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Advanced Composites with BYK Additives

To fully utilize the potentials of advanced composites and optimize their manufacture, the use of special additives of BYK is extremely beneficial.

Wind Power is one of the key technologies of our time – it has already become an indispensable medium in the worldwide energy industry. In view of the limited availability of raw materials and more ambitious climate objectives, the significance of this alternative source of energy is set to increase in the future. With its high-quality plastic additives, BYK is making a considerable contribution towards increasing the performance values of wind turbines and thereby further boosting the market development of this steadily growing global sector.

For example our coupling agents from the C-8000 series offer a number of key advantages, which breathe new life into the development of highly efficient wind turbines, as they enable:

  • The production of longer components and larger rotor blades
  • Savings on materials, thanks to increased strength
  • More freedom and therefore cost savings when selecting raw materials
  • More energy efficient and durable mechanical structures
  • The acceleration of the production process

The BYK Advanced Composites Team offers you:

  • Wetting and dispersing additives for the improved wetting of high-performance fibers in the plastic matrix
  • Additives for sizing high-performance fibers
  • Additives to enhance the flow behavior of the molten plastics
  • Coupling agents for the best possible bonding between fibers and the plastic matrix
  • Process additives to optimize the manufacturing process
  • Joint testing and optimization of your formulation in BYK technology centers
  • Individual consultation for your application
  • Specially developed measuring system for characterizing the surface properties of high-performance fibers

Markets we serve

  Wind energy       Marine construction       Sports/leisure       Automotive       Aviation and aerospace

BYK Product Families for Advanced Composites

  Coupling agents for thermoplastic composite materials
SCONA modifiers

  Coupling agents for thermoset composite materials
BYK-C series      

  Rheology additives
Thix boosters, solid thixotropes

  Additives for glass-fiber sizing
AQUACER emulsions

  Processing additives
BYK-P series

  Modified clays 
Reinforcing fillers

  Additives for fiber wetting
BYK-P 9920, BYK-9076

Product Highlight

BYK-C 8013

World debut: BYK develops the first coupling agent for carbon fibers

  • Suited for all types of carbon fiber
  • Improves flexible and transverse tensile strength by up to 70 percent
  • Liquid additive, easy to incorporate

BYK-C 8013 is a solvent-free, polymeric coupling agent for improving the mechanical strength of carbon-fiber-reinforced, radical-curing systems, and it is the world’s first coupling agent for carbon fibers.

It is used in vinyl esters and unsaturated polyester resins that are processed to composite parts using carbon fibers. The cross-fiber strength is greatly improved, making far greater design freedom possible.

BYK-C 8013 increases both the transverse tensile strength and the flexible strength of the composite by means of improved fiber-matrix bonding. The chemical structure of the additive provides simultaneous adhesion to the fiber and to the resin matrix. This unique property makes changes in the component design possible, and it enables particularly durable components to be manufactured. Especially in hot-curing processes such as SMC/BMC, pultrusion, prepreg or RTM, BYK-C 8013 brings about increases in strength of up to 70 percent.

The reactive additive can be introduced to the size during fiber production or to the resin shortly before processing. In subsequent, so-called “second sizing”, BYK-C 8013 can, for example, be applied to the fiber in a spraying process, without the need to remove the first sizing beforehand.

 

THE additive portfolio for fiber reinforced composites

In order to exploit the full potential of modern composites based on thermoplastics or duroplastics, the use of special additives provides great benefits. They are even used in starting raw materials for component manufacturing. For example, in sizing they are incorporated to improve processing or bonding of the fibers to various matrix systems. When directly used in resins, additives can modify a multitude of properties. In the finished formulation, they can significantly improve or, depending on the process, even make some processing properties feasible. Finished components have better properties or surfaces if additives have been used.

As one of the world’s leading supplier of plastics additives with longstanding experience in the field of composites, BYK is your partner, working together to develop the best technical solution.