For the first time, the upcoming JEC Europe Composites Show & Conferences will occupy three levels at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Pavilion 7 from Tuesday, March 10 to Thursday, March 12, 2015. Bigger than ever, the show will present innovations from the 35 industrial segments, from raw material producers to end-user markets and will promote knowledge and networking worldwide. “JEC Group strategy is entirely focused on promoting Knowledge and activating quality networks. Thanks to our three other American and Asian platforms, we are able to mobilize a real international network, from all the regions.” said Frédérique Mutel, (pictured) JEC Group president and CEO. In addition to the Innovative Corner designed to promote the industry's innovations, JEC Group also rewards very innovative players in composites. The JEC Innovation Awards jury has selected the best composite innovations, based on their technical interest, market potential, partnerships, financial and environmental impact and originality. This year, 18 companies and their partners will receive an award during the ceremony. “For this edition, we have received more than 80 applications from 20 different countries. This confirms that JEC Innovation Awards has become a reference in many industrial sectors. Winning one of them establishes the expertise of the selected companies and projects on an international basis.” added Mutel. The JEC Innovation Awards ceremony will highlight 18 innovators on stage and will take place on Tuesday March 10 at 5pm on the JEC Europe Show & Conferences (Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, hall 7.3, at the Agora). All exhibitors and visitors are welcome to attend the ceremony. 18 champions of composites materials receiving a JEC innovation award, including the following: REINFORCEMENTS - Xedera e.U. (Austria) Combining improved hybrid yarn technology with advanced textile weaving and processing methods. RESINS - AkzoNobel Polymer Chemistry (Netherlands) Novel water-insensitive curing systems for bio-fibre reinforced composites. SEMI-PRODUCTS - Faurecia (France) Long flax fibres thermoset reinforced sandwich for multi-position trunk load-floor or structural floor. LABORATORY EQUIPMENT - PPE (France) 3D permeability bench. PROCESS - BA Composites (Germany) Machining centre for the production of carbon fibre parts. HEAVY MACHINERY - National Aerospace Laboratory (Netherlands) Hybrid composite solutions for heavy-duty construction equipment. Category: AERONAUTICS Winner: Hexcel (France) Partners: Aerolia (France), Coriolis Composites (France), CompositAdour (France). Name of Product or Process: Conception, design and testing of a self-stiffened aircraft fuselage panel demonstrator. The success of this prototype manufacturing was driven by the strong and close collaboration between Aerolia SAS, for the design of the fuselage panel; Coriolis Composites, associated with CompositAdour, for the automation of the dry preform process (dry AFP); and Hexcel, for the development of an advanced generation of high-performance UD reinforcements and the OOA vacuum infusion technology for such complex shapes. The main value of this innovation is that it demonstrates the possibility to develop and manufacture primary aircraft structures using cost-effective, highly automated and high-performance materials and processes. The achieved results should demonstrate the possibility to meet cost and build rate targets of next-generation aircrafts. The main achievements of this project are: 1) the design of a self-stiffened fuselage panel in order to use an automated process for dry preforms and out-of-autoclave (OOA) vacuum infusion technology; 2) the automation of dry preform manufacturing (dry AFP) using the breakthrough, latest generation of Hexcel's UD dry reinforcements (HiTape), specifically developed for high performance, high automation and cost-effective manufacturing of primary aircraft structures; and finally 3) the development of a dedicated OOA vacuum infusion technology meeting the complex shape design and high mechanical performance requirements of the composite parts. Category: UAV Winner: Rapid Composites (USA) Partner: Quantum Composites (USA). Name of Product or Process: Amphibious quad-copter UAV drone. No other UAV of its kind is manufactured in a faster process from engineered structural composites. Extensive work was done with Quantum Composites to bring to life this rugged VTOL tri-copter UAV for tactical/mission-critical and harsh environment applications. The UAV was strategically designed to be waterproof and rugged so that it does not require a transit case. To accomplish these attributes, many material science challenges were solved along the way, which resulted in many new highly valuable patent-pending construction methods that made it possible to reduce the part counts by combining many more features into a single composite part. An example of this effort can be seen in the upper fuselage/combined tail construction, which has only five main components all bonded together into one single monocoque, in contrast to sometimes hundreds of parts. In three months, Rapid Composites was able to go from a sketch to a fully functional flying prototype. The goal was to develop an unrivalled tri-copter UAV utilising only a small team of designers, engineers and experienced material science experts on a tight budget and timeline. Industrial designers were tasked to identify voids within the VTOL UAS/UAV market, with the objective to exploit them by capturing a foothold with new technologies never seen before in this emerging marketplace. Rapid Composites wanted a product that could be slung with a rifle strap, required no transit case, no assembly, had unrivalled versatility, could perform amphibious take-off and landing, was capable of carrying a 7kg maximum payload of anything and could fly for more than 30 minutes. This project covers the first fully autonomous and amphibious, IP-67, man-portable VTOL tri-copter. This rugged design is capable of performing in all weather conditions. All fuselage components can be rapidly customized to support the most demanding customer needs and requirements. The entire aircraft fuselage is moulded entirely from Quantum Composites quasi-isotropic carbon fibre and glass materials in fewer than 10 minutes. All parts are formed within matched metal moulds in high-speed vertical hydraulic presses. SUSTAINABILITY - EcoTechnilin (UK) Bio-sourced, fast-curing, structural composite for aircraft applications. Category: JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE SPECIAL PRIZE Winner: VX Aerospace (USA) Partners: Chomarat (USA), University of Southern California (USA), Stanford University (USA), North Carolina State University (USA) Name of Product or Process: Innovative new aircraft. The VX-1 KittyHawk is an innovative new aircraft with looks and performance that will remake the light aircraft landscape, manned or unmanned. The use of advanced composite materials resulted in a new design with a greater usable internal volume, a higher payload capability, improved structural efficiency, better durability and improved manufacturability. Thanks to the use of Chomarat's new thin-ply non-crimp fabric (NCF) – C-PLY – the KittyHawk has a unique shape with no wings. Abandoning the traditional quasi-isotropic lay-ups or ‘black aluminium', C-PLY enables laminate designers to vary the fibre angles between plies, evenly spread fibres and, therefore, to increase toughness and get lighter weight products. The unique shape of the KittyHawk combined with lighter weight offers numerous advantages over traditional designs, such as a greater usable internal volume and higher payload capability. The maximized volume also allows the KittyHawk to lead the way in adopting CNG as an aviation fuel. Existing technology CNG tanks fit inside the aircraft with no aerodynamic compromise. At less than 1/3 the cost of avgas, the KittyHawk has unparalleled operational economy with emissions that are 40% cleaner. At the production level, the specific shape of the KittyHawk made possible by advanced composites entitles parts reduction. It means time savings by eliminating assembly steps, and therefore a low-cost final solution. Indeed, the VX-1 KittyHawk has a radically low parts count. The basic airframe consists of 4 ribs, an upper skin and a lower skin. In fact, the aircraft does not use a wing spar as it is not necessary. The VX-1 also requires large-area unsupported panels. New material developments in this area are being implemented in the realization of the KittyHawk design. www.jeccomposites.com
