2019 ACE Award Finalists - CAMX | The Composites and Advanced Materials Expo

2019 ACE Awards Finalists

Awards for Composites Excellence (ACE), a prestigious composites industry competition, recognize outstanding achievement and innovation in technology, manufacturing, and product development. The American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA), host to the long-standing awards program, will present six awards in three categories at CAMX. Categories include Design, Manufacturing, and Market Growth. CAMX is excited to present the finalists for the 2021 Awards for Composites Excellence. These awards are sponsored by Composites One.

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Design Category Finalists

Most Creative Application

This award is presented to the composites product that showcases composites use in a unique, new application or uses composites’ attributes in imaginative, innovative, or artistic ways. The composites product should show evidence of significantly replacing traditional materials, or show innovative use or refinement of existing composites materials that impacts current or new markets. Candidate product entries for this award include both production and prototype/research and development. Here are the 2019 finalists.

Filament wound, urethane resin and marine grade gel coat light pole. Marketed to theme parks as a sustainable alternative to traditional wooden poles that woodpeckers were destroying. The composite light pole was designed to prevent this problem and to maintain the aesthetic look of a tropical landscape of palm trees. It was also designed to withstand a category 5 hurricane.

Appalachian Plastics, Inc.

CFRPs are vulnerable to lightning strikes due to low electrical conductivity. Aircraft structures and wind turbine blades are needed to be protected from lightning. Current Lightning Strike Protection (LSP) uses metal-based films and meshes. There are many serious problems with metal-based LSP, such as galvanic corrosions, complicated integration, and an increased weight of metals with CFRPs. Problems to solve: World's first 3-D Printable, all-Polymeric Lightning Strike Protection (LSP) Polymer System for Fiber Reinforced Composites (CFRP). Electrically conductive polymer (PANI)-based printable thermoset resin as applied via additive manufacturing to replace the conventional metal-based technology while saving weight and integration/repair costs.

Oak Ridge National Lab.

The International Friendship Bell pavilion at City of Oak Ridge Tennessee symbolizes the spirit of the peace and friendship shared by the city of Oak Ridge and city of Naka, Japan. The Bell pavilion features a 8,000-pound bronze cast bell and futuristic materials and advanced manufacturing technologies.The University of Tennessee, IACMI and the Manufacturing Demonstration Technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed seventeen 33 ft long unique carbon fiber intensive arched beams to provide an unique architecture to the pavilion in conjunction with the bronze bell. This is a unique park & recreation application for composites.

University of Tennessee

Innovation in Green Composites Design

This award is presented to the composites product that best exemplifies innovation that lowers/minimizes the environmental footprint or offers an attractive life cycle assessment (LCA) of the product. The product design should demonstrate application of new or innovative materials, or applies a unique design that contributes to efficient manufacturing, delivery, installation and in-service performance leading to energy savings.

This material is an SMC Material which can assist in qualifying for LEEDS and meets the California Proposal 65. This material is styrene free and also is available with flame retardant properties or without the flame retardant chemistry. This material has a very wide processing window even though it contains no styrene. This material is being sold into the building and construction market, electric enclosures market and HVAC market place.

Lyondellbasell

Manufacturing Category Finalists

Equipment and Tooling Innovation Award

This award is presented to the equipment, tooling, production aid, or software that is designed to improve manufacturing production, environmental sustainability, or product quality and performance in composites manufacturing. The entry must demonstrate improvement or efficiency in the manufacturing of a specific end-use composites product. Here are the 2019 finalists.

Reducing development time and cost of composites materials is on the main agenda for all organizations to remain competitive and penetrate market. A powerful tool to achieve that is Integrated Computational Materials Engineering – or in simpler words – simulation to predict and virtually test composite materials. Furthermore, when organization apply this method they quickly realize the amount of data that needs to be captured and validated, both virtual (ICME) and physical data for validation. A new innovative product integration between MaterialCenter and Digimat can enable this methodology and solve key challenges in this area.

e-Xstream engineering

The Fives/NRC In-Process Inspection Platform is based on an innovative measurement sensor and real-time processing software pipeline for monitoring a composite layup process. This sensor employs a high-quality, in-situ, imaging technique called Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) specifically engineered for the challenges of measuring defects on a high contour composite surface while mounted behind an articulating layup machine. The sensor’s compact probe design is well integrated into the layup head allowing measurements directly behind the compaction point. The system shows excellent signal to noise immunity when presented with highly variable surface contours.

