“Hexion is proud of the contribution we have made to the success of the FastRTM project, which closed in December,” says Ann Frederix, Senior Vice President, Epoxy Specialties. “In its last year, the consortium achieved some major milestones, including a final, successful mass production session.”
This final manufacturing session demonstrated:
- Automated production of 100 large (1m²), complex, net shape glass fiber reinforced plastic structural parts in two-minute part-to-part cycle times
- Curing times as short as one minute per part
- No need for machining or trimming post-production
- Part perforation prepared at the preforming step and maintained during injection step (no need to drill holes for assembly following part production)
- Simulated “start and stop” with no adverse reactions in the process
- Consistently high-quality parts with excellent mechanical performance and uniform impregnation (no fiber distortion, dry spots or unfilled resin at ends)
The epoxy thermoset composite parts made with the Hexion resin system can also be recycled or recovered at the end of their useful life via mechanical recycling, thermal recycling, and chemical recycling.
For more information about the project, check out Composites Manufacturing’s November/December 2017 feature story, “Transformative Technologies.”
