Rejuvenating Ageless Perfection New Visual Carbon Composite Roof for Jaguar F-TYPE Bringing ...

32 Pages·2015·1.56 MB·English

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The Gurit Magazine N° 16
December 2015
Rejuvenating Ageless Perfection
New Visual Carbon Composite
Roof for Jaguar F-TYPE Bringing
a New Style of DNA to the Water
Turning 200 Tons Over Safely Gurit
Supports Formula S Reusable
Transportation Devices with Attractive
Conditions All Day, All Night
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The Gurit Magazine N° 16, Dec 2015
Rejuvenating Ageless Perfection 04 New Visual Carbon
Composite Roof for Jaguar F-TYPE 06 Global Availability
of Gurit’s PVC Brands 08 Bringing a New Style of DNA
to the Water10 Turning 200 Tons Over Safely 12 Gurit

Supports Formula S 14 Reusable Transportation Devices
with Attractive Conditions 16 Data at the Heart of
Material Safety 18 Evolution Travelling Back in Time 22
All Day, All Night 24 Super-Maxis under the Knife 28
Putting Gurit Products Closer to Users 30
Imprint Gurit Holding AG, Group Communications
Editor in Chief Tanja Moehler, Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications
Contact Thank you for your feedback at [email protected]
Pictures courtesy of Premier Composites Technology (4), Silver Arrows Marine, Mercedes-Benz Style (10, 11), Sergio Peña Miñano
(14, 15), Hannah Imlach (22, 23), Rotos 360 Ltd (24-27), Andrea Francolini (28, 30), Grant Wharington (29), Wild Thing Yachting (29).
All other pictures: Gurit Archives
Shape The Gurit magazine has been optimised for online and mobile reading on desktop screens, tablet PCs and handheld devices.
Shape The Gurit magazine is published under Creative Commons license by attribution, share alike.
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Dear Reader
The first nine months of 2015 have once again been busy and successful for Gurit, result-
ing in a pleasing increase in sales by seven percent to CHF 269.2 million. While we con-
tinue to improve our operational excellence, to broaden our customer base and to further
diversify our business, sales growth and the improvement of our operating profit margin
underline the progress that we have been able to achieve.
The business unit Composite Materials benefited from sound demand in the wind energy
industry and increased net sales to CHF 205.3 million in the first nine months of 2015.
The transformation of our product offering from prepreg towards core material for the wind
energy industry, accommodating the technology change in the production of wind blades,
is now reflected in growth figures. It is also visible in the favorable position in the global
core material value chain for PVC, PET, balsa wood and Gurit Corecell™. Find out more
about the use of our core materials in the marine industry and the Gurit PVC brands on
pages 8 and 9.
The business unit Composite Components (automotive components, bus parts and struc-
tural engineering) achieved net sales of CHF 20.8 million in the first nine months of 2015.
As reported earlier, we secured a new supply contract for carbon fiber based automotive
body panels at the end of 2014, representing an important milestone in the strategic ad-
vancement of our semi-automated automotive parts production. While we have produced
and delivered some initial volumes for the new project, the new program has not yet been
fully implemented. Ongoing programs, such as the production of a visual carbon roof for
the Jaguar F-Type as well as manually manufactured composite parts for super premium
cars, underline our dedication to highest quality.
Our Tooling business unit increased net sales to CHF 43.1 million for the first nine months
of 2015. Production of wind blade moulds has experienced new record levels this year.
At the same time, we have also expanded our offerings of equipment related to wind blade
moulds in order to solve the challenges that go along with producing ever-longer wind
blades. “Turning 200 tons over safely” is a task that we are able to solve for our global
customer base.
This edition of SHAPE is once again dedicated to offer you insight into some of our and
our customers’ projects. At the same time we intend to provide you with details on the
strategic development of Gurit and the milestones and successes we have been able to
accomplish on our mission to “deliver the future of composite solutions.”
Yours sincerely,
Rudolf Hadorn CEO
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The Gurit Magazine N° 16, Dec 2015
Rejuvenating
Ageless Perfection
Ever since the late 1920s, the Dragon keelboat has been extremely popular
with a wide range of sailors and was even an Olympic class from 1948 to 1972.
