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The JEC Composites exhibition will return to Porte de Versailles in Paris from April 13-15 this year, bringing with it all the latest innovations and developments in the market.

As the largest trade show of its kind in Europe, JEC Paris will again bring over 1,000 exhibitors together to demonstrate the latest technologies available to the market and deliver a snapshot of the current market, with themed villages for various industry sectors as well as over 15 international and national country pavilions.

The manufacturing landscape has changed substantially since JEC’s last Paris event a year ago as the effects of recession continue to manifest themselves across Europe. Despite this however, the technological importance of alternative and new materials to many industries has ensured that the composite industry has continued to grow as new applications are adopted, with the worldwide market now believed to be worth €62 billion and the European market €19 billion, buoyed by the high value added aerospace and wind energy industries.

Last year, JEC Paris attracted over 27,700 visitors through its doors with 65% of these coming from abroad and will be aiming to improve on this further, with much of the organiser’s efforts being put into improving the level of education available and demonstrating the opportunities and challenges for new and established manufacturers and users.

This is exemplified by the expansion of its conference and forum programme to cover the latest hot topics. Alongside the already established industry end user forums - two new conferences for composite simulation and development process, and an additional forum discussing recycling and life cycle management will also take place. Altogether, it is expected that over 2,000 qualified attendees will hear presentations from over 80 speakers from companies such as Airbus, Astrium Space Transportation, Bombardier, Dassault Aviation, EADS and Eurocopter, discussing a wide range of programmes, technologies and industry issues.

“One main topic at the 2010 JEC Conferences and Forums programme will be cost control and process automation,” states JEC Group president and CEO Frédérique Mutel. “To exploit the full potential of composite materials for high performance lightweight structures, it is necessary to consider the entire process chain, and automation can bridge that gap for long term, profitable serial production.

“Another major change for 2010 is the emphasis we are going to put on environment. Recycling and life cycle management is now a key challenge for the composites sector and JEC is launching its first cross industry forum on this subject. Another area, Bio-based fibres and resins derived from natural, renewable sources have also received significant interest in recent years due to increased environmental awareness, concern about the depletion of non-renewable resources and instability in oil prices.”

As an initiative launched last year, a business to business meetings service has also been popular and will be running again this time, with visitors able to arrange meetings via JEC’s website. Technical sales presentations, demonstrating new products from many of its exhibitors and giving visitors the opportunity to discuss these with company representatives, will also be running throughout the event.

Speaking about the relevance of the aerospace industry to the wider composites industry, Mutel explains: “The average penetration rate of composites for commercial aircraft is increasing significantly from around 8% in 2007 to 12% in 2013 due to deliveries of new aircraft with higher composite content. Both the number of composite parts and performance requirements for these applications are on the rise. For instance, the emergence of new matrices like benzoxazine resin with significant temperature resistance properties offer crucial fire safety properties for the housing of the auxiliary power unit on the Airbus A380, as highlighted in this year’s JEC Innovation Awards.

“Another trend over recent years has been towards eliminating autoclave curing and longer production runs to improve productivity and achieve energy savings. Another reason is to eliminate the need for expensive finishing operations, e.g. for net-shape parts. At the same time, the use of automation is growing, making it necessary to design specific machines for the part to be manufactured, and moulds that can perform several different operations during the production process. Assembly methods can also lead to weight savings and faster production. Adhesive bonding for example is always a good candidate and so is automated welding.”

Returning to the subject of the event itself, Mutel concludes: “JEC has two ambitions: 100% quality and creativity. Our goal is to give the best service based on our quality and a tailored approach. We also have to be constantly innovative and design new services, new themes and new products. For instance, we are the only exhibition in the world to offer Business Suites to our exhibitors to enable them to host their customers in an exclusive way.

“JEC Paris 2010 will be a key event in the history of composites, demonstrated by the high level of technologies and finished products testifying to the technological breakthroughs being experienced by the industry. The challenge for the new decade is to spread the technologies that remain today in the hands of the elite.”

www.jeccomposites.com

A feast of technology

Always a hotbed of innovation, JEC Paris will be a key event in the calendar for those looking to invest in new technologies. Here, Aerospace Manufacturing looks at some of the products on display.

A major supplier of tape laying equipment to the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 XWB programmes, MTorres (stand S65) will exhibit an array of fabrication and assembly solutions for high productivity prepreg carbon fibre component production. As well as its well known automatic tape laying machine, TORRESLAYUP, the Pamplona, Spain-based company will be promoting its latest generation, high productivity automatic fibre placement machine, TORRESFIBERLAYUP. In addition, it will also be demonstrating its ultrasonic cutting capabilities with the TORRESPANEX and its TORRESSONIC ultrasonic inspection machines for NDI applications as well as its popular 5-axis routing and drilling machines with flexible tooling.

