“The mood is better than the market” was how one industry insider summed up his impression of this year´s “JEC Composite Show”, organised by JEC (F-75008 Paris; www.jeccomposites.com) and held in April at the exhibition grounds at Porte de Versailles in Paris. As was the case last year, unshakeable optimism was the most prominent feature of the event. The number of visitors reflected the positive mood, rising from around 22,600 in 2004 to 25,500 this year. The number of exhibitors was barely changed (900 compared with 890 last year).

By contrast, growth prospects for plastic composites appear fairly subdued. In a study conducted for JEC last year, Estin & Co (F-75008 Paris; www.estin.com) predicted average worldwide sales growth of only 3% up to 2008. In Germany, which accounts for 28% of European usage, Uwe Bültjer, managing director of the German Composites Federation AVK-TV (D-60329 Frankfurt; www.avk-tv.de), said that although the industry grew by 3% in Germany in 2004, domestic growth is likely to be significantly lower in 2005 due to a market decline in the truck supply sector.

The slightly worsened situation is also attributable to the poor capacity utilisation (65%) at European resin manufacturers. According to Juergen H. Aurer, commercial director of BÜFA Reaktionsharze (D-26180 Rastede; www.buefa.de), this has led to a ruinous price war, particularly among standard products such as orthophthalic acid-based unsaturated polyester (UP). While purchasing costs for orthophtal- ic acid, styrene, maleic anhydride and propylene glycol feedstocks were in the EUR 1.10-1.30/kg range, selling prices for uncompounded resin were just EUR 1.40-1.80/kg. Composite customers have very little clout with their materials suppliers, especially as only 5-6% of global styrene consumption actually ends up in thermosetting plastics.

Focus on increasing process speeds
Growth is the logical consequence of innovation. The following examples from the exhibition in Paris show that raising processing speed is now the main priority in the moulding and processing of glass fibre and resins.

RocTool (F-73377 Le Bourget du Lac; www.roctool.com) last year introduced its “cage system”, in which electromagnetic fields raise the surface temperature of compression moulds and thus significantly reduce the cycle times. Earlier this year, the company reported that it had successfully sold a license to the sports shoe manufacturer Novation (I-31044 Montebelluna; www.novation.it), formerly Bauer Italia.

Johns Manville (Denver, Colorado / USA; www.jm.com) introduced exhibition visitors to its new “Direct Roving StarRov” with weights per length of 600, 1200, 2400 and 4800 tex (1 tex = 1g/1,000 m). This product is said to be particularly suitable for multi-axial, high-speed weaving processes and is thus used, for example, in production of rotor blades and sports goods and in boat building. Editor´s note: A direct roving is a bundle of filaments, or strands, with weights per length of 20-40 tex – drawn direct from the glass melt.

The “Innofiber DCS” glass fibre from PPG Industries (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania / USA; www.ppg.com) is equipped with an innovative sizing agent that not only makes the fibre compatible with conventional polyester, vinyl ester and epoxy resins, but also significantly increases the speed of continuous filament production. PPG produces the fibre at its plant in Lexington, North Carolina / USA with weights of 34, 51 and 68 tex.

The Composite Polymers business group of Ashland Specialty Chemical (Dublin, Ohio; www.ashspec.com) showed its new impregnating resin, “Aropol S 604” / “605 INF”, with increased flow rates for the marine sector. The company said it had managed to significantly reduce the viscosity so that the fibre structures (used mainly in boat-building) are impregnated extremely quickly.

The recycling of composites
The European glass fibre-reinforced plastics industry has set up a joint venture called European Composite Recycling Services Company (ECRC, B-1030 Brussels; www.ecrc-greenlabel.org). Chief executive is Pascal Diaz of Inoplast (F-07300 St. Desirat; www.inoplast.fr). At a press conference at the JEC Show, the new company invited all interested companies in the European glass fibre-reinforced plastics industry to become members and pursue their common goals.

ECRC´s brief is to ensure that both end-of-life composite parts and production scrap is collected, granulated and recycled. The target is to use 10% of the recycled material in SMC/BMC automotive parts, another 10% in SMC/BMC products for the construction industry and 80% as components in cement and polymer-based concrete.