CAMX announces winners for 2019 CAMX Award recognizing Combined Strength and Unsurpassed Innovation
September 25, 2019 (Anaheim, CA.) CAMX – The Composites and Advanced Materials Expo announced the winners of the sixth annual CAMX Award, sponsored by INEOS Composites, during the opening General Session at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA. The CAMX Award recognizes two cutting-edge innovations that will significantly impact composites and advanced materials. The award is divided into two categories that embody the spirit of CAMX – Combined Strength and Unsurpassed Innovation.
As two distinct honors, the Combined Strength Award acknowledges a product that incorporates composites materials that solves a problem through teamwork and collaboration, and the Unsurpassed Innovation Award celebrates a product with a design that incorporates low-cost materials for high-volume applications that can change the outlook of a particular market.
The winner of this year’s Combined Strength Award is the Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University for creating a Highly Precise Laser Drilling of Carbon Fiber Preforms for Fastener Integration. The technology was a collaborative effort with LUNOVU, KOHLHAGE Fasteners, AMPHOS, and Fraunhofer ILT. The assembly of CFRP components is usually often carried out by using fasteners, which are glued into the cured and subsequently drilled CFRP component. As an alternative to mechanical milling or drilling processes, laser processing offers the advantages of tool wear-free operation, high flexibility and the highest precision in the micrometer range. Additionally, the demand for multi-material design applications is constantly growing. In this construction method, materials are selectively mixed in terms of design and production technology in order to increase the efficiency of a hole construction.
The winner of this year’s Unsurpassed Innovation Award is General Motors & Continental Structural Plastics for the CarbonPro Pickup Box. CarbonPro is the industry first carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic pickup box available exclusively on GMC Sierra LD full size trucks. It saves 62lb of mass and offers the best in class impact resistant bed which adds unprecedented strength and durability to the truck. UV stable material eliminates the need or paint or bed liner saving additional approx.40 lb. mass. Structural grade recycled material developed from process scrap enabled the reuse of all material waste. The technology marks a paradigm shift in automotive carbon fiber composite applications by enabling high volume manufacturing of structural parts at a lower cost with minimal material waste.
The winning entries are on display at CAMX in the CAMX Award Pavilion in the rear of Hall D in the Anaheim Convention Center through September 26. For more information, go to https://www.thecamx.org/awards/.