Fives Lund

Fortify's product is an additive manufacturing platform (Digital Composite Manufacturing - DCM) that enables magnetically optimized printing of composite parts. The technology consists of patented hardware, software, and materials. A novel stereolithography system allows for high resolution manufacturing of aligned composites. A patented material process creates advanced additives ranging from glass, carbon, and ceramic based fibers that are sized and magnetized to enable alignment during printing. Advanced software is used to match fiber orientation during the print to the principle stresses and strains in the part, enabling full three-dimensional orientation of chopped fibers for production quality parts.

Fortify

Air press molding can be used to produce different kind of large components, such as car diffusers. The diffuser, in the automotive field, is an aerodynamic device placed at the bottom of a car able to generate downforce to increase the grip on the ground (ground effect). This element can have considerable dimensions and complex shapes, its section increases along its extension, from flat to excavated. This component is a sandwich-part made of carbon-fiber. Thanks to the use of a flexible countermold is possible to manufacture the diffuser using the compression molding process even under the presence of marked undercuts.
HP Composites SpA

The product submitted for an ACE award is a piece of equipment (patent pending) that reduces the hassle along with the cost, time, and energy consumption required for thermoplastic composite additive manufacturing and small-scale AFP. It does so by eliminating the need for manufacturers to procure expensive thermoplastic unidirectional prepreg tape or filament from third parties. Technically, it achieves this goal by combining raw materials (thermoplastic resin pellets and roll of fiber reinforcement tow) at the deposition head to produce composite unidirectional material “on-the-fly” or in situ that also does not need to be preheated.

InSitu Composites, LLC

CrossTrack MTL is a low-cost software solution for providing location and life tracking of pre-preg composite materials. It is used by both small and large composite manufacturers that are cutting rolls of pre-preg and need to produce traceability reports for kitted composite parts. It can be used standalone or tightly integrated into MRP, and also allows consumption of other materials to be tracked by length (rolls), quantity (sheets), weight (screws, etc) and volume (paints, resins, etc). iOS and Android apps are also available, to assist with location transfer.

JETCAM International s.a.r.l.

Mikrosam has developed a Multi-Robot cell for automated fabrication of thermoplastic composite structures with in-situ consolidation capability without the use of any molds or tools. The system uses Mikrosam’s advanced AFP & ATP units integrated as a single manufacturing cell with two or more robots working in tandem. The system has demonstrated creation of 3D-shaped parts made of thermoplastic composites without any tools, thus speeding up prototyping and development time, and providing savings on tooling. This application of thermoplastic carbon fiber 3D printing presents future opportunities in composites manufacturing where building a new tool isn't always feasible, especially in space.

Mikrosam

Mouldbox is a first-of-its-kind solution. We have used the latesting in AI and machine learning technology to create a proprietary software that automates the design and manufacture of composite tooling. All the user needs to do is drag and drop component CAD data onto the website. With this information we are then able to automatically generate a tool design and provide instantaneous prices for manufacture in a variety of different materials. Our technology has taken what used to be a multi week process and condensed it down into a number of minutes.

Mouldbox

MultiMechanics’ Virtual DMA automates the testing of composite materials and allows users to quickly and easily characterize the viscoelastic behavior of complex microstructures in all directions, at different temperatures and frequencies. Its automated nature dramatically reduces the amount of time required to run DMA tests virtually, as manual tests that used to take 50+ hours can now be completed in a few minutes. Virtual DMA is embedded within the software platform MultiMech and can be used to analyze any type of composite or heterogeneous material.

MultiMechanics

Augmented / Virtual Reality (AR/VR) provides unique opportunities for immersive learning and technology comprehension. The University of Tennessee/IACMI-The Composites Institute has developed a series of AR/VR modules for STEM training, community & 4-year colleges, work force development and industry personnel in composites manufacturing. AR/VR modules for composites manufacturing including - Sheet Molding Compound, Long Fiber Thermoplastics, Pultrusion, Extrusion-Compression molding, Roll forming, Carbon Fiber Production etc. The broad impact of this innovation is the significant cost savings to train and educate personnel and expand the use of composites globally.

University of Tennessee

Material and Process Innovation Award

This award is presented for a material or process that best contributes to efficient manufacturing and product sustainability. The entries should demonstrate use of innovative materials, production techniques or methods that result in better quality, reduced production costs, increased production rates and volume, or reduced life cycle costs. The entry must demonstrate its application in the manufacturing of a specific, end-use composites product.

The developed process was shown on an automotive structural component, a Transmission cross member. This component fulfils loading requirements and performance specifications based on a past project with a leading OEM. As a design and feasibility study the bionic “manta ray” part design enables a special core-layer architecture. A freeform shape provides an approach to avoid stress concentrations for superior fatigue strength instead of conventional rib designs. Local reinforcement with UD tapes and functionalization with metallic inserts were used for a reliable manufacture with a low variability of product performance.

