Low Cost Resin Technology for the Rapid Manufacture of High-Performance Fiber Reinforced Composites

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office, a 10% reduction in vehicle weight can result in a 6% to 8% fuel-economy improvement. Replacing cast iron and traditional steel components with lightweight polymer composites can directly reduce the weight of a vehicle’s body and chassis by up to 50% and therefore reduce fuel consumption. Lightweighting of vehicle structures clearly represents a significant opportunity for energy savings, however traditional composites manufacturing technologies offer either high volume or significant weight savings, but not both. Over the past decade, automotive composites have focused on sheet molding compound (SMC), which can achieve high-volume manufacturing, however are produced with chopped fibers and therefore inefficiently capitalize upon the strength of the reinforcement, leading to materials with poor specific properties. With increasing corporate average fuel economy standards and challenging CO2 emissions restrictions in the European Union, there is critical need for new materials which are compatible with high rate industrial manufacturing approaches yet provide the mechanical properties required to capitalize on higher cost carbon fiber. Trimer Technologies recently developed a patent pending resin that exhibits the strength, stiffness, and toughness of aerospace resins, yet with a raw material cost lower than vinyl esters. The resin also has a glass transition temperature more than twice the value of current state of the art infusion polymers used in the automotive industry and is non-flammable without additives. Trimer’s polymer has been shown to cure in under 90 seconds and has roughly an order of magnitude lower viscosity than current epoxies allowing rapid infusion, minimum distortion of the fiber preform and low void content which will enable reduced production cycle time. During the proposed SBIR, Trimer will collaborate with TPI Composites and the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) Scale-up Research Facility (SURF) to demonstrate net shape manufacturing cycle time of continuous carbon fiber reinforced composites in under 3 minutes. Trimer will perform extensive characterization of the composite properties to enable process optimization and to and provide the pathway to 90 second cycle time. The proposed materials will enable both high volume manufacturing and significant weight savings in vehicles structures. The global automotive composites market was approximately $7 billion in 2017 and is estimated to nearly double to $13 billion by 2022. The DOE projects that the use of lightweight components and high efficiency engines in only one quarter of the U.S. fleet could save more than 5 billion gallons of fuel annually by 2030. This translates to reduction of ~100 billion pounds of CO2 emissions annually and would further contribute to reducing N2O emissions therefore providing significant impact on the public. Lightweighting of vehicle structures represents a significant commercial market and opportunity for energy savings, however traditional composites manufacturing technologies cannot achieve both high volume production and significant weight savings. The automotive industry requires new high strength polymers which can effectively capitalize upon the reinforcement potential of carbon fiber without added cost. Trimer’s cured polymer has an unreinforced strength equivalent to a 30% fiberglass reinforced vinyl ester SMCs and therefore could provide the high strength required to capitalize on the lightweighting potential of carbon fibers and to help meet the DOE’s goal for 25% glider weight reduction at less than $5/lb-saved by 2030. Ultimately, Trimer’s novel polymer provides a combination of properties not found in state-of- the-art resins while also providing reduced raw material and manufacturing cost therefore creating significant commercialization potential.