From fibre to component
Textile lightweight engineering
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Competence brochure
Textile lightweight engineering
Textile lightweight engineering has become one of the main research areas with all its facets at STFI in recent years. This includes the entire value chain, starting with the development of semi-finished textiles, going to formation of new, partly hybrid materials and ending with recycling and reuse.
Carbon fibres reinforced plastics used for many applications like transportation and automotive sector or mechanical engineering take a large share of the research work. Other reinforcement materials, such as glass, basalt, aramid and natural fibres are also considered in various matrix systems. Topics reach from classic thermoset and thermoplastic systems to elastomers and mineral matrices. In addition to new material and process research, development of test-methods and more complex evaluation criteria is carried out in parallel supported by an in-house testing and certification body.
The Center for Textile Lightweight Engineering including its technology lines and existing know-how is available to one-time customer orders, bilateral research projects and small batch series as well as joint research activities within consortia and clusters.
Any questions?
Your contact
Christopher Albe, M. Sc.
Head of Group Textile Lightweight Engineering
Phone: +49 371 5274-241
Processes, Technologies, Products
- Composite production
- Carbon fibre recycling
- Production of oriented strand-like structures from recycled carbon fibres
Technical Equipment
- Nonwoven line & press systems
- Cutting & tearing machine
- Injection methods
- Mechanical processing
Carbon fibre recycling
- Cutting & tearing of dry textile waste
- Processing of reclaimed carbon fibres
- Inline bonding methods
- Inline quality monitoring systems
rCF sliver/tape production
- Production of oriented strand-like structures from recycled carbon fibres
Testing
- Testing for composite materials
- Test sample preparation
Functionalisation I Composites
- Surface Functionalisation
- Textile Composite Structures & Chemical Analytics
Intelligent Production Systems
- Networked Production & Robotics
- Simulation & Modeling
- Data Analytics
Research Services
- Contract research
- Customer-oriented product development
- Small batch production
Materials
- Reinforcement fibres
- Thermoplastic and thermoset matrix materials
- Elastomer and mineral matrix systems
Fields of application
Research News
MC4 Project
"Multi-level Circular Process Chain for Carbon and Glass Fibre Composites" (MC4) is a European partnership having started in April 2022. It is a project consortium of 15 partners, including STFI, investigating circular approaches for the reuse of carbon and glass fibre composites. It develops process technologies and quality assurance methods that enable the economic recycling of carbon and glass fibre components. MC4 focuses on various reuse and recycling processes along the life cycle of composite components.
Art and Technology
GROUNDED – Carbon nonwovens in a different way
"Daniel Hölzl creates in GROUNDED a special link between the two worlds of art and technology by consistently implementing the idea of sustainability. With great attention to detail, he takes visitors up into the air before grounding them again with the harsh reality of recycling."
Christopher Albe, Head of Group Textile Lightweight Engineering at STFI
Apart from wax, carbon nonwovens are the main components the exhibited works are made of. The recycled materials form the basis of the raw material being reused demonstrating how circular economy can function.
Cooperations & Networks
