon

fiber production, Rahatekar says. Using cellulose fiber to manufacture carbon fiber would be a lower-energy, lower-

cost alternative to polyacrylonitrile (PAN). That approach would have the added benefit of replacing a non-renewable

resource with a renewable one.

Go Green with the Green Composites Council

Want to help make a difference in the industry and on the environment? Become a member of the Green Composites Council, one of ACMA’s 10 Composites Growth Initiative committees. The council educates composites manufacturers about the importance of sustainability, the aspects of their products that affect sustainability and ways to make their products greener and grow business opportunities. For more information or to join, contact Sarah Boyer at [email protected].

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All of the walkways and stairs in the living quarters on the Kikeh floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in Malaysia are made from Strongwell’s DURAGRID® phenolic grating.

BOOMTOWN!Infrastructure expansion in the oil and gas industry drives

demand for – and on – composite components.By Megan Headley

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There are massive demands on the structures that bring oil and gas out of the depths of the earth and sea to be processed for consumption. There are intense temperatures and pressure levels, as well as high

rates of friction and hazardous materials to withstand. And there’s another factor to consider: the necessity to grow new

infrastructure to support this booming industry. A 2017 report prepared for the American Petroleum

Institute, “U.S. Oil and Gas Infrastructure Investment through 2035,” predicts that “rapid infrastructure development is likely to continue for a prolonged period of time. The primary drivers for robust development are still in place – shale and

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wrapping a composite shell around the lightweight foam to protect it from the environment. This combination provides the flotation benefit of the foam with the durability of a harder skin.

Subsea risers work similarly to pipelines, but transfer material vertically. On offshore platforms, a riser runs from the seafloor to the deck platform. Like the pipelines, they have to be able to sway within the current. Critical sections of the risers feature tapered stress joints to spread heavy loads.

Automated Dynamics, part of Trelleborg Group, provides many structures for this market, including structural insulators for the stress joints made from continuous S-2 fiberglass-reinforced polyetheretherketone (PEEK) impregnated tape. “These structural insulators transfer load while protecting against galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals in the presence of seawater,” explains Brett Kimball, program manager for Automated Dynamics.

Corrosion Resistance from the Inside Out The impact of environmental conditions on structural

integrity is usually at the forefront of discussions between composites fabricators and end users. “Often the issues our products face are from severe environments, whether that’s a land-based well or an oil rig that is dusty and dirty and gets a lot of contaminants … or a marine environment that means exposure to sea water, barnacle growth and things like that,” Jacoby says.

Yet one of the most demanding challenges placed upon materials in oil and gas applications doesn’t come from the outside environment. In many cases, it’s the caustic material

being transported within pipes or held in tanks that does the greatest damage.

Netherlands-based TenCate Advanced Composites’ products are commonly used in high-energy oil extraction alternatives to hydraulic fracturing, explains Steve Johnson, the company’s thermoset product manager. “Primarily, we’re focusing on transmissive applications, where you want low dielectric materials that you’re going to be putting energy through,” he says. For example, the company provides glass and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) thermoplastic unidirectional tapes that reinforce oil and gas pipes. The composite materials help the piping systems resist corrosion at a much lighter weight compared to metal piping.

“The environments where you have severe hot-wet with chemicals, acid and alkali are definitely a challenge. But the truth is the types of systems from which you can get the high transmissivity – and low dielectric loss – are attacked very strongly by those

Strongwell’s DURADEK® fiberglass reinforced grating was first installed on Shell’s Ellen platform off the shore of southern California in 1979. For 40 years, the grating has proven how well composites can hold up against harsh conditions.

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tight resource development is likely to continue in earnest, and markets will grow in response to the relatively low commodity prices that are being fostered by new oil and gas supplies.”

The Perfect Combination of PropertiesThe surging demand for oil and gas infrastructure is good

news for the composites industry. Composite materials truly shine in applications that demand a combination of strength and light weight, and these are often drivers for material selection within oil and gas infrastructure projects. “Often the applications require very high strength, so a high-quality composite material is needed to be able to replace a metallic component and have the strength required,” says Ames Jacoby, technical director for CIP Composites, a Eugene, Ore.-based supplier of composite bushings, bearings and washers.