Composite material manufacturer Toho Tenax (stand G58) will be showcasing its net shape carbon fibre preforms. With the preforming process for carbon fibre reinforced plastic components typically a costly and labour intensive process, the company has invested in new production equipment to develop these new net shape preforms, which can be made by automated placement of multiple carbon fibres using robotic manufacturing equipment. Harnessing its expertise in manufacturing and processing of functional carbon fibre, the product includes bindered, high quality dry fibres for resin transfer moulding, improving the mechanical performance of laminates. Also new to the market, Toho Tenax will demonstrate its STS40 48K filament carbon fibre yarn, designed for high volume applications.

Leading provider of portable measurement and imaging solutions, Faro (stand V30) will present its Laser ScanArm V3, which enables users to inspect parts in detail by capturing large point cloud data. The device features open architecture, enabling users to employ Geomagic, Polyworks, RapidForm and many other third party software programmes and can tackle all measurement tasks such as inspection, point cloud to CAD comparison, rapid prototyping, reverse engineering, 3D modelling, and as built documentation with accuracy up to 54 microns. Users can hard probe measure simple point variations, then laser scan sections for larger volumes of data without the wasted time of adding/removing attachments, untangling cabling, or importing data from another CMM. The company also cites its ability to accurately scan reflective and dark objects as a key benefit. Faro will also have on show its FaroArm, Laser Tracker ION and FARO Gage product lines, all designed to make measuring complex objects easy.

UK-based composite design, analysis and manufacturing solution provider Anaglyph (stand P49) will be demonstrating the newly released version 4.0 of Laminate Tools, a draping and finite element analysis pre-/post-processing software package. Laminate Tools v4.0 includes a new geometry module for CAD file importing and grouping into element sets for draping as well as numerous user driven enhancements to existing modules. Other established Anaglyph software applications being promoted at the show include CoDA (Component Design Analysis), LAP (Laminate Analysis Program), and PlyMatch, a revolutionary hardware- and software-based system for accurate hand lay-up ply placement. Easy to use, compact, mobile and versatile, the system can be used either as an alternative or as a complement to legacy ply placement methods.

Another UK-based software developer, CGTech (stand T14) will be showcasing its machine independent fibre placement programming and simulation software in Paris with demonstrations of its VERICUT Composite Programming (VCP) and VERICUT Composite Simulation (VCS) software. VCP and VCS allow users to move from CAD designed composite parts to CNC programs that drive automated fibre placement machines. VCP reads CAD surfaces and ply boundary information and adds material to fill plies according to user specified manufacturing standards and requirements, linking lay-up paths together to form specific lay-up sequences output as NC programs. VCS reads CAD models and NC programs, either from VCP or other composite lay-up path generation applications, and simulates the sequence of NC programs on a virtual machine. Material is applied to the lay-up form via NC program instructions in a virtual CNC simulation environment. The simulated material applied to the form can be measured and inspected to ensure the NC program follows manufacturing standards and requirements. Aerospace customer projects produced using these products, such as a large one piece fuselage barrel, an aircraft inlet duct and aircraft skin panels, will be highlighted on CGTech’s stand, as well as the latest version of its VERICUT CNC machine simulation and optimisation software.

With its focus on improving accuracy and consistency when machining composite parts, Delcam (stand R37) will be promoting its NC-PartLocator software. Developed in association with metrology specialist MSP, the software gives users the ability to adjust toolpaths to the actual position of the part, rather than having to ensure that the component is in exactly the nominal location specified in the CAM system. To ensure accurate trimming and profiling, NC-PartLocator first gathers the necessary data using a probe fitted onto the machine too, creating a probing sequence within the software. This data is then used by best fit routines within the software to determine the part’s exact position. Any mismatch between the nominal position used in the CAM system to generate the toolpaths and the actual position of the component on its fixture can be calculated. The software then feeds the results to the machine tool control as a datum shift or rotation to compensate for the differences in location and alignment. NC-PartLocator can also help to tackle localised problems caused by variations in material thickness or distortion across a part, and can also identify whether components have become too distorted prior to machining and inspection.

German laser system developer Z-Laser (stand Q40) produces products for customers in many industries for laser projection, 3D measurement and biophotonic applications. In the composite industry, 2D and 3D laser projectors from the company can be applied to many production processes where precision is essential, simplifying and accelerating the laying process and improving quality. Commonly used for high value manual tasks, the system projects the contours of each prepreg into the form, reducing labour time, ensuring accuracy, reducing errors and allowing for production monitoring. In addition to automated internal drift compensation, controlled by time and thermal influences, the system includes Z-Laser’s Projection Manager Software and is compatible with all major 3D CAD formats.
 

Développer sa créativité grâce aux composites

Le salon JEC Composites sera de retour à la Porte de Versailles, à Paris, du 13 au 15 avril prochain, avec toutes les dernières innovations et nouveautés du marché.

JEC Paris est le plus grand salon commercial de son genre en Europe et réunira une fois encore plus de 1 000 exposants. Vous y découvrirez les toutes dernières technologies disponibles et pourrez vous faire un aperçu de l'état actuel du marché, grâce à des villages à thème dédiés à plusieurs secteurs d'activité et plus de 15 pavillons nationaux et internationaux.

