Araldite Composites - Breaking the Mould

News has just arrived regarding the new Araldite® Highly Flexible Composite. This is a fibre re-inforced composite from Huntsman that, it is suggested, has the potential to break into a wide range of different markets, from car panel manufacture where speed and cost are of paramount importance to sports protection and fashion clothing.

The new material is described as having outstanding flexibility and strength as a result of a unique thermosetting resin system. It has similar material characteristics to elastomers - impact, abrasion and tear resistance with elongation and tensile resistance, but is very different in terms of material and production time costs.

Only a few consumable materials are required – resin and fibre – and, most importantly, just a single shell mould is required for component production.

Standard, well established direct composite production processes such as wet-lay up and infusion can be used to produce parts from this single shell mould quickly and cost effectively. The parts can then be cured for 24 hours at room temperature or in an oven for 1 hour at 60oC. Highly detailed parts can be rapidly produced using no specialist equipment and only a single mould.

The parts look good in the pic!