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| Latest News
Please note that archived articles and press releases can be accessed via the links at the foot of this page.
Umeco exhibits its composite body panel and interior systems at InnoTrans 2012 - 31 August 2012
Umeco, a leader in the development of low cost, lightweight composite materials for mass transit systems, will be exhibiting a rail demonstrator panel which can reduce manufacturing times by as much 50% when compared to traditional composite materials. This is a sandwich construction manufactured using our innovative BPS240 format 1 body panel system. This system also offers excellent class ‘A’ compatible stable surfaces and can, in many instances, be painted straight from the mould without any reworking. Using Umeco’s ZPREG® rapid deposition technology, which comprises a stable, high temperature structural fabric and integrated surface film, BPS240 format 1 offers excellent surface quality, even from vacuum only cures. Umeco is also exhibiting a range of parts made using its MTM®82S-C glass/phenolic prepreg, which was used successfully by Ipeco Composites to make standbacks for Bombardier Transportation’s Class 379 Electrostar EMU Passenger Trains. National Express, the train operator, is benefiting from reduced in-service operation and maintenance costs brought about through a significant weight saving and the robust nature of prepreg composite parts. At only 6.4kg per unit, the standbacks provide a 40% reduction over a typical 10.5kg wet lay-up structure.
Our activities are truly global and focused on delivering advanced composites innovation and a range of services, from structural and process materials to tooling and distribution solutions to our customers. To discover what Umeco brings to the industry, please visit us on stand 110 in the Interiors hall (5.1) at the InnoTrans Rail Exhibition in Berlin between 18 and 21 September 2012. Upper image: Umeco BPS240 format 1 rail demonstrator panel ©Umeco Lower image: Standback manufactured using Umeco MTM82S glass/epoxy prepregs ©Umeco – Ends – Note to editors In July 2012, Umeco was acquired by Cytec. This merger brings value to our customers and the markets we serve by leveraging Cytec’s technology leadership with Umeco’s highly-responsive supply chain and application development capabilities. For further information, please contact: Umeco Richard Horn – Business Development Manager
For further information on Umeco’s acquisition by Cytec, please contact: Umeco Nigel Blatherwick – Strategic Marketing Director
Umeco exhibits high performance prepregs, process materials and tooling at China Composites - Umeco will be exhibiting on stand number 1101 in Hall 1 at China Composites, which takes place between 5 and 7 September 2012. Our activities are truly global and focused on delivering advanced composites innovation and a range of services, from structural and process materials to tooling and distribution solutions to our customers.
To discover what Umeco brings to the industry, please visit us on stand 1101 in Hall in the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre, China between 5 to 7 September 2012. Upper image: Staggered sandwich panel © Umeco Lower image: Carbon/epoxy composite mould tool © Umeco – Ends – Note to editors For further information, please contact: Umeco Jon Stowell – Sales and Marketing Director Umeco Jonathan Jaggar - Commercial Director Umeco Didier Gal – General Manager
For further information on Umeco’s acquisition by Cytec, please contact: Umeco Nigel Blatherwick – Strategic Marketing Director
Umeco’s composite materials put a ‘spring’ in the step of the athletes - 23 August 2012 Ottobock HealthCare uses Umeco’s composite materials to produce prosthetic limbs (blades) for athletes around the world.