Offshore pipelines are a prime example of how composites’ unique properties can solve critical problems for the oil and gas industry. Often, pipes float along the water’s surface or are semi-submerged, so they must be flexible enough to withstand the movement of the current. Tacoma, Wash.-based polyurethane foam manufacturer General Plastics provides rigid foam buoyancy modules that help keep the pipelines afloat.

“They have to fasten these heavy pipes to the foam, and the foam has to have a certain amount of compressive strength to not only withstand the depth, but also be tough enough to handle the use and application and deployment,” explains Mitchell Johnson, CEO of General Plastics. “The oil and gas environment these materials work in is harsh. It’s not like aerospace. Things get handled pretty rough.”

General Plastics often proposes solutions that involve

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types of conditions,” says Steve Johnson. “So you have to have either a material that’s going to have a short lifetime or those materials are coated with something impervious, like something akin to Teflon™.”

This is the niche that TenCate works to serve, but Steve Johnson points out that the rapid breakdown typical composite solutions face in these intense environments may challenge broader use of these materials.

“From a thermoset perspective, what would enable the technology more is if we had resins that were much more resistant to the hydrolysis and chemical attack that you see in these applications,” he says. “Not to say that they aren’t [resistant] under more normal conditions, but when you get under these extreme pressures and heat, all these mechanisms speed up greatly and so you need something really, really inert to handle that environment for any length of time.”

Composites’ insulating properties often make them invaluable in these piping applications. “Most of the materials we’re focusing on in the gas and oil market are thermal insulators,” says Mitchell Johnson. In the fracking process for extracting liquefied natural gas (LNG), for example, General Plastics’ rigid polyurethane foam products serve as thermal blocks.

In essence, the process of mining LNG involves injecting liquid nitrogen down into the gas deposit to lower the temperature enough to transform the gas into a liquid. The LNG is then pumped to the surface. And as Mitchell Johnson explains it, “On a raised pipeline you need some kind of a thermal break between the refrigerated pipe and the metal bracket that’s above ground, otherwise you lose a lot of energy down into the ground.” General Plastics provides rigid foam supports that are custom-designed to hold those pipes in place while serving as a thermal break.

Reduction in Maintenance CostsIt’s not just new drilling techniques and infrastructure

placing demands on materials. Existing infrastructure has equally heavy demands, especially when it comes to reducing the high costs of maintenance.

For offshore platforms in particular, maintenance is a tricky and expensive business. A study from the energy market research firm Douglas-Westwood estimated offshore maintenance alone at $672 billion in 2018. So when the switch to composite components can help lower maintenance demands, these materials can gain ground in oil and gas industry applications. Composite materials are now able to

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Floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels, such as the one shown here, are ideal candidates for corrosion-resistant composite grating, handrails and other applications.


point to products that stand the test of time as evidence of their low-maintenance properties.

“Strongwell’s grating was first used on an offshore platform in 1979 and is still in service,” says Barry Myers, corporate marketing manager for Strongwell, a pultruded FRP manufacturer in Bristol, Va. “Many of Strongwell’s products are a good fit in the oil and gas industry because of their light weight, corrosion resistance and low maintenance requirements.”

The company’s DURADEK® fiberglass reinforced grating was first installed in 1979 on Shell’s Ellen platform (now operated by Aera Energy LLC), just off the shore of southern

California. According to Strongwell, there’s been little indication that the wide-ranging abuse the grating has suffered over its 40-year history – from accidental sandblasting and paint overspray to abrasion from the platform’s surface safety valves – has had much effect on the durable phenolic resin-based, pultruded grating.

An added benefit has been that the composite material lends itself to reducing wear on workers. The non-skid grating features a wide bearing bar that end users report is easier to kneel on than traditional serrated steel grating.