Further improving a boat that has been optimized and fine-tuned over decades
to a state of ageless perfection is certainly a bold challenge to take on. To
identify new angles for improvement within the tight, one-design specifications
represents an even bigger one but is just the kind of work Gurit is keen on.
When Premier Composites Tech- “PCT’s scope was to create a new Additional stiffness
nology (PCT) decided to breed a high-quality and high-performance “We set for ourselves the objective
new generation of Dragons, they boat that stands out for speed and of achieving maximum global and
opted for a scientific design pro- its look, yet fully measures as a local stiffness. A stiff hull platform
cess that pretty much resembles one-design Dragon.” The scientific carries two principal advantages:
that for an America’s Cup boat: process started off by testing sev- • It allows the crew to carry
They brought together an inter- en different hull and keel configu- more forestay tension in heavy
national team comprising highly rations using a velocity prediction weather conditions and, in gen-
trained and experienced experts, program. The two most successful eral, to have better control over
including Andy Claughton from the sets were then further refined and the tension of the rigging. This
Wolfson Unit, Klaus Röder from optimized. Andy Claughton and translates into better sail shape
Carpe Diem as naval architects, his colleagues at the Wolfson Unit control and better performance
and a team of Gurit structural en- were responsible for this process, upwind.
gineers lead by Paolo Manganelli. and they passed on the best can- • It bends less under rigging ten-
didate hull shape to Klaus Röder, sion and loses less waterline
Guess work won’t do who further refined and faired the length upwind. Since Dragons
Paolo Manganelli summariz- design and integrated it with a operate very much in displace-
es the task they jointly tackled: novel deck design. Gurit was re- ment mode, every millimeter of
sponsible for the entire structural waterline length gained trans-
design. lates into lower wave resistance
Paolo goes on to explain: for a given speed. Through the
“Class rules forbid the use of car- use of our detailed finite element
bon fiber and epoxy resin for struc- model, we were able to quantify
tural components, and they set the gain in terms of added wa-
very specific weight targets for the terline length over some of the
hull, the deck and the completed best existing designs and feed
boat. With no margin to play with the information back to the naval
on weight, our task was to allocate architects.
every required gram of structure in Within our team, David Olsen
the most effective way.” used an advanced numerical op-
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In their first sailing season, the
PCT Dragons have delivered an
impressive string of results while
still relatively “fresh out of the box”
(see below). Paolo concludes: “It
is really satisfying to see that the
choices we have made, together
with the design and the sailing
team, have brought such out-
standing results so promptly. PCT
has great ambitions for this pro-
ject, and we look forward to con-
tinuing to work with them and with
the Team Premier sailing squad to
timization method, based on finite laminate, using carefully selected achieve its full potential.”
element analysis to maximize the unbalanced plies.
global bending stiffness while Gurit has contributed to much List of results in the 2015
meeting hull and deck weights more than just the first boat. Six season:
specified by the class rules. The boats have now been built to our · 1st at the 2015 XX H.M. King
largest gains in global stiffness designs, and since the launch of Juan Carlos Trophy (Cascais,
came from the optimization of the the first one, we have improved Grade 1, 35 entrants)
hull and deck laminates, particular- on many points. In particular, · 1st and 3rd at the 2015 Italian
ly in the aft sections, which tend the laminates have been further Championship (Sanremo, 42
to contribute the most to bending refined after a load monitoring entrants)
and twist deflections. We also con- campaign during the 2015 winter · 1st and 2nd at the 2015
centrated our effort on improving training sessions, and the design Douarnenez Grand Prix Guyader
the design of the mast step struc- of the deck has seen some small (Grade 1, 58 entrants)
ture and developed novel solutions adjustments to further improve the · 3rd and 5th at the 2015 Dragon
for the attachments points for the efficiency of the sail adjustment World Cup (La Rochelle, 80
shrouds, forestay and runners. systems.” entrants)
Finally, together with Klaus Röder · 1st and 2nd at the 2015 Euro-
and the ‘Team Premier’ sailing pean Cup (Barstad, 55 entrants)
squad led by Hendrik Witzmann,
we worked hard to achieve a design
of the deck and internal structure
Back in 1927, Göteborgs Kungl. Segel Sällskap (GKSS Royal Goth-
(bulkheads and cockpit sole) that
enburg Yacht Club) was looking for a boat for younger sailors that
would offer optimum ergonomics
was less expensive than the six-, eight- or 12-meter classes. The
as well as minimum weight and
Norwegian sailor and yacht designer Johan Anker won that design
maximum stiffness.”
