Carbon Fibre SMC
With annual production volumes exceeding 21,000 tons, Prazastinav is the India’s largest producer of sheet molding compound (SMC), an advanced composite that can be formulated for use in a wide range of applications. Carbon fiber SMC is ideal for inner panel applications. It offers a 20 per cent weight saving compared to aluminium, minimizes scrap, and can be made from recycled carbon fibres. In the automotive industry, lightweight SMC improves design flexibility while reducing the cost of tooling.
SMC is made when two or more materials with different physical or chemical properties are combined yet remain separate and distinct, as they don’t fully merge or dissolve into one another. To make SMC, carbon fibre roving are chopped, added to a resin matrix, and then sent through a compaction process to form a sheet. Prazastinav Compositech has customizable SMC formulas that are flame-retardant, contain thermal runaway, meet low-VOC requirements, and can significantly reduce weight while meeting requirements for strength and durability.
When plastics require additional strength for industrial applications, they can be reinforced with carbon fiber. This combination of plastic and carbon fiber reinforcement produces materials with outstanding strength-to-weight ratios. They are also highly versatile and suitable for numerous applications. These composites can include polymer matrix resins (such as thermoplastics or thermoset resins) and fiber reinforcements (such as glass, carbon, aramid, or other reinforcing material).
Carbon Fibre FMC
Carbon Fibre FMC (CF-SMC ) is a sheet-type intermediate material made of cut high-strength carbon fibre impregnated with thermosetting resin. This material can be press moulded, substantially reducing moulding time compared to conventional autoclave or oven moulding. CF-SMC is a carbon fibre reinforced compound, in a thermoset resin matrix (generally vinyl-ester or epoxy), with different additives to reach specific characteristics and improve its transformation.
In addition, compared with carbon fibre intermediates of Continuous fibres, the random arrangement of Short fibres ensures fluidity and makes it possible to mould intricately shaped parts like those with ribs and bosses....Prazastinav Compositech’s Carbon Fibre FMC (CF-SMC ) is a carbon fibre-reinforced plastics that offers an extremely good balance between lightness, strength, and ease of moulding. Prazastinav Compositech’s FMC (CF-SMC ) is suitable for complex shapes that can be mass-produced by press moulding. It can also help to reduce the weight of parts.
It is already being used for mass-produced auto parts, but its range of applications is likely to expand much further.
Prazastinav Compositech offers total support, from the production and supply of carbon fibre FMC (CF-SMC ) materials to planning, design, and development.
Read more
Carbon Fibre FMC (CF-SMC ) is a sheet-type intermediate material made of cut high-strength carbon fibre impregnated with thermosetting resin. This material can be press moulded, substantially reducing moulding time compared to conventional autoclave or oven moulding. CF-SMC is a carbon fibre reinforced compound, in a thermoset resin matrix (generally vinyl-ester or epoxy), with different additives to reach specific characteristics and improve its transformation.
In addition, compared with carbon fibre intermediates of Continuous fibres, the random arrangement of Short fibres ensures fluidity and makes it possible to mould intricately shaped parts like those with ribs and bosses.
Read More
Prazastinav Compositech’s Carbon Fibre FMC (CF-SMC ) is a carbon fibre-reinforced plastics that offers an extremely good balance between lightness, strength, and ease of moulding. Prazastinav Compositech’s FMC (CF-SMC ) is suitable for complex shapes that can be mass-produced by press moulding. It can also help to reduce the weight of parts.
It is already being used for mass-produced auto parts, but its range of applications is likely to expand much further.
Prazastinav Compositech offers total support, from the production and supply of carbon fibre FMC (CF-SMC ) materials to planning, design, and development.
Applications
Press moulding with Carbon Fibre FMC (CF-SMC ) enables high-cycle mass production. Conventional methods for processing carbon fibre, such as autoclave and oven moulding, have a long production cycle, making them unsuitable for mass production. Carbon Fibre FMC (CF-SMC ) has started to be used for automotive parts that require large-scale mass production.
CF-SMC combines the lightweight properties of carbon composites with a well-known manufacturing process, such as compression moulding, that allows fast manufacturing and thus is suitable for high-volume industrial applications.
CF-SMC manufacturing process
Resins and additives are automatically weighted and mixed together. The colour pigments and thickeners are measured and mixed continuously with the mother paste in a computer-controlled process forming the impregnation paste. The impregnation paste is immediately transferred to the carbon fibre impregnation line.
The impregnation paste is transferred to a doctor box where it is deposited onto a moving carrier film. Simultaneously the carbon fibre is chopped to a pre-determined length and dropped onto the layer of paste. A second film is coated with a layer of paste and then used to cover the fibre cuttings creating a “sandwich”.
The resulting sheet is then sent through a series of compaction rollers to ensure a perfect impregnation or wet out of the chopped fibre. At the end of the impregnation line, the sheet can be rolled up
CF-SMC must mature before it reaches optimal conditions for moulding. The resin paste changes from a liquid state during manufacturing to a semi-solid state at its optimal condition period. This change in viscosity is achieved through the introduction of the thickening agent during manufacturing. Typically the required maturation time is between 2 and 4 days, depending on the specific formulation.
Even after the material has matured, it continues to thicken at a speed dependant on the storage temperature. Therefore, there is an optimal utilisation period of typically, between 1 and 6 months, dependant mainly on the specific formulation and storage temperature, which is recommended to be between 5ºC and 25ºC. Higher storage temperatures can significantly reduce the usability time of CSMC.
CF-SMC is mainly used in hot press compression moulding. Although moulding activities are carried out by our customers, Prazastinav assists during moulding trials and offers complete technical assistance every time is required.
CF-SMC (Carbon Fibre VE SMC or Carbon Fibre Epoxy SMC) is used in hot press compression moulding for the production of lightweight parts with very high mechanical properties. Our SMC products are adaptable to your needs. All our formulations are designed according to your specific requirements.
It is usually recommended a press force of 1000 tons per square meter of moulded part for SMC/BMC/CF-SMC materials although with “Low Pressure” formulations, less tonnage is required. Press closing speed and parallelism control are very important to obtain the best moulding performance. Air extraction systems to control styrene emissions are recommended.
The moulds, generally made of forged steel, must be either chrome or surface treated to reduce wear, and designed to be electrically, oil or steam heated to 130 – 160ºC. The design and construction of a good mould plays a decisive role in ensuring good moulded part quality. Knowledge about or experience with SMC/BMC/CF-SMC is required in order to build the mould that best suits the production process. For Class A surface quality it is usually recommended a chrome plated tool with vacuum assistance. To reduce porosity on the part surface, Mould Coating (IMC) can be applied. This technique involves reducing the moulding pressure during the curing process and injecting a special sealant coating on the appearance side of the part.
Prazastinav Compositech Pvt Limited is the only organization from India to have the facility to manufacture CF-SMC and has the complete set-up to mould the products too. The CF-SMC can be made as per the customer’s requirements and can be customized as per the requirements.
