A unique, automated production platform developed by FastRTM, a French industry consortium led by the Institut de Recherche Technologique – Materiaux, Metallurgie et Procedes (IRT M2P) has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of manufacturing large, net-shape composite parts at an industrial scale. IRT M2P believes the platform may serve a model for automotive manufacturers seeking to integrate weight-saving structural composites into their mass production vehicles.
The consortium’s novel process consists of a press, modular tooling, high-pressure injection machines, temperature-controlled flow tube technology, two 6-axis robots, online monitoring and control, and a fast-cure resin system from Hexion. Together, the equipment and materials enable an innovative process called compression resin transfer molding (C-RTM).
In this two-step process, Hexion’s resin system – EPIKOTE™ Resin TRAC 06170 / EPIKURE™ Curing Agent TRAC 06170 /HELOXY Additive TRAC 06805 – is injected into a mold with a preform, a preliminary fiber shape, when the press is slightly open, allowing for partial impregnation. Then, a compression stroke presses the resin through the preform for complete impregnation. This allows for very fast resin injection and curing – from 15 seconds to one minute – and less than two-minute part-to-part production.
