1-3-2015 Hexcel acquires 50% interest in formax
Hexcel Corporation announced that it has acquired 50% of Formax UK Limited, a leading manufacturer of composite reinforcements, specializing in the production of lightweight multi-axial fabrics.Formax is located in Leicester, UK with estimated sales in 2014 of approximately $45 million. Hexcel’s interest is to advance knitting technology for future Aerospace applications and provide scale for growing Industrial markets.This announcement follows a Joint Development Agreement under which the two companies have been cooperating for the development and manufacture of certain non-crimp fabrics (NCF) for Hexcel and its Aerospace customers.Hexcel’s Chairman, CEO and President, Nick Stanage, stated: “This partnership demonstrates our commitment to growing our business, expanding our technologies and strengthening Hexcel’s position as a global leader in advanced composites.”Formax's Managing Director, Oliver Wessely, commented: “All of us at Formax are very excited to be taking the next steps in our development with Hexcel as a partner. We believe this will open up new opportunities for us to develop our range of stitch-bonded reinforcements to the benefit of all of our customers.”
29-4-2014 New from Karl Mayer and The new multiaxial machine trial run at FORMAX factory
As part of a €2.5m investment program, FORMAX, the manufacturer of carbon fibre and specialty composite reinforcements, has successfully installed and commissioned its new Karl Mayer Malitronic multiaxial machine. The new cut and lay machine, with a variable width from 1270mm – 1600mm, is housed within the new 5,000m2 Automotive facility at FORMAX’s UK headquarters and will be dedicated to the production of tailored Non Crimp Fabrics (NCF’s) specifically optimised for high volume Automotive programmes.Whether it is Class A body panels, BIW structure or impact resistant long fibre reinforced parts that are required, the new 35 metre multiaxial machine will allow Automotive OEM’s and Tier 1’s to design a bespoke fabric or preform to fit both the structure being built, and the manufacturing process; thereby ensuring a fast, cost effective and efficient conversion of carbon fibre into parts.
The machine is equipped with three axes, capable of laying ply angles from 20° through to 90° with both in-line and off-line spreading technology, allowing engineers to specify larger, lower cost, carbon fibre tows, with ply weights starting from just 50gsm.An additional feature of the machine is that it is equipped with electronic pattern cams. This facilitates the creation of fabric specific stitch patterns, which combined with FORMAX’s extensive research into simulating drape, gives the company a unique capability to tailor fabric for specific parts.
Dan Norton, Automotive Sector Manager at FORMAX comments “FORMAX has recognised the demand being shown within the Automotive industry to include carbon composite structures within their multi material platforms and with this machine, and its cutting edge spreading technology, we are able to increase fibre throughput whilst maintaining and delivering high manufacturing efficiencies.Resin and tooling technology are all advancing at a rapid rate to help deliver the magic 60 second cycle time the Automotive industry is pushing for, and we are confident that textile reinforcements can now be added to this list”.The new machine is in full operation, whilst the facility will officially open in May.