ENGEL Austria GmbH

Magna active aerodynamic products enable cars to go further, faster, for less by reducing vehicle drag. In-mold assembly is the process of injection molding a multi-piece moveable joint with integrated pins to be used for active aero modules. The linkage is a key structural component enabling Magna active aerodynamic modules and can be scaled to fit various future module architectures. Benefits: Single IMA injection mold versus four separate injection molds - IMA linkage as complete assembly direct from injection mold - Elimination of assembly equipment and labor - Achieves a high tolerance joint construction - Improved part repeatability - Reduced mass - Reduced cost.

Magna Exteriors

The Advanced Structures Technology & Revolutionary Architecture (ASTRA) demonstrator is an 18' x 12' composite fuselage skin panel that combines advanced manufacturing technologies and revolutionary architecture to cut roughly 30% of future composite fuselage costs. Spirit completed a full set of FAA-certified B-basis allowables on Toray’s T1100G/3960, used to AFP the skin/stringers and z-frames. Half of the panel skin utilized QISO-braided T1100/3960 fabric from Toray and A&P Technologies, demonstrating increased laydown rate and formability over traditional fabrics. ASTRA also demonstrated a sheet stringer configuration, advanced ply steering, PEKK frame splices, "floating" face sheet tooling, and non-vented and fly-away foam mandrels.

Spirit AeroSystems Inc.

Envir-Bond® is Toray PMC’s newest material innovation to improve the ease of processing at the Footwear factory level and to help reduce the amount of harmful solvents used in the shoe building process. Envir-Bond® allows for direct injection of TPU, PU, and Pebax type materials, eliminating the need for additional cleaners, primers, or adhesives. Envir-Bond® can also be used in “Stock Fit” aaplications. With Envir-Bond®, there is no need for solvent based cleaners, primers, and adhesives. Water-based adhesive systems may be used. In-molding applications may be possible with direction on specific applications.

Toray Performance Materials Corporation

Vistex Composites has combined its OOA, low-cost, smart compression molding process with off-the-shelf robotics to develop a scalable and low-capital-cost automated composites manufacturing cell. It includes automated mold maintenance, loading/unloading of preforms and cured composite products, and inspection, and can easily be expanded to include part trimming for a single cell capable of performing nearly all production and post-production tasks. By combining the short cycles of Vistex's Patented PFL manufacturing process with robotics, Vistex has demonstrated rapid part manufacturing and low-cost while maintaining or exceeding autoclave quality with respect to fiber volume fraction, void content, geometric tolerances, and material performance.

Vistex Composites

Market Growth Category FINALISTS

Infinite Possibility for Market Growth Award

This award is presented to the composites product that demonstrates the potential to significantly increase the use of composites in existing markets or generate the greatest impact to open new and emerging markets for composites. This product exemplifies innovation, creativity, and commercialization leading to market growth. Here are the 2019 Finalists.

Continuous Composites' Continuous Fiber 3D Printing (CF3D) technology introduces is a fundamental shift in the manufacturing of Advanced Composite Materials (ACM). Leveraging rapid curing resins with continuous fibers, CF3D creates a moldless and Out of Autoclave (OOA) composite manufacturing process. CF3D can print with both structural fibers (e.g. Carbon Fiber, Glass Fiber and Kevlar) and functional fibers (e.g. fiber optics, metallic wire). We have demonstrated the ability to print advanced fiber optics and embed real-time structural monitoring and performance optimization into the composite part. Additionally, functional fiber applications range from aircraft anti-icing, dielectric aircraft, embedded circuitry, and software machine learning.

Continuous Composites

The composite marine robotic rescue buoy is a robotic lifeguard. A sonar-equipped model can find sunken boats, drowning victims (sometimes in time to save them) or assist in a hurricane. EMILY helps keep lifeguards safe. It can cut through high surf more quickly than a lifeguard on a board, jet ski or rubber boat, to reach a struggling swimmer. The lifeguard can pull the swimmer back in with a rope or go to them in a safer, more deliberate fashion. The robotic boats can survive the violent conditions in the sea because they’re built with Kevlar and fiberglass composites.

Hydronalix LLC

Our TuFF material technology is the worlds strongest short fiber composite material that can form complex geometry parts. We have demonstrated high fiber volume fraction (~50-60%) material with full continuous fiber property translation and in-plane extension allowing complex geometry forming at comparable rates to traditional metal stamp forming. The material can stretch form up to 50% without losing material integrity, allowing net-shape preforming and stamp forming of complex geometries. Other benefits include the ability to reuse short CF process waste and the ability to use low-cost feedstock from recycling or waste stream sources.

University of Delaware

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