JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #70 - January/February 2012 - 4

point of view: Mass production

Lanxess, the only fully integrated producer of glass reinforced thermoplastic
Lanxess has been investing substantial amounts in the expansion of its global production network for high-tech plastics during the last two years. Including the glass fibers expansion in 2011, recent investments for high-tech plastics account for EUR 90 million. Lanxess is facing the future. Time to ask few questions to Mr. Hartwig Meier about the future of his Business Unit.

interview
Hartwig Meier, Head of Product and Application Development, SCP business unit, Lanxess

JEC Composites Magazine: How do you see the future of composite materials in the automotive sector and what are the key factors to increase their market share?

element modelling. The ability to accurately simulate the behaviour of a composite component is crucial to successfully develop and produce such applications in the automotive sector.
JCM: Lanxess has a good knowhow about hybrid structures (metal sheet and glass-reinforced PA). But you also recently developed parts a step beyond. The new process combines thermoplastic composite sheet forming and injection in one step. (Editor’s note: as part of the door side crash rebar project with AUDI, Bond Laminates, Jacobs Composites and Krauss Maffei). Do you think this process could become the main stream?

H.M. : Indeed, we gained a

About Lanxess
Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 7.1 billion in 2010 and currently around 16,100 employees in 30 countries. The company is at present represented at 47 production sites worldwide. Its core business is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. Lanxess

is a member of the leading sustainable indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and FTSE4Good. The Semi-Crystalline Products (SCP) business unit belongs to the Performance Polymers segment. It currently employs around 1,500 people worldwide with production sites

4 jec composites magazine / No70 January - February 2012

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lightweight design is one of the most important drivers for success in the automotive business. In this context, composites based on engineering resins are a very promising class of materials, which will help to achieve the ambitious weight saving objective. In addition, the relevant properties of composite parts need to be predicted very precisely by means of finite

Hartwig Meier: Today,

lot of know-how about the development of plastic/metal hybrid structures over the last 15 years. The development of the “one-shot” or “in-mould forming” process was an important step to make the application of thermoplastic composite sheets even more attractive for our customers. Thus, we make every effort to transfer our advanced knowledge in plastic/metal technology to thermoplastic composite technology. We believe that the full potential of thermoplastic composite sheets can solely be explored in combination with the injection moulding process. With our concept design and simu-

The relevant properties of composite parts need to be predicted very precisely by means of finite element modelling

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Glassfibre production in the Antwerp harbour

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #70 - January/February 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #70 - January/February 2012