Le paysage de la production a beaucoup changé depuis le dernier salon JEC il y a un an, car les effets de la récession continuent à se manifester à travers l'Europe. Malgré cela, l'importance technologique des matériaux nouveaux et alternatifs pour de nombreux secteurs a permis au marché des composites de continuer à progresser, grâce à l'adoption de nouvelles applications. Le marché international et le marché européen sont maintenant estimés respectivement à 62 et 19 milliards d'euros, stimulés par les secteurs aéronautique et éolien à forte valeur ajoutée.

L'an passé, JEC Paris a attiré plus de 27 700 visiteurs, dont 65 % en provenance de l'étranger. Les organisateurs souhaitent encore améliorer ces chiffres, notamment en renforçant le niveau de formation offert et en montrant les opportunités et les défis qui se présentent aux fabricants et aux utilisateurs.

Le programme des conférences et des forums s'est ainsi développé pour prendre en compte les sujets d'intérêt récents. Outre les forums d'utilisateurs professionnels préexistants, deux nouvelles conférences se tiendront sur le processus de simulation et de mise au point des composites, ainsi qu'un forum sur le recyclage et la gestion du cycle de vie. Au total, plus de 2 000 personnes qualifiées devraient assister aux présentations d'Airbus, Astrium Space Transportation, Bombardier, Dassault Aviation, EADS et Eurocopter (plus de 80 intervenants) portant sur divers programmes, technologies et questions spécifiques aux secteurs.

Selon la PDG du groupe JEC, Frédérique Mutel, « l'un des principaux sujets abordés des conférences et des forums JEC 2010 sera le contrôle des coûts et l'automatisation des processus. Pour exploiter au mieux le potentiel des matériaux composites en matière de structures légères haute performance, il est nécessaire de prendre en compte l'intégralité de la chaîne de processus ; l'automatisation peut combler ce manque et permettre une production en série rentable et durable ».

« En outre, le salon de 2010 sera davantage orienté sur l'environnement. Parce que le recyclage et la gestion du cycle de vie sont désormais un défi majeur pour le secteur des composites, JEC lancera son premier forum intersecteur sur le sujet. Ces dernières années, les biofibres et biorésines issues de sources naturelles renouvelables ont également suscité beaucoup intérêt, en raison d'une plus grande sensibilisation à l'écologie et des inquiétudes relatives à l'épuisement des ressources non renouvelables et à l'instabilité des cours du pétrole ».

Le service de réunions interentreprises lancé l'an passé ayant remporté beaucoup de succès, il sera à nouveau proposé cette année ; les visiteurs pourront programmer leurs réunions sur le site Web de JEC. Pendant toute la durée du salon, des présentations technico-commerciales permettront également aux visiteurs de discuter des nouveaux produits des exposants avec les représentants des entreprises.

À propos de la pertinence de l'industrie aéronautique pour le secteur des composites tout entier, Mme Mutel explique : « le taux de pénétration moyen des composites destinés à l’aviation commerciale augmente de manière significative : il est passé de 8 % en 2007 à 12 % en 2013 en raison de livraisons d'appareils neufs à plus haute teneur en composites. Le nombre de pièces composites est en pleine progression, tout comme les exigences fonctionnelles de ces applications. Par exemple, l'apparition de nouvelles matrices comme la résine de benzoxazine, très résistante à la chaleur, apporte une grande sécurité incendie au carter du groupe moteur auxiliaire de l'Airbus A380, comme l'ont révélé les trophées JEC de l'innovation de cette année ».

« Les tendances de ces dernières années sont également à l'élimination de l'autoclavage et des longues campagnes de production afin d'améliorer la productivité et d'économiser de l'énergie. Le but est également de supprimer les opérations de finition coûteuses, notamment pour les pièces près des cotes. Parallèlement, l'automatisation se développe, ce qui nécessite de concevoir des machines spécifiques aux pièces à produire et des moules pouvant servir à plusieurs opérations de production. Les méthodes de montage peuvent également participer à la réduction du poids et des délais de production. Ainsi, l'assemblage par collage est toujours très prisé, tout comme le soudage automatisé ».

Revenant au thème du salon en lui-même, Mme Mutel conclut : « JEC a deux ambitions : 100 % de qualité et de créativité. Notre objectif est de fournir le meilleur service possible grâce à la qualité et à une approche sur mesure. De même, nous devons innover en permanence et concevoir de nouveaux services, de nouveaux thèmes et de nouveaux produits. Nous sommes par exemple le seul salon au monde à proposer des suites d'affaires à nos exposants pour leur permettre d'accueillir leurs clients de manière exclusive ».

« JEC Paris 2010 sera un évènement majeur dans l'histoire des composites, au vu du grand nombre de technologies et de produits finis attestant des avancées technologiques du secteur. Le défi de la prochaine décennie sera de répandre ces technologies, qui restent pour l'instant entre les mains de l'élite ».

www.jeccomposites.com