Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc., a leading global supplier of epoxy resins and curing agents will showcase several examples of its products suited for the rapid production of carbon fiber parts for the automotive industry.

The Company will feature lightweight carbon fiber structural components at the Automotive Composites Conference and Exhibition (ACCE), Novi, Michigan, Sept. 11-13, and at Composites Europe in Stuttgart, Germany, Sept. 17 – 19.

A roof section, to be displayed at the MSC show booth, is made from carbon fiber/epoxy composites using rapid compression molding techniques in combination with fast-cure epoxy systems optimized for the HP-RTM and prepreg processes.

The HP-RTM part is made with Momentive Specialty Chemicals' EpikoteTM resin 05475 / EpikureTM curing agent 05443 / HeloxyTM additive 112 system. The prepreg part is made with a new Epikote epoxy resin system that cures in three minutes at 160°C. Both systems are capable of Class A surface quality.

“The parts on display illustrate the capability of our new resin systems to meet the requirements of automotive manufacturers for both high quality and rapid production,” said Roman Hillermeier, technology leader transportation, MSC. The parts were produced at MSC's Transportation Research and Application Center (TRAC) in Duisburg, Germany, and painted at MSC's Combined Composites Technology prototype center in Segensworth, United Kingdom.