Core Molding launches ultra-low density SMC - Airilite

Core’s new Airilite brand of SMC has a nominal density of 1.18 sp.gr. 38 percent lower than the 1.9 sp.gr. density of industry standard SMC formulations.  Airilite is also 17 percent lower in density than Core’s Featherlite SMC, which has a nominal density of 1.43 sp.gr. and was introduced in February, 2011, after several years of development work.

“We know our customers are relentless in their desire for improved capability in composites, and especially for low density formulations that perform well,” commented Terry O’Donovan, Vice President, Marketing and Sales for Core Molding Technologies. 

“Our Featherlite system advanced the industry with the lowest density SMC available without the use of glass microspheres,” he continued. 

“As our customers strive to continuously reduce the weight of their products, we have responded by pushing the envelope again and creating a material that offers significant advantages to them.  We now have two industry-leading, low-density SMC formulations to offer our customers as they design new products,” he concluded.

The new Airilite formulation offers outstanding toughness and is intended for high-impact applications.  Airilite has been formulated for SMC applications demanding high surface quality.

Additionally, Core has developed proprietary technology that improves the resin-to-glass bonding strength on a microstructural level by about 50 percent over Featherlite, overcoming a performance tradeoff that can be associated with reduced-density SMC formulations. 

Airilite SMC is expected to find wide application in the transportation and general industrial markets.  The material is in advanced qualification for one application, and other opportunities are in development.  Airilite will be in active production and available for shipment by the end of August, 2013.  Test plaques are available now to qualified customers.

About Core Molding Technologies

Core Molding Technologies, Inc. is a manufacturer of sheet molding compound (SMC) and molder of fiberglass reinforced plastics. Core specializes in large-format moldings and offers a wide range of fiberglass processes, including compression molding of SMC, glass mat thermoplastics (GMT) and bulk molding compounds (BMC); spray-up, lay-up, resin transfer (RTM) and vacuum resin transfer molding (V-RTM).

Core Molding Technologies