Jacoby says CIP’s products are sought after for high-wear offshore applications. Examples include mooring lines that anchor tankers to the seafloor and the anchor pin bearings that secure these lines in place. These components are highly loaded, Jacoby points out, making strength a leading material requirement.

Typical mooring line materials, as well as many of the bronze bearings used to connect these lines, require regular grease or lubrication to reduce the effects of wear over time. Bronze bearings in particular need a boundary layer of lubrication to prevent damage from ongoing metal-to-metal contact. On top of this, the lubrication systems require regular cleaning to remain functional.

This isn’t the case for composites infused with lubricants. “We do a lot of mooring solutions because they’re able to put our material in and not really have to apply a grease or maintenance cycle for good service and longevity,” says Jacoby.

CIP Marine™ products incorporate the solid lubricant

CIP Composites sees demand for its self-lubricating composite bearings in high-wear offshore applications.

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posites

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polytetrafluoroethylene (commonly known by the brand name Teflon) and molybdenum disulfide within a polyester resin, which is then reinforced with polyester textile to create a dimensionally stable material with the strength to replace bronze. The composite ultimately has a lower coefficient of friction than bronze in static and dynamic situations, able to achieve 50 percent lower coefficients of friction than bronze, reports CIP. By incorporating lubrication within the material itself, CIP is able to extend the operating life of these offshore components while reducing the maintenance costs.

The resin selection also has an impact on wear, Jacoby notes. “If the application is highly loaded and there’s some reasonable speed to it, [the component] is going to have some frictional demands,” he points out. “Temperature resistance in a resin system is an important factor, because that will dictate the wear rate. The better the resin is able to handle the temperature scenario, the better it’s going to be able to resist wear.”

In this case, industry regulations may also play into the switch to composites. CIP has found that the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2013 requirement that all marine vessel oil-to-sea interfaces use environmentally acceptable lubricants has led to logistical challenges in finding compatible products for existing solutions. When the need for lubricant is eliminated, the problem is largely solved.

Breaking Down the Competition One of the greatest challenges to getting broader use of

composites into oil and gas applications is changing the mindset of users of traditional metallic options to consider advanced composite solutions. “Or, even worse, they have used a poor-quality FRP and now have no interest in using our materials,” Myers says. “Thankfully, the rigorous fire and performance standards related to oil and gas prevent some lower quality materials from being admitted onto oil and gas rigs.”

While the main competition is steel, composites are able to break new ground through new material combinations and processing technologies. “We work directly with customers to solve their challenges,” says Jacoby. “We find out the geometry of the component they’re using today, the criteria for the application in terms of loads, speeds and the environmental conditions, and the kinds of temperature they are seeing. We do some calculations on the application.” And from there, a new product is born.

Mitchell Johnson agrees that the fun part of working with composites is the nearly endless design options. “You just need to think outside the box as to what problems you need to solve and give us a little bit of time to get there,” he says. “We can usually provide a composite solution.”

This innovative mindset is a perfect fit for an oil and gas industry currently seeking to push past its traditional limits.

Megan Headley is a freelance writer based in Fredericksburg, Va. Email comments to [email protected].

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Inside ACMA

An Update on ACMA's Market Insights and Analysis Program

ACMA is excited to launch a

new program for its members – a composites industry market insights and analysis program. This program includes statistical information that tracks producer and distributor shipments of specific unsaturated

polyester and vinyl ester resins, formulated gel coats and glass reinforcements. The report is based on shipments data provided by participating industry suppliers.

Data collection and reporting for the program is being managed by Vault Consulting LLC (Vault) on behalf of ACMA. Mike Hayes, principal and managing director of Vault, provided more information on the program and what ACMA members can expect.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about Vault?

Hayes: Vault provides research programs and full-service outsourced accounting for associations, nonprofits and their affiliates. Our products provide invaluable business intelligence to help association organizational leaders shape strategy, make informed decisions and provide member value.

Q: How is Vault compiling the data for ACMA?

