JEC Composites Innovation Award 2023 winners

On March 2, JEC Composites revealed and celebrated this year’s Innovation Award winners in the presence of jury members and finalists in Paris, France, and over live stream. This is the second time the Innovation Awards ceremony is held prior to JEC World, raising great enthusiasm and showing the composites community’s eagerness to get together, get inspired and build strong business connections.

Those planning on attending JEC World 2023 from April 25-27 will have the opportunity to meet with winners and learn more about their projects and expectations. Join them for the Opening Session on April 25^th at 9:30 a.m. in Agora 5.

The following winners from the previously announced finalists are below. These composites champions were awarded based on multiple criteria such as partner involvement in the value chain, complexity or commercial potential of the project:

Category: Aerospace (Parts)

Hybrid seating structure

Hybrid aircraft seating structure designed and demonstrated under sustainability criteria, based on an easy-to-recycle lightweight composite material and produced with efficient automated processes.

• Fraunhofer ICT (Germany)
• Partner(s): Alpex Technology GmbH (Tyrol, Austria) and Amade-UdG, Spain (Leitat, Spain)

 

Category: Aerospace (Process)

Manufacture a Krueger wing flap in thermoplastic

Innovative Krueger flap produced in-situ with an automated thermoplastic consolidation process.

• CETIM (Senlis Cedex, France)
• Partner(s): Loiretech (Bouguenais, France), AFPT GmbH (Doerth, Germany) and Sonaca SA (Gosselies, Belgium)

 

Category: Automotive and Road Transportation (Design Part)

World’s first carbon roll cage for production cars

Extreme lightweight carbon roll cage, to be road legally fitted into a production car, enabled by engineering a unique geometry.

• Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (Germany)
• Partners(s): Action Composites GmbH (Austria), Kube GmbH Ingenieurbüro (Germany) and Lab for Lightweight Design, IKTD, University of Stuttgart (Germany)

 

Category: Automotive and Road Transportation (Process)

BEV battery protection plate in composite design

Largest, innovative, sustainable BEV underride guard in thermoplastic sandwich lightweight design with highly efficient one-shot manufacturability for the new Audi Q8 e-tron.

• Audi AG (Germany)
• Partner(s): Polytec Group (Netherlands)

 

Category: Building and Civil Engineering

Composite roof for the stadium of Real Madrid

Three elements are mechanically joined to reach beams with a span of 75 meters. The manufacturing process was infusion with double VAP membrane, avoiding the use of holes in the core and excess polymer.

• Nanotures (Spain)
• Partner(s): Composyst (Germany), Diab (Spain), Fibertex (Denmark), Gavazzi (Italy), MAP Yachting (France), MEL (Spain), Saertex GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), Sicomin (France), SKY (Hungary) and Zoltek (Hungary)

Photo Credit: Nanotures

 

Category: Building and Civil Engineering

100% recycled CF-spun yarn and applied products

One-hundred percent recycled CF-spun yarn compatible to pultrusion process. Establishment of comprehensive CF circulation system from recycling to product application.

• Toyota Industries Corp. (Japan)
• Partner(s): Kurimoto, Ltd. (Japan), Nagoya University (Japan), Nakashima Propeller Co., Ltd. (Japan), Toyota Central R&D Labs. Inc. (Japan), Toyota Motor Corp. (Japan) and Uster Technologies AG (Switzerland)

 

Category: Digital, AI and data

In-process AFP manufacturing inspection system

In-process AFP manufacturing inspection system (IAMIS) for automated fiber placement (AFP) head to detect manufacturing defects and a user-friendly augmented reality visualization module.

• NIAR/WSU (United States)

 

Category: Equipment, Machinery and Heavy Industries

Isotruss carbon fiber tower

Isotruss carbon fiber towers are up to twelve times stronger than steel for a given weight, or as little as one-twelfth the weight for a given load, depending on the design, site and specifications.

• IsoTruss Inc. (United States)
• Partners(s): My Learning Alliance (United States), U.S. Bureau of Land Management Wyoming (United States), United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA- NIFA, United States) and Utah State University (United States)

Category: Maritime Transportation and Shipbuilding

Solid sail mast

Industrialization of the fabrication of a very large mast to fit to price and delay of the marine industry market.

• Chantiers De L’Atlantique (France)
• Partners(s): Avel Robotic (France), Burea Veritas (France), CDK (France), Hexcel (France), Lorima (France), Meca (France), Multiplast (France) and SMM (France) 

 

Category: Renewable Energies

New acrylic adhesives for a better world

New non-flammable, low-odor and primer-free structural acrylate adhesives with a favorable health and safety profile, providing exceptional bonding performance on multiple substrates.

• Huntsman Advanced Materials (Switzerland)
• Partners(s): Antala (Spain), Biesterfeld Oezel Kimy. Tic. A.S. (Turkey), Bodo Moeller Chemie GmbH (Germany), Emanuele Mascherpa S.p.A (Italy), Samaro (France) and Viba NL (Netherlands)

 

Category: Sports, leisure and recreation

Recyclable thermoset CFRP composite bike

Thermoset CFRP bicycle was made from recyclable EzCiclo prepreg. Composite parts can be recycled by CleaVER liquid to reclaim resin and fiber enabling closed-loop recycling of thermoset composite.

• Swancor Holding Co., Ltd (Taiwan)
• Partners(s): Gigantex Composite Technologies Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) 

For more content related to JEC World 2023, visit CW’s hashtag page, #JEC, for the latest exhibitor previews.