JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #139 - March/April 2021 - 41

Composites in U.S. industrial equipment: perspectives on performance

Take the example of a pallet used to carry an
automotive engine computing system down
a production line. It must withstand multiple
heating and cooling cycles as various parts
and components are added and secured with
an epoxy that cures in a hot oven. If the pallet
is made with carbon fibre, it will maintain its
shape and stability, ensuring that the parts it
carries also remain stable. " Any expansion or
contraction can be very detrimental, " Olsen said.
Protech recently has helped a couple industrial
equipment manufacturers switch from aluminium to carbon fibre composite material.
These customers required a material that was
lighter weight than aluminium and considerably stronger. " We can take the specifications
of an aluminium product and convert that over
to a carbon fibre product and reduce the weight
and increase the rigidity and strength, depending
on what the product needs to accomplish, " Olsen
said.

National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST)
Jeffrey Gilman, PhD, is a chemist and leader of
the Composites Project for NIST's Functional
Polymers Group. NIST has three focus areas
that can benefit the composite industry, including potential applications of composites
for industrial equipment. These are:
- Development of new measurement techniques to better understand composites,
particularly the composite interface,
where the fibre is married to the resin.
By building better understanding of how,
when and why composites suffer damage,
for example, NIST's research helps to
support development of more durable,
better-performing composites.
- Creation of computational and simulation
methods, and supporting data, for the prediction of composite properties, especially
for applications and situations that can be
difficult to test with traditional, physical
testing methods. With simulation, NIST
can test more variables and dimensions,
sometimes simultaneously, across different
time scales and environmental conditions.
- Exploration of new composite material
concepts and mechanisms. For example,
NIST might study how a special surface
coating, additive or processing technique
produces certain properties.
Gilman said industrial equipment manufacturers could see opportunities to use smaller
engines and motors in machines they make
with lightweight composite materials and
components. " As you reduce the weight of the
machine, you get this bump-on reduction in the
size of the engine or motor required to move the
thing, " he said.
Lightweighting with composites holds major
benefits for the construction industry. For
example, prefabricated concrete building
components reinforced with composite rebar
are much lighter than those made with steel
rebar. As a result, they can be moved with
smaller trucks and cranes and assembled
more quickly. " A couple of studies have shown
that it will accelerate construction projects by a

factor of four, " Gilman said. " A project could
take 25 percent of the amount of time if you
take advantage of lightweighting. That's a huge
change in the impact of construction on society in
general in terms of traffic, delays and effects on the
environmental. "
(For more on NIST's work with industry
on composite applications for sustainable
infrastructure projects, visit: https://www.
nist.gov/programs-projects/polymer-composites.)
SKF USA Inc.
SKF manufactures rolling bearings and
other components that go into many types of
industrial equipment, including compressors,
pumps, fans, motors and transmissions, to
name just a few applications. Bearings are at
the heart of rotating components, enabling
machine shafts, axles and wheels to spin and
turn, sometimes at extremely rapid speeds
and under a wide variety of environmental
conditions. Metals are the primary material
SKF uses, but composite materials also play
an important role. Here are some ways SKF
incorporates composites:
Rolling elements: These are key weight-bearing components in a rolling bearing. They
come in different shapes, including the
spherical form from whence the ball bearing
gets its name. There also are cylindrical,
tapered and needle-shaped rollers, among
other types. SKF uses silicon nitride ceramic
materials in some rolling elements to meet
the performance requirements of customers'
equipment. For example, ceramic composite
rolling elements might be used if the application involves difficult lubrication conditions,
high rotating speeds or concerns about metal
interaction with electricity or chemicals.
Bearing cages: The cage is a component that
keeps rolling elements spaced apart within
the bearing. SKF uses glass fibre-reinforced
polyamide composites to make many
cages. These moulded parts can be a reliable,
cost-competitive alternative to steel or brass
cages for some equipment. For high-temperature applications (above 120 degrees C)
requiring a composite, SKF typically turns to
PEEK reinforced with either glass or carbon
fibres for thermal stability. " Whereas polyamide
has limitations, especially with temperature, the
beauty of PEEK is that it gives you performance

N°139 March - April 2021

/ jec composites magazine

Feature Composites in industry

Operating efficiency is a top priority for robotics manufacturers. Their robotic industrial
equipment must start, move, stop and repeat
activities continually. Carbon fibre components and parts enable them to build robots
that are very strong and able to lift heavy
objects. Yet these robots also are lighter weight
and more energy efficient than they would
be if they were made of heavier material. " If
you reduce the mass, you reduce the energy, "
Olsen said. " At the same time, you're able to get
more speed in that cycle, and so you have more
cycles per minute or per second with less energy. "
Industrial exoskeletons are a type of bodyworn robot to enhance human strength
and endurance for tasks such as lifting and
using heavy drills and other tools. Lightweight
carbon fibre composite materials enable
exoskeleton manufacturers to make their
products less heavy and more comfortable for
end users.
For the industrial equipment sector, building
heavy-duty machines that can perform tasks
while consuming less energy is a major goal.
With their combination of strength and lower
mass than steel and some other materials,
carbon fibre composites help equipment
makers to achieve that objective, which relates
to environmental sustainability. Also related to
sustainability, carbon fibre composite material
is durable. " Depending on the application, it
will outperform and outlast other materials by

large factors, " Olsen said. " So, there is less need
to replace parts or throw things into the garbage. "

https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/polymer-composites

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #139 - March/April 2021

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