JEC Asia Innovation Awards 2009

03 Aug 2009

JEC Composites is announcing the new winners of the JEC Asia Innovation Awards Programme 2009. This year, 9 companies and their 15 partners will receive awards at the JEC Asia Composites Show (October 14-15-16, 2009 Singapore). The programme was created in 1998 with the goal of promoting innovation.
“Through this programme, the JEC Group projects and promotes successful innovation strategies onto the international scene throughout the year”, explains Frédérique Mutel, JEC President and CEO.

This top-level competition for Innovation is a focus of attention in the international composite market. It is supported by major companies and trade magazines in the industry that are committed to the development of composite innovation.

This year, the winners were selected from the following categories: Environment and Recycling, Raw Materials, Process, Automation, Aerospace, Building and Construction, Sports and Leisure and Transportation. The decision to give prominence to these projects was based on their atypical nature and various noteworthy aspects. Read through the trade description to discover the 9 winners. The 2009 JEC Awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday October 14th at 5:00 pm on the JEC Show and will be open to all visitors (free access).

Category: Raw Materials

A ground-breaking material endowing composites with high fire-resistant properties

Winner: Regina Glass Fibre Pty Ltd. (Australia)
Partners: CRC-ACS (Australia) and Ampelite (Australia)

FireShield® is a chemically loaded surface tissue that can be added to any composite laminate during manufacture to provide fire-resistance. Using this product as a normal surface tissue, the manufacturer produces a fire-resistant laminate. When FireShield® is used as the exterior ply in a composite laminate, the halogen-free fire-retardant chemical is placed just beneath the surface, where it is most needed. This approach to providing fire resistance does not require any special fire-retardant resins, and thus allows standard laminating resins to be used to manufacture composites that meet international fire standards. When exposed to flame, FireShield® produces a well-bonded charred layer on the surface of the product.

This insulates the product and inhibits the passage of oxygen, thereby smothering the flame. Furthermore, the environmental problems caused by the use of halogenated systems are avoided. The use of standard resins means that laminate manufacture is straightforward, material costs are lower, and there is no compromise in the strength or stiffness of the composite laminate. Although non-woven glass tissue provides the lowest-cost fabric for the FireShield® technology, carrier fabrics of other fibres such as polyester or carbon, either woven or non-woven, can be used to meet specific engineering design requirements.

Manufacturers do not need to modify processes or train staff in order to produce composite structures that meet international standards for flame, smoke and toxic gas emission. They can use their normal manufacturing processes and resins. This opens the door to companies of all sizes to participate in the fire-protection field without further capital investment. In most cases, laminate cost is lower than for alternative ways of achieving the same degree of fire protection.
With increased emphasis on flame, smoke and toxicity performance of composite structural materials, particularly for mass transit and building applications, the market potential is seen to be substantial.

Read More

FireShield® Provides Superior Fire Barrier Performance for Ampelite Roofing Panels

Providing high integrity composite panels with excellent fire performance usually requires the use of difficult-to-manufacture, high viscosity resins, or expensive secondary processes to add fire retardant layers to the finished composite article. FireShield® provides a breakthrough in efficiency and performance for fire-sensitive applications, allowing incorporation of a fire-resistant layer during component manufacture.

Australia’s leading fibreglass sheet manufacturer, Ampelite Australia Pty Ltd, has assessed FireShield® for its glass-reinforced polyester products. Excellent performance was achieved in independent fire tests when compared to alternative fire resistant panels made with phenolic and epoxy resins.

FireShield® contains an intumescent product on a surfacing veil. This foams in the presence of a flame to build a stable char layer at the surface. The result is a superior fire resistant barrier for composite structures, without altering the performance of the underlying composite structure.

Panels were tested using a method based on UL94 - 5V “Tests for Flammability of Plastic Materials for parts in Devices and Appliances”. The test panels were exposed to an 800°C naked flame for 3 minutes with flame penetration, self extinguish time and panel surface temperatures monitored to assess the fire barrier performance of each material. 

Ampelite FireShield panels tested showed no perforation through the laminate and immediate self extinguishing following flame removal. Temperature monitoring of Ampelite FireShield panels showed reduced back face temperatures, indicating lower heat transmission and reduced risk of fire spread.

Ampelite panels have been independently tested to AS1530 -3, “Methods for fire tests on building materials, components and structures”, achieving similar flammability performance to Modar ® resin systems.