competition with a Bermudan-rigged, sporty keelboat featuring long
“With respect to the choice
overhangs and a Spartan cabin. The Dragon, as the boat was soon
of materials, the deck shell, floors
called, perfectly met GKSS’s expectations as it could be sailed from
and bulkheads of the boat are
one regatta to the next and proved to be comfortable enough for
made with an infused sandwich
cruising. The class became very popular for a wide range of sail-
construction featuring Gurit®
ors across Europe. From 1948 until 1972, the one-design was even
‘Corecell™ M’ structural foam.
crowned an Olympic Class. Today, a large and loyal community of
The hull is made with a single-
high-profile sailors continues to race these elegant boats.
skin fiberglass/vinylester-infused
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The Gurit Magazine N° 16, Dec 2015
New Visual Carbon
Composite Roof
for Jaguar F-TYPE
The F-TYPE, Jaguar’s lightweight all-aluminium sports car, now comes with a special
customer option: an even lighter carbon composite roof. Weighing only four kilograms –
20% less than the car’s standard aluminium roof – this further lowers the F-TYPE’s center
of gravity, continues to enhance its performance and agility, and provides a unique and
attractive visual carbon effect.
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Among the many recent innova- markably little damage. in the automotive supply chain to
tions across its expanding prod- Gurit’s parts’ crashworthiness prove that a component supplier
uct range, Jaguar has introduced and safety modeling, simulation has developed a design and pro-
a carbon composite roof option and testing were supplemented by duction process that meets the
for its F-TYPE Coupé. Jaguar has Jaguar’s own tests and independ- client’s requirements for series
developed this new roof in close ent verification by Euro NCAP, the production, which, in the case of
cooperation with advanced com- Brussels-based European New Car the carbon composite roof, started
posites development, engineering Assessment Programme. Gurit also in early 2015.
and manufacturing company Gurit ensured that the resin and lacquer
– the world’s leading vertically in- used in the roof meet Jaguar’s Carbon composite future
tegrated supplier of Class-A com- stringent requirements for resist- Exuding performance and class,
posite components to the automo- ance to yellowing through expo- carbon fiber composite beats all
tive industry. sure to ultraviolet light. other materials in terms of weight,
The new roof option features rigidity and durability. In a grow-
an attractive, perfectly aligned car- Faster, leaner manufacturing ing range of applications, it is no
bon fiber twill weave clearly visible Gurit has invested six million Swiss longer a hidden structural feature
through a deep, high-grade lac- francs in a new press moulding but something car manufacturers
quered finish. This is the lightest of system enabling industrialized and owners want to show.
three roof options: Customers can production of larger quantities of As the new carbon compos-
also choose painted aluminium – composite components for the ite roof demonstrates, improved
itself already lighter than the steel automotive industry. Used to pro- manufacturing processes, higher
found on almost all car roofs – or duce the visual carbon compos- productivity and lower costs are
panoramic glass. ite roofs, the new press system bringing more and larger carbon
Ryan Müller, Sales Manager complements the relatively labor- composite visual and structural
at Gurit says: “By offering this car- intensive, multiple-toolset system components to the premium car
bon composite roof option, Jaguar used for complexly shaped, lower- market.
brings to the premium car market volume super-premium car parts, Gurit continues to supply
a technology previously reserved which was established several the majority of Europe’s perfor-
mainly for niche supercars. At years ago. mance car manufacturers and
Gurit we are thrilled to work with The new automated, one-tool- other marques with a wide range
Jaguar to make this happen.” set process is much faster – full of composite fiber parts, and it is
curing takes less than 15 minutes proud to include among them the
Developing the new roof – and produces less waste. Luke Jaguar F-TYPE with its new carbon
The new roof’s carbon fiber out- McEwen, Senior Engineer at Gurit’s composite roof.