Kelly Cartwright and Heinrich Popow, successful 100 and 200m sprinters and long-jumpers, have experienced the benefits of Ottobock’s design and composites manufacturing expertise at previous national and international sporting events, and hope to win more medals in the future. VTM®264 is a toughened, 65 to 120°C curing, epoxy resin prepreg specifically developed for oven vacuum bag processing. It is an intermediate viscosity and tack prepreg suitable for full impregnation of light and medium weight unidirectional and woven reinforcements. Woven prepreg is being used for the upper section and unidirectional prepreg is being used to manufacture the blade section. Umeco has long been supplying materials to the medical and sports industries, and its products are used across a wide range of sporting disciplines. Umeco develops custom composite materials that help athletes in their performances. Umeco wishes athletes every success as they strive to achieve medals in their respective events. Further information about Otto Bock can be found on the company website at www.ottobock.co.ukImages: © by Ottobock
For further information, please contact: Umeco Richard Horn – Sports & Leisure Market Sector Manager
Umeco’s competition grade prepregs used for high performance bicycles - 16 July 2012
AX-lightness, the only developer and manufacturer of cycling structures that is also a key supplier into the Formula One sector, is the proud sponsor of Team Ghost Factory Racing, an all-ladies mountain bike team which competes at national and international level. Three Team members, Lisi Osl, Katrin Leumann und Alexandra Engen, will be riding high-tech’ bikes with wheels manufactured using Umeco’s MTM®49-3 woven carbon fibre reinforced epoxy prepregs. AX-lightness also uses a combination of Umeco’s unidirectional and fabric reinforced MTM®49-3 prepregs to manufacture cycle components for an Australian triathlon athlete. AX-lightness chose to autoclave cure its structures to accommodate their intricate design features. Umeco’s MTM®49-3 series prepregs are 80 to 160°C curing, toughened epoxy matrices developed specifically for the manufacture of components requiring good impact resistance. These prepregs also exhibit excellent ambient and hot temperature mechanical performance after only moderate cure cycles, making them ideal for sports & leisure and motorsport applications. Umeco’s MTA®240 adhesive film and MTF246 surface improvement film are fully compatible with MTM®49-3.
Images: ©AX-lightness GmbH Upper image : Lisi Osl Lower image (from the top - clockwise): Mona Eiberweiser, Johanna Techt, Lisi Osl, Katrin Leumann and Anja Gradl. Further information about AX-lightness can be found on the company website at http://ax-lightness.de/en/ Note to editors For further information, please contact: Umeco Jon Stowell – Sales and Marketing Director Daniel Brambeer – Regional Sales Account Manager
Umeco’s materials used in oceanic exploration, taking our prepreg ‘where no prepreg has gone before’ - 19 June 2012
Built and designed in Sydney by research and design company Acheron Project Pty Ltd. and the design technicians at Design + Industry respectively, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER was purpose-built to reach the Pacific Ocean’s deepest point, after roughly two hours of descent from the surface. LSM was approached by the design and build team to manufacture the carbon fibre internal lining of the Pilot Sphere, the pilot’s home in the submersible. This ‘home’, which measures 43 inches in diameter, is filled with electronics and life-support equipment. It is so small that the pilot’s legs are tightly bent and he can barely move his arms. In comparison, the overall length of the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER is similar to that of a stretched limousine. Umeco’s prepregs, sourced to a tight delivery schedule through Umeco’s Australian agent Lavender CE Pty Ltd., were chosen because of the company’s ability to supply specialised prepregs, and to tight lead-times – regardless of geographical location. Customised, FAA-approved civil aircraft interiors pregregs were chosen because of their low fire/smoke/toxicity and low heat release characteristics, a requirement which formed part of the designer’s safety specification. Lavender supplied more than just prepreg. They assisted LSM in their tooling design and developed the flat patterns of the component plies for CNC cutting using their in-house 3D laminate software. This is one of Lavender’s key services to their customers.
LSM stated: “Meeting the stringent delivery schedule was facilitated with valuable assistance from Umeco Structural materials and their agent, Lavender CE. We valued Umeco’s and Lavender’s knowledge of materials, both of which were particularly helpful with customising and supplying the specialised carbon fibre prepregs needed for this job. This was required to meet strict specifications for Mr. Cameron’s safety within the Pilot Sphere.” For a picture of the project, please contact directly: Stephanie Montgomery Upper image: Courtesy of National Geographic Lower image: Photo by Mark Thiessen/National Geographic – Ends – Note to editors For further information, please contact: Umeco Jon Stowell – Sales and Marketing Director or Bernard Twist – Export Sales Manager
Umeco exhibits high performance prepregs and adhesives at Farnborough 2012 Umeco Structural materials, a leading provider of high performance prepregs and adhesives to the aerospace, space and military industries, will be exhibiting examples of Airbus-qualified prepregs on stand H1/B14 at the Farnborough show, which takes place between 9 and 13 July 2012.
