JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #37 - December 2007 - 3

December 2007 No37 EDITORIAL MAGAZINE 44th year President and CEO/Publisher: Frédérique Mutel mutel@jeccomposites.com What we are talking about The time has come for environmental friendliness and issue No. 37 should provide you with the latest information, that we hope you will find useful. However, we would like to make the most of this issue to clarify the concept of environment – or sustainable development in general – which has accumulated into a real jumble of ideas over the years. On our own scale, there are at least three levels to be considered: biomaterials, recycling and the environment. Our intention is not to take a simplistic approach but rather delimit the subject to focus on the essentials and clearly understand what we are talking about. The first level concerns composite materials and more specifically their composition. It is in these terms that we will discuss biomaterials, including the use of bio-based reinforcements and matrices. Research in these fields is prolific and the use of natural fibres and biopolymers has developed as a consequence. The number of applications grows by the day in various different sectors such as automotive and sports & leisure, just to name the examples discussed in this issue. The second level is recycling. This subject is broad-ranging and concerns composite materials from several viewpoints. First there is the recyclability of the actual material and its components. Then there are the recycling systems specifically developed to handle composite materials. The shredding of end-of-life composite materials is not a cure-all solution. However, the use of shredded material as a secondary raw material has a number of outlets, like in the boatbuilding industry for example. Dedicated, economicallyviable solutions nevertheless need to be implemented so that composite material recycling is no longer a subject for discussion. The last level is the environment and the contribution of composite materials, which is indeed noteworthy. We immediately tend to think of weight reductions and energy-saving. This is true in both the aerospace and the automotive industry. There are also applications that would have got no further than the drawing board without composite materials. This is the case in the wind energy sector, and more specifically for turbine rotor blades. There would be no such thing as an efficient rotor blade without composite materials. The environment also refers to the production environment, which must be constantly improved to meet increasingly strict environmental standards. These three “sustainable development” levels – biomaterials, recycling and the environment – are far from exhaustive. We could well add eco-balance for example, but this would take us out on another tangent, where we would have to take into account aspects outside the strict field of composite materials. Editor-in-chief: Frédéric Reux Tel: +33 (0)1 58 36 15 11 reux@jeccomposites.com Assistant editor: Franck Glowacz Tel: +33 (0)1 58 36 15 04 glowacz@jeccomposites.com Technical topics: Pierre Lissac info@jeccomposites.com Copy-editor & Graphic designer: Marylène Guéret - Antoine Morel gueret@jeccomposites.com Advertising managers: Judith Blacker Africa, Asia Pacific, Benelux, Europe, Middle East, North America, Scandinavia & UK Tel: +33 (0)1 58 36 15 74 blacker@jeccomposites.com Mona Bielmeier Austria, Eastern Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland & South America Tel: +33 (0)1 58 36 15 73 bielmeier@jeccomposites.com Circulation/Partnerships: presse@jeccomposites.com Sandrine Dumarquez dumarquez@jeccomposites.com Subscriptions: www.jeccomposites.com/magazine-subscription/ Fax: +33 (0)1 58 36 15 19 Tel: +33 (0)1 58 36 15 08 dumarquez@jeccomposites.com Unit price: €20 (8 issues a year) Marketing/Communication: Patrice Sinthon, sinthon@jeccomposites.com Printing: SPEI - Pulnoy (54), France Legal registration: ISSN 1639-965X - CPPAP: 1007 T 82488 Dépôt légal : 4e trimestre 2007 Photos & illustrations: All rights reserved, unless mentioned. JEC Composites Magazine is published by JEC. 19, Bd de Courcelles 75008 Paris - France Tel: +33 (0)1 58 36 15 01 Fax: +33 (0)1 58 36 15 14 www.jeccomposites.com The reproduction, even partial, of articles and illustrations is forbidden, unless prior permission is obtained from JEC Composites Magazine. The management of JEC Composites Magazine reserves the right to refuse advertising. Total average Circulation: 21,548 copies * 19,730 copies BPA average qualified circulation 1,818 BPA average non qualified circulation *(BPA June 2007 Audit Report) Frédéric Reux Editor-in-Chief No37 December 2007 / JEC Composites Magazine

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JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #37 - December 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #37 - December 2007