er shell and inner panel are Newport site, says: “By being so
bonded together to create a efficient, the new press enables us
light yet strong and stiff roof to produce larger composite parts
structure. The design and economically. The carbon roof is
materials chosen minimize our first combined structural and
the risks of oil-canning (defor- cosmetic component and the larg-
mation and buckling), side-pole est pressed part we have made so
intrusion and head injuries during far. It’s also our first clear coated,
a roll-over. In the all-important roof non-painted part – so the carbon
crush test, more than six tons were roof really is a major step forward.”
applied to each side of the roof. The new roof has received
The results were impressive; the PPAP approval (production part
carbon fiber laminate suffered re- approval process). This is used
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The Gurit Magazine N° 16, Dec 2015
Global Availability of
Gurit’s PVC
Brands
Gurit Composite Materials has expanded the worldwide availability of its
PVC structural core materials. Gurit-branded PVC core materials are now
available across the globe through Gurit® PVC and Gurit® PVCell™.
Maricell
Longarone, Italy Qingdao / Tianjin,
China
Magog, Canada
Auckland,
New Zealand
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Combining its two complemen- to constantly ensure a high level cal team is also continuously de-
tary PVC core ranges, Gurit® of product availability and service. veloping the Gurit® PVCell™ range.
PVCell™ and Gurit® PVC, Gurit has Regional stocks at logistically im-
achieved truly global availabili- portant points guarantee smooth
ty of PVC-based structural core and continuous deliveries: The
materials over the last year. A year Gurit sites in Auckland, New Zea-
after Gurit announced an exclusive land; Magog, Canada and Tianjin,
distribution agreement for closed China, as well as Maricell, main-
cell PVC foam manufactured by tain at all times a minimum level
the Italian company Maricell, these of Gurit® PVC block stock, while
PVC cores are now globally mar- Gurit Qingdao closely manages
keted as Gurit® PVC and Gurit® its own production schedule. In
PVC HT, except for in mainland addition, Gurit has established the
China and territories. Parallel to necessary processing capabilities
this, Gurit® PVCell™, the PVC- in Magog, Tianjin and Auckland, so Gurit’s PVC materials comple-
based structural core material, that these sites, which also serve ment the Group’s comprehen-
which has been manufactured at as local marketing and logistics sive core material offerings,
Gurit Qingdao in China since 2009, coordination hubs for the product which also include Gurit® Bal-
has been under a program of con- range, can flexibly respond to cus- saflex™, Gurit® Corecell™ and
tinuous development. This range, tomer demand. Gurit® G-PET™ materials in a
first targeted at the wind energy broad variety of densities, fin-
market and widely distributed … technical support ishes and kits.
through the APAC region and India, Gurit’s technical team has devel-
is now also sucessfully used for in- oped specific product guidelines
dustrial and marine applications. for the full PVC range of core mate - For more information:
rials and is available to support all www.gurit.com/structural-
Strong logistics and … key customers in their qualification cores.aspx
Gurit has built a strong internation- work. In addition to periodical test-
al network with its freight partners ing of all products, Gurit’s techni-
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The Gurit Magazine N° 16, Dec 2015
Bringing a New Style
of DNA to the Water
46-foot luxury yacht designed by Mercedes-Benz
Style and built on the shores of Lake Geneva
Quite everything about this auda- The plan was not just to create something yachting
ciously different motor yacht is new: had not seen before. The goal was to find timeless
Silver Arrows Marine formed a fresh answers to future yacht owners’ elaborate wish lists.
team of marine enthusiasts to chal- At just 14 meters, the well-performing yacht dubbed
lenge convention. The designers of Silver Arrow of the Sea offers a unique open-plan con-
Mercedes-Benz Style have brought cept that brings together the outdoors and indoors
the best of automotive Granturismo seamlessly, transforming the salon into an extended
DNA to the water. The naval archi- shaded balcony on the water, a luxurious dining room
tects, engineering and materials or a stylish master cabin. Voluptuous organic shapes,
partners and the newly formed boat prime interior materials and a high-tech construction
yard Group Carboman SA found concept make for the truly stunning ARROW460.
new ways of turning a passionate Steve Shaw, Senior Design Engineer at Gurit,
vision into new open-plan, versatile- shares the enthusiasm of everyone involved in this
pro duction boat concept that fulfills project: “Translating the automotive DNA onto water
every aspect of a future owner’s wish and making all the fabulous style ideas work involved
list. a lot of innovative engineering.” The most promi-
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