Visitors to the Umeco stand will see an aerospace sandwich panel manufactured using a combination of the company’s MTM®44-1 OoA carbon fabric prepreg and MTF246 sandable surface improvement film. This combination enables the customer to produce paint-ready parts with minimal reworking and curing costs. Also on display will be an integrally-stiffened monolithic wing skin demonstrator section manufactured using Umeco’s OoA MTM®44-1 carbon unidirectional prepreg. This material was chosen for its high toughness, low density and ability to produce low void content parts using vacuum bag moulding. Umeco’s activities are global and focused on delivering advanced composites innovation and a range of services, from structural and process materials to tooling and distribution solutions to its customers. Xavier Gambert, Umeco Aerospace Market Sector Manager, said: “We have a very wide range of prepregs qualified at major OEMs, and not only for civil aircraft structures. For example, in space applications, we have low out-gassing cyanate esters and epoxies qualified at ESA. For aircraft interiors, we supply phenolics and epoxy prepregs." Image copyright: © Airbus S.A.S. 2010 - Computer Rendering by Fixion – GWLNSD To find out more about Umeco, please visit us on stand H1/B14 at Farnborough between the 9 and 13 July 2012. – Ends – Note to editors For further information, please contact: Umeco Xavier Gambert – Aerospace Market Sector Manager
Umeco leads £1.5m partnership to develop capability for lower cost, lightweight composite vehicle structures - 12 June 2012
Named ‘ACOMPLICE’ (Affordable COMPosites for LIghtweight Car StructurEs), the partnership will address the growing pressure on the mainstream automotive sector to manufacture lighter-weight; fuel-efficient vehicles which meet reduce CO2 emission targets. Aluminium and high-strength, steel-based alloys have been employed in response to this, but the physical limitations of these materials have, to a large extent, already been reached, so other options are being pursued.
Over the next two years, ACOMPLICE aims to significantly reduce the cost of composite body-in-white vehicle structures for the mainstream automotive sector. It is envisaged that the objective can be achieved by the development of pre-impregnated broad application materials suitable for robotic lamination and fast cure technologies. Umeco’s role in ACOMPLICE is to develop fast cure, highly-efficient prepregs, enabling the rapid robotic manipulation and placement of individual plies. Novel materials formatting and moulding techniques will be developed alongside these technologies in order to optimise component output rates. Umeco’s DForm® product will also be used in combination with novel, rapid perform technology in order to facilitate the lamination of complex shaped geometries via automated processes. DForm® is Umeco’s deformable composite system, a time and cost-saving prepreg technology that combines the conformability of a short fibre moulding compound with the directional characteristics of a high performance, long fibre composite. Elaine Arnold, Project Manager – Collaborative Research and Technology at Umeco said: “The automotive industry is being forced to seek new technologies in order to comply with the ever tightening, legislative push towards reducing CO2 emissions. The outcome of the ACOMPLICE project should be able to make a significant contribution towards achieving this goal, and offer interesting solutions for this industry and others, where lightweighting is fundamental.” Images: © Umeco 2012 – Ends – Note to editors About the Technology Strategy Board This project is co-funded by the Technology Strategy Board's Collaborative Research and Development programme, following an open competition. The Technology Strategy Board is an executive body established by the Government to drive innovation. It promotes and invests in research, development and the exploitation of science, technology and new ideas for the benefit of business - increasing sustainable economic growth in the UK and improving quality of life. For further information about the ACOMPLICE project, please contact: Umeco Elaine Arnold – Project Manager – Collaborative R&T
Umeco exhibits and promotes new identity at JEC Asia 2012 - 11 June 2012 Umeco will be exhibiting on stand B14 (Level 4) at the JEC Asia show, which takes place at the SUNTEC International Convention & Exhibition Centre, 1 Raffles Boulevard, Suntec City, Singapore 039593 between the 26 and 28 June 2012. We will be exhibiting a number of key projects, including our award-winning (JEC 2011 – Equipment Category) Carbovar technology, an innovation in composite tooling which dramatically enhances tooling durability through the adhesion of a nano-crystalline Invar (Nannovate™ NV) surface coating.
Our team will be available to discuss potential projects and provide more information on the company’s expertise. Images © Umeco 2012 To find out more about Umeco, please visit us on stand B14 at JEC Asia, Singapore between the 26 and 28 June 2012 Note to editors For further information, please contact: Umeco Bernard Twist – Export Sales Manager Umeco Asia Hong Fang – General Manager Umeco Jon Stowell – Sales and Marketing Director Umeco Brian Harpur – Commercial Director
Archived Press Releases Additional general and market specific press releases are located in their respective archive locations. Please follow one of the following links to view this material.
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