JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #53 - November/December 2009 - 42

FEATURE … … “Automotive” Process points are controlled. The Class-A surface is less numerically quantifiable. Therefore, highly-trained inspectors use a 1000-lux daylighting station for part release to ensure full spectrum of the eye capability, benchmarking quality against physical OEM boundary samples. g / High quality composites body panels for the Aston Martin DBS Volante to provide a high-quality B-side surface. The nickel shell tools were specifically developed to provide the required surface finish, durability, and rapid cycle times whilst remaining in situ. Rapid heating cycles are obtained using PLC electronics and key in-process data is captured and recorded for each part. CNC machining The cured panels are subsequently machined to remove flash and prepare child part bonding. This is achieved on a high-precision 5axis CNC machining centre that is fully ATEX-compliant for carbon fibre applications. Composites to drive growth Mr. Peter Stevens, a designer previously involved in Gurit's automotive part development and a known specialist in performance road cars, saw a real change in composites use: “At the beginning, composites were just regarded as “black aluminium” in performance road cars. People were continuing to design parts as if they were made of metal and didn’t use all the potential of composites. Nowadays, and especially at Gurit, things have changed. We use all their intrinsic properties to optimize part characteristics, combining low weight with strength. For example, when we worked together on the MG XPower SV and SV-R in 2003, we produced 40 composite parts for each car. It was effectively free horse power with weight reduction” Composites are irreplaceable to achieve the best performance in powerful cars. The really exclusive Aston Martin One-77 is using large amounts of composites for its body structure and panels. In the near future, primary structures such as A, B and C pillars could also be made of composites. More information: www.gurit.com could be achieved, at the lightest weight and in an efficient manufacturing process with respect to CFK closures. Bonding and priming Precision bonding jigs are used to produce the final assemblies. All the necessary child parts are bonded in position using Dow and 3M adhesives. The body panels are then transferred to one of the two temperature-and humidity-controlled painting booths for the application of an advanced DuPont primer system. CMM and final inspection The parts undergo a rigorous quality inspection before they are released for shipping. Part geometrical accuracy is a fundamental requirement, so it is quantified using a coordinate measurement machine (CMM) with its integrated statistical analysis tools. 490 AN INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN STARKEY MARKEITNG DIRECTOR - AUTOMOTIVE, GURIT JEC Composites Magazine: In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge in continuously ensuring a high level of quality? MARTIN STARKEY: With respect to continuous high quality, it’s critical that the process be highly repeatable, something which is not historically associated with low-volume carbon fibre composites. From the NC-cut kits, robust class-A nickel tools, computercontrolled curing & vacuum systems, advanced CNC machining of parts and precision assembly fixtures, part-to-part variability has practically been eliminated, allowing the development of a continuous high-quality assembly. JCM: What is your added value compared with your competitors? M. S.: We are unique with respect to automotive Tier 1's capable of producing carbon fibre automotive closures. Not only can we develop production methods, part designs, tooling concepts, etc. for CFK assemblies, but we can ultimately engineer and manufacture the raw materials to ensure the most efficient solution is reached. A prime example of this is our CBS system, where we were able to invent a whole range of materials to ensure that a Class-A surface JCM: Would you open a new factory in another country to follow one of your customer ? M. S.: Gurit has a successful track record of supporting its customers with local manufacturing and there is no reason the Automotive sector would be any different. The strength in our technology is, where appropriate, we have deskilled processes and place the 'smarts' into the materials or manufacturing systems - this makes our current manufacturing model particularly easy to replicate virtually anywhere in the world. JCM: Composites are a perfect solution for Automotive niche markets. Do you think they could penetrate a larger market? M. S.: If you look at the progression of advanced composites into the automotive market, a decade ago it was still the reserve of the most exclusive hyper cars, with the total number of vehicles being manufactured each year in the 10's or occasionally 100's. As of today 1000's of sports cars are produced each year they utilise advanced composites to bring them advantages over other engineering materials. As manufacturing technologies continue to develop and engineering experience with these materials grow these types of materials will find more and more applications on more and more mainstream vehicles. In many ways I believe the development and use of Aluminium over Steel in structural and cosmetic automotive applications is a classic example of how a new engineering material is accepted by the automotive industry. jec composites magazine / No53 November - December 2009

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JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #53 - November/December 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #53 - November/December 2009