JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #139 - March/April 2021 - 5

" We are proud that the HP name has become increasingly popular on the track "

from? What are the future applications?

building within the next two years an

A. L.: Composite materials are syn- applied research centre for innovative

Lamination

counter-mould allows, if necessary,
changes during construction. The addition of reinforcements in certain
points of the part, thus increasing the
thickness of the laminate, is no longer
an insurmountable obstacle. With a
view to industrialization, this process
has enabled us to produce approximately 25 body kits per day.
I would also like to underline that the
structural components of HP are now
present in all the major national and
world championships, one of which is
the 24 Hours of Le Mans (in its 88th
edition this year), considered the most
important race of the World Endurance Championship. We are proud that
the HP name has become increasingly
popular on the track, so much so that
it attracted the attention of Lamborghini Squadra Corse. The passion for
innovation and excellence brought us
closer and led us to create a technical
partnership where HP will provide engineering and tooling services as well
as equipment and components for its
racing cars. The composite market is
seeing exponential growth in different
application sectors, but I believe that
the one that will dominate will be the
transport sector. We have already seen
the application of carbon on new-generation electric cars, I believe that the
next step is to lighten heavy vehicles,
I am referring to articulated vehicles.
" Lighter, stronger, faster " , these three
words have become the mantra of the
composite industry. Where do we start

onymous with safety - just think of the
homologation regulations established
by the largest genre championships for
the safety of pilots. Carbon components ensure a level of safety that few
materials can guarantee. Resistance is
linked to lightness which is " synonymous " with speed. When talking about
racing cars, a lighter vehicle will reach
high speeds faster. If we shift our gaze
to the new generation of electric cars,
on the other hand, the lightness deriving from the use of carbon allows
the car to be less heavy, a fundamental
requirement for a vehicle that has to
move with an electric battery. By lightening the bodywork, the performance
will greatly improve.
Which projects and new materials
do you see in your future?

A. L.: The world of composite materi-

als applied to the automotive and motorsport sector is constantly evolving.
As a company, we have always tried to
be at the forefront of research and experimentation for new materials and
we have been using " biocomposites "
for some time now. Biocomposites
are natural fibre compounds that have
great potential as an alternative to synthetic fibre composites in vehicle applications. One of the advantages of using
these " green " materials is their low cost,
low density, high specific properties,
environmental compatibility, recyclability, processing advantages and reduced CO2 emissions throughout their
life cycle.
With the support of our raw material
suppliers, such as Bicomp and Impregnatex, we have already started producing flax fibre components. These parts
are mounted on Spark Racing Technologies' Extreme E, an electric SUV used
to race in extremely remote parts of
the world, whose bodywork is made by
HP with flax fibres. In the wake of this
new project, HP Composites will lead a
very ambitious initiative, in collaboration with five Italian research institutes
and 20 companies, with the aim of

composite materials based in Camerino (Italy) - MARLIC (Marche Applied Research Laboratory for Innovative Composites). MARLIC will aim
to become a national and international
reference point for advanced composite materials by conducting research
and development, technology transfer
and training on biocomposites and re/
downgrading technologies.
New projects? The most recent one
is with Maserati for the creation of
the MC 20. The entire staff collaborated with the Modena-based team to
develop and manufacture important
structural components for the " bestin-class " super-sportscar, especially
focusing on the weight/power ratio.
Thanks to the " mixed " construction
using carbon fibre, composite materials and light alloys, it weighs less than
1,500 kg.
With regard to new projects in production, we are aiming for " pushed' " industrialization. In fact, we made changes
to the Air Press Moulding process that
will enable us to produce approximately 50 cars a day while maintaining the
high performance that distinguishes us.
For a manufacturing-type production,
achieving this goal was unthinkable until
recently. (../p9)

Extraction of a component after the autoclave
process

N°139 March - April 2021

/ jec composites magazine

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

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #139 - March/April 2021