Saertex shows Saertex Smart Defect Control at JEC World
March 26, 2018 - France
Saertex, that produces non-crimp fabrics made of glass, carbon, and aramid fibres for customers worldwide, has launched Saertex Smart Defect Control system, an unique process innovation for its multi-axial high-end carbon-fibre fabric, at the recently held JEC World 2018, the global tradeshow for the composites sector, from March 6 to 8, 2018, in Paris.
Surface damage to non-crimp-fabrics was previously difficult to identify with a high degree of precision. However, the Saertex Smart Defect Control System looks into the structure of the non-crimp-fabric and reveals gaps, undulations, and other potential deviations from the high-end specifications. The globally unique process makes it possible to subject carbon fabrics to automated and continuous quality assurance, without the inspection process causing direct damage to the materials.
During the actual production process, the Saertex non-crimp-fabrics made of carbon fibres are subjected to quality-control measures that satisfy the exacting requirements of the aerospace industry, as well as other demanding industrial applications. The quality control of the materials currently takes the form of many manual and complex work steps. This results in time and labour costs, especially in the downstream customer processes. This is the reason why the industry has made efforts for many years to develop an automated process to achieve the zero-defect production of composite materials. Saertex, along with its partners, has taken a key step on the road to achieving zero-defect materials.
Saertex chief technology officer Dietmar Möcke said, “For multi-axial non-crimp-fabrics, Saertex Smart Defect Control means that a new level of quality assurance has been reached. The intelligent combination of production and digitisation technologies with our materials know-how has led us to this innovation. We employ the new smart quality-control process in the manufacture of three and four-layer Saertex carbon fabrics and are currently capable of identifying gaps of greater than 2 mm. The results are continuously improving as a result of our ongoing development work.”
Alongside gaps between the fibre strands, other defects can also be clearly identified, such as the homogeneity of threads or undulations within internal layers of the multi-axial non-crimp-fabric. It is possible to take immediate corrective action in the manufacturing process and the location of the defect is, for instance, automatically transferred to the roll reports.
By using multi-ply multi-axial fabrics, customers are able to simplify the handling and drapability of composite materials significantly in their component moulds – and avoid defects. With carbon fabrics that are inspected using the Smart Defect Control process, component manufacturers also save time on their own inspections and processing of the carbon reinforcement materials – thanks to defective areas removed or marked by Saertex. (GK)
Surface damage to non-crimp-fabrics was previously difficult to identify with a high degree of precision. However, the Saertex Smart Defect Control System looks into the structure of the non-crimp-fabric and reveals gaps, undulations, and other potential deviations from the high-end specifications. The globally unique process makes it possible to subject carbon fabrics to automated and continuous quality assurance, without the inspection process causing direct damage to the materials.
During the actual production process, the Saertex non-crimp-fabrics made of carbon fibres are subjected to quality-control measures that satisfy the exacting requirements of the aerospace industry, as well as other demanding industrial applications. The quality control of the materials currently takes the form of many manual and complex work steps. This results in time and labour costs, especially in the downstream customer processes. This is the reason why the industry has made efforts for many years to develop an automated process to achieve the zero-defect production of composite materials. Saertex, along with its partners, has taken a key step on the road to achieving zero-defect materials.
Saertex chief technology officer Dietmar Möcke said, “For multi-axial non-crimp-fabrics, Saertex Smart Defect Control means that a new level of quality assurance has been reached. The intelligent combination of production and digitisation technologies with our materials know-how has led us to this innovation. We employ the new smart quality-control process in the manufacture of three and four-layer Saertex carbon fabrics and are currently capable of identifying gaps of greater than 2 mm. The results are continuously improving as a result of our ongoing development work.”
Alongside gaps between the fibre strands, other defects can also be clearly identified, such as the homogeneity of threads or undulations within internal layers of the multi-axial non-crimp-fabric. It is possible to take immediate corrective action in the manufacturing process and the location of the defect is, for instance, automatically transferred to the roll reports.
By using multi-ply multi-axial fabrics, customers are able to simplify the handling and drapability of composite materials significantly in their component moulds – and avoid defects. With carbon fabrics that are inspected using the Smart Defect Control process, component manufacturers also save time on their own inspections and processing of the carbon reinforcement materials – thanks to defective areas removed or marked by Saertex. (GK)