New type of long-fibre reinforced materials for lightweight and fire safety for the transport and construction sectors. The technology outperforms current solutions in terms of production versatility and increased performance, both in comparison to traditional composite materials and traditional fire-resistant materials.
Patent Status
PENDING
Priority Number
RM2014A000726
Priority Date
16/12/2014
License
EUROPE
Market
The global composites market shows interesting opportunities in the transport, construction, wind energy, pipes and tanks, marine, consumer goods, electrical/electronics, aerospace and other sectors. The global composites market was valued at $28 billion in 2016 with a projected growth of at least 40% by the beginning of the second decade of the century. The main drivers of growth in this market can be attributed to increased demand for lightweight materials in the aerospace and defence, wind power and transport industries; corrosion and chemical resistant materials in the construction and pipe and tank industries; and electrical resistivity and low flame retardant materials in the electrical/electronics industry.
Problem
Polymer composites are increasingly in demand in various production sectors in response to the need, imposed by European and international regulations, to reduce CO2 emissions and fossil fuel consumption (e.g. in the transport sector through weight reduction). However, traditional polymer composites are not applicable to parts exposed to high temperatures (e.g. 120°C for those with epoxy matrices).
Current Technology Limits
Traditional polymer composites are not applicable to parts exposed to high temperatures (e.g. 120°C for those with epoxy matrices). Traditional fire-resistant materials, on the other hand, are typically characterised by low specific mechanical strength and high bulk.
Killer Application
The new composite material outperforms current solutions in terms of production versatility and increased performance, both in comparison with traditional composite materials and with traditional fire-resistant materials. Switching to a polysiloxane matrix such as BasKer-prepreg significantly increases the maximum exposure temperature without degradation (up to around 300°C), allowing for applications normally precluded. Furthermore, the natural tendency of these polymers to evolve, when decomposed in oxygen deficiency, towards inorganic (ceramic) materials allows them to be applied to components that also provide fire protection. These performances are, to date, outside the production capacity of companies in the ‘composites’ sector.
Our Technology and Solutions
BasKer-composite refers to a composite material based on basalt and ceramic fibres, obtained by pyrolysis of a manufactured product produced by warm pressing from pre-ceramic prepreg. By pre-ceramic prepreg is meant a basalt fabric impregnated with special polymer resins, capable of converting to ceramic in the event of fire or pyrolysis (i.e. high-temperature heat treatment under controlled conditions, in an industrial environment, as the last step in production).The new class of pre-ceramic prepregs (and the BasKer-prepreg in particular) is perfectly compatible with the plants already present in companies in this sector; there is at most the need to add a final pyrolysis step, which can also be carried out in plants outside the main production facility. If the component were then not intended to perform a mechanical function at high temperature, but simply to tolerate high temperatures for short periods, or fire, the pyrolysis step could even be avoided, as ‘ceramicisation’ would occur spontaneously in the fire phase. BasKer-PMC (i.e. non-pyrolysed) can be formed from prepreg, autoclaved or hot-pressed for continuous use up to a temperature of 250°C, with fire resistance class B according to EN 13501/1 for building applications. BasKer-CMC (i.e. pyrolysed) usable continuously, as a semi-structural material, up to a temperature of 600°C, with fire resistance in class A, according to EN 13501/1 reference standard for building applications (but probably also in line with EN 45545, reference standard for railway applications).
Advantages
The new material surpasses current solutions in terms of manufacturing versatility as it brings the production of the component into line with the production approach and equipment currently used in the composite materials industry. It also allows for increased performance, both compared to traditional composite materials, which are not applicable to parts exposed to high temperatures, and with traditional fire-resistant materials, which are typically characterised by low specific mechanical strength and high bulk. Another of the advantages of the new pre-ceramic prepregs will be their greater stability at room temperature, which simplifies the problems (typical of the traditional prepreg sector) of transport and storage in the cold chain (storage at -20-C, preconditioning at OGC followed by lamination at room T, but within strictly limited timescales).
Roadmap
During the POC 2020-02 Rosemarie project, chemical and physical pre-treatments on the carbon fabric were studied to increase the wettability and reactivity of the carbon fabric towards the polysiloxane matrix with a view to industrial applicability. Towards the conclusion of this study, after validation on two full-scale demonstrators, it was possible to transfer the research results to the pilot production line of the ENEA pre-ceramic prepreg with the addition of a plasma treatment module. This pre-treatment (unlike polyvalent chemical sizing such as glycidoxy-propyl-trimethoxy silane or similar) is very fast, automatable and highly repeatable and therefore does not compromise the productivity of the line, thus making it of industrial interest for the production of a prepreg semifinished product that has been named ‘BasKer-C’.
The involvement of business stakeholders, in particular a prepreg manufacturer, is required.
TRL
Team
