The company is making advancements with its Xantu.Layr product, the reportedly world’s only commercially available nanofiber composite reinforcement veil.
Revolution Fibres is increasing its production output to meet growing world-wide demand for its nanofiber strengthening product used in Formula One race cars, fishing rods and the aerospace industry. The company says that demand for Xantu.Layr, which it says is the “world’s only commercially available nanofiber composite reinforcement veil,” has increased as a result of extensive research and development conducted in 2016, which helped to further validate Xantu.Layr’s performance in composites.
Nanofibre Applications Engineer Gareth Beckermann says significant advancements have been made by using nanofiber interleaving veils to increase the impact strength, delamination resistance and fatigue life of composites.
“We are also increasingly seeing evidence that nanofiber veils outperform thermoplastic toughening particles and microfiber veils, and nanofiber veils can also improve the mechanical properties of composites containing already toughened resin systems.
“In some situations, the addition of lightweight nanofiber interleaving veils can improve delamination resistance by up to 170%, impact strength can be improved by up to 20%, and fatigue life can be improved by nearly 400%, all with negligible laminate weight and thickness gains.
“Nanofiber veils can also be used for localized reinforcement as opposed to having to apply veils to the whole composite part,” he says.
Revolution Fibres’ Operations Manager Brent Tucker says production capacity has recently doubled to meet the additional demand for Xantu.Layr for new and existing clients, which include Kilwell Fishing Rods and Kiwi Composites.
“We expect 2017 to be a significant year for Xantu.Layr production as many clients are coming to the end of their R&D program cycles with positive results,” says Tucker. “This increased production capacity is a huge benefit to all because it will lead to cost reductions, especially for customers wanting larger volumes.”
In 2015, Revolution Fibres achieved its AS9100c certification. This world-first certification provides internationally recognized assurance to customers that the systems and procedures behind the nanofiber production meet aerospace standards.
Revolution Fibres CEO Iain Hosie says the company’s aim now is to get more people using Xantu.Layr, which is why it has introduced smaller quantity Hobby and Starter Packs to the range.
“It’s an incredibly versatile material and our goal is to make it easier for designers, production engineers and hobbyists to purchase Xantu.Layr in smaller quantities and to give them greater access to the technology. For some smaller composite users the 100m MOQ was a barrier but with the new Hobby and Starter packs it’s so much more accessible. It’s surprisingly easy to use, and it should be used more often for improving composites.”
Revolution Fibres is interested in talking to distributors to spread the technology further, especially in Asia and the U.S.
“It’s a product that will fit well with a number of distributor’s product portfolios to provide a significant and unique offering for their clients," he says. "We’re also keen to work with more carbon fiber pre-pregging companies to integrate Xantu.LayrTM directly into prepreg materials as an additional toughening measure.”
Revolution Fibres' electro-spinning technology creates nanofiber out of a range of synthetic and bio-derived polymers.
| A CompositesWorld release | February 27, 2017 ||