Hayes: Each month, companies complete a customized reporting form. Only Vault has access to reported data, and safeguards are in place to protect the confidentiality of individual company information. The final report includes aggregated industry totals that represent composites’ volume (unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester resins, formulated gel coats and glass reinforcements) in total pounds for the U.S. and Canada.

Then, in conjunction with ACMA’s Technical Committee, Vault provides estimation factors to account for various issues throughout the manufacturing process. This data then becomes the basis of the market insights that ACMA reports on quarterly.

Q: This is the 2nd quarter ACMA has reported any information. Are there any key takeaways yet that are of interest to the broad industry?

Hayes: Due to some back reporting, we have 36 months of historical information. As the project continues, having a growing and robust dataset will provide ACMA with additional report options that will appeal to the entire membership. ACMA also plans to supplement the existing market report with relevant economic analysis. The additional analysis will include commentary that examines market drivers and the demand for composites within the context of general economic conditions.

Additional issue-driven surveys can be conducted to further supplement this analysis and examine specific markets in more detail. For example, a future quarterly analysis report could include specific analysis on the infrastructure market or another market segment.

Q: How can I find out more information or receive the report, and will there be more market segments included?

Hayes: For now, the scope only covers glass reinforced polyester or vinyl ester thermoset composites. It is ACMA’s goal to expand the program to cover additional material combinations, as well as to provide a more finite look at subsectors of each market. Engagement from participating companies has been very high to get this report off the ground. Each quarter, ACMA members will receive the information as a part of their membership in ACMA. For more information, contact MJ Carrabba at [email protected] or Diane Bayatafshar at [email protected].

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Infrastructure Day Advances Key Legislation

ACMA held its fourth annual Infrastructure Day legislative fly-

in Feb. 13-14. More than 40 industry executives participated in over 90 meetings with congressional offices, urging support for the IMAGINE Act, NIST composites research legislation and a congressional study on the ability of composite structures to improve electric grid reliability. Participants also received an inside briefing on the TRB Bridge study and heard from expert speakers from the AASHTO, the Federal Highway Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and ThinkP3. Contact MJ Carrabba at [email protected].

IMAGINE Act Introduced in Congress

In February, Congress introduced the IMAGINE (Innovative Materials in

American Growth and Infrastructure, Newly

CEF to Offer Insight into USNA Leadership and Composites Engineering

The Composites Executive Forum, taking place June 9-11, 2019, in

Annapolis, Md., will not only provide attendees with trends, economics and market development information, but it will also offer industry executives insight on improving leadership skills, recognizing and growing talent within their organizations, and understanding cyber security issues. Presenters include leaders from the United States Navy and other topical experts. Department heads from the United States Naval Academy will host tours of their material science and engineering labs, where composite materials are a part of the curriculum. This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to network, learn and discuss challenges with industry peers and gain unique insights and access from leaders and experts and the Naval Academy.

Two New Standards Available Soon

ACMA is slated to publish two new ANSI-approved standards this

quarter. Authored by ACMA’s Utility & Communication Structures Council, and the first of its kind for the industry, the Standard Specification for Composite Utility Poles is designed to guide utilities and other end users through the process of implementing FRP composite pole and crossarm products in a uniform and consistent manner. This specification focuses on the full life cycle of the FRP utility pole, including the design, material properties, manufacturing processes, quality control, assembly, installation, safety and inspection parameters of direct embedded FRP utility poles.

Inside ACMA

From L-R: Bill Davis, Rochling Glastic Composites; David Cooper, Owens Corning; Jeffrey Starcher, Scott Bader; Scott Reeve, Composite Advantage

Expanded) Act, sponsored by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Tina Smith (D-MN). In the House, the bill is sponsored by David Cicilline (D-RI), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Rodney Davis (R-IL) and Don Young (R-AK). ACMA has been working closely with the sponsors to ensure the act included provisions for greater use of composites.

