Formax, the leading manufacturer of carbon fibre and speciality composite reinforcements, is introducing a range of biaxial fabrics made from intermediate modulus carbon fibre at this year’s JEC Europe exhibition that takes place from 10-12 March in Paris.

The new product is said to offer significant cost benefits for motorsports and sporting goods manufacturers, the company reports.

Motorsport and sporting goods

The -45°/+45° biaxials have been developed for the manufacture of structural composite parts in the motorsports industry.

Compared with the woven fabrics currently used in these applications that are mainly made from 3k/6k tow intermediate modulus carbon fibres, the Formax multiaxial fabrics use 24k intermediate modulus fibre and, therefore, offer significant material cost savings, according to the manufacturer.

The new fabrics are designed to offer increased mechanical performance specifically aimed at the motorsport and sporting goods sectors, where increased mechanical properties are key for engineers to challenge existing design concepts.

Technical properties

Typically available in weights of 200 g/m2 and 300 g/m2, the new biaxial fabrics can be used for prepreg, resin transfer moulding (RTM), infusion and wet lay-up composite processes.

Formax’s fibre spreading technology also enables the company to work with a wide range of fibre types from 3k through to 50k, from all the main carbon fibre suppliers, and including both PAN and pitch carbon fibres.

www.formax.co.uk