Specifically, the new legislation promotes the increased use of innovative materials like FRP composites in the nation’s infrastructure; new manufacturing methods to accelerate the deployment and extend the life of infrastructure projects at a reduced cost; and improvements to the economy, safety, efficiency and sustainability of the U.S. infrastructure network. The inclusion of composites and advanced materials in the IMAGINE act is a victory for the composites manufacturing industry and ACMA’s advocacy efforts. ACMA encourages all members to reach out to their congressional representatives to show their support of the IMAGINE Act. For more information, contact MJ Carrabba at [email protected].

FAST Act Bridge Study Released

ACMA’s successful advocacy to include an amendment to the FAST Act of

2015 for a study on composites use in bridges has had a successful outcome. The Transportation Research Board released its “Study on the Performance of IBRC Bridges.” This study can be used to make the case that composite-based bridges perform better than other materials and provides positive feedback about the ability of composites to improve our national network of bridges. ACMA cannot be successful in our advocacy efforts without the financial and in-kind support from our members and the industry. To learn more about how you can be involved, contact MJ Carrabba at [email protected].


New ACMAMembers

ACMA Upcoming EventsACMA is your key connection with the best and brightest in the industry – people who share your interests and drive for success. Don’t miss these upcoming events:

North American Pultrusion ConferenceApril 8 – 10, 2019Rosemont, Ill.http://bit.ly/pultrusionconference

The 2019 North American Pultrusion Conference, being held in partnership with the European Pultrusion Technology Association, will unite leaders in the composites industry, OEMs and suppliers to discuss the latest global opportunities for pultruders.

ACMA Composites Technology DaysMay 8 – 9, 2019: AutomotiveJune 12 – 13, 2019: AerospaceAug. 20 – 21, 2019: Automotive

Members-only Composites Technology Days allow companies to showcase their products and give OEMs the opportunity to foster a deeper connection with the design community and supply chain. For more information, please contact Dan Coughlin at [email protected].

Advance Cooling TowersMumbai, India

Advanced Infrastructure TechnologiesNaples, FL

CAC Technology ConsultantsKapurbawdi, Maharashtra, India

Cleveland State Community CollegeCleveland, TN

Diab Americas LPDeSoto, TX

Fiber Technology Corp.Lorton, VA

Imate (Pan American Composites)El Paso, TX

Lanier Technical CollegeGainesville, GA

Lord Corp.Cary, NC

Soucy CompositesDrummondville, Quebec, Canada

Tokyo Rope InternationalChuo-Ku, Japan

For more information on becoming a member of ACMA, email [email protected] or call 703-525-0511.

The FRP Composites Grating Manual for Pultruded and Molded Grating and Stair Treads, authored by ACMA’s Fiberglass Grating Manufacturers Council, provides a significant update to the 1st edition standard and is to be used by engineers and designers who are using FRP grating for horizontal walkway surfaces to support pedestrian loads and non-motorized wheeled traffic. This

ANSI-approved standard provides users with load tables, tolerances and ordering information, plus a Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) specification to assist in the preparation of related contract documents. Both will be sold in ACMA’s Education Hub in late spring. For more information, contact John Busel at [email protected].

Composites Executive ForumJune 9 - 11, 2019Annapolis, Md.https://acmanet.org/2019executive

ACMA’s Composites Executive Forum features topics on leadership, organization and workforce development, industry trends and statistics, and the governmental impacts on our industry. Plus, there will be unique networking opportunities that take advantage of Annapolis’ proximity to the U.S. Naval Academy and its boating culture.

CAMXSept. 23 – 26, 2019Anaheim, Calif.www.thecamx.org

CAMX is an all-encompassing event that connects and advances all aspects of the world’s composites and advanced materials communities. Regardless of the market segment – transportation, aerospace, marine, wind energy, infrastructure, sports and leisure, medical, academics and more – CAMX is the must-attend event for products, solutions, networking and advanced industry thinking.

Inside ACMA

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SAVE THE DATE

CAMX 2019

September 23-26, 2019: Conference / September 24-26, 2019: Exhibits Anaheim Convention Center / Anaheim, California

www.theCAMX.org

CAMX RETURNS TO THE

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