Knowde Enhanced TDS
Identification & Functionality
- Chemical Family
- Reinforcement Form
- Reinforcement Material
- Composite Materials Functions
- Technologies
Features & Benefits
- Materials Features
- Product Highlights
The outcome is innovative composites that, despite their low energy absorbency, display cross sections with outstanding mechanical properties such as rigidity. GMTex® is moldable and serves as a substitute for steel, aluminum, magnesium etc., or is employed for the additional reinforcement of GMT materials.
While classic GMT composite materials in the automotive industry are mainly used in semi-structural components (instrument panels, tail gates, seats etc.), GMTex® composites reinforced with fabrics and layered fibers are also conquering structural vehicle components, until now the preserve of metals (e.g. front ends and bumper brackets). Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials Composites produces GMTex® as semi-finished products with a maximum width of 1 m and thicknesses of 2.5 to 5 mm.
Applications & Uses
- Applications
- Composites End Use
- Composites Processing Methods
- Applications with GMTex®
Compressed Molded Solutions:
Intelligent lightweight construction cuts costs and weight
For years now, Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials has been developing and producing glass-mat-reinforced thermoplastics (GMT) for automobile production and is considered the market leader in this segment. Hardly a car leaves the production line without lightweight components fabricated with the special semi-finished products from the Swiss materials developer.
Classic GMT materials consist of glass fiber mats manufactured to the company’s own patents, and these are impregnated with polypropylene in a second process step. The result is materials with outstanding impact resistance and optimum crash behavior. Even at low temperatures, GMT ensures high energy absorption before fracture and thereafter positive failure behavior without sharp lines of fracture.
GMT and GMTex reinforced with extra fabric are used for the production of semi-structural and structural components that meet the highest standards of crash safety for the protection of vehicle occupants and other road users. GMTex is even employed in areas conventionally reserved for metals.
Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials also produces a lightweight composite, a low-weight reinforced thermoplastic (LWRT), by the name of SymaLITE. This material consists of mixed-fiber fleeces of glass and polymer fibers supplied in rolls or boards. The molder heats the material and produces the three-dimensionally molded component by low-pressure pressing.
Structural Components:
The composites GMT and GMTex developed by Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials Composites make it possible to replace structural and semi-structural vehicle parts made of metal with lighter, fabric-reinforced composite components.
These innovative materials are already firmly established in large-series production. Among others, bumper brackets, battery cases and even body parts like the front end are made from GMT or GMTex.
The composite-only solution without additional steel reinforcement in series production is possible because the reinforced thermoplastic composite materials display extremely good material properties in terms of rigidity, strength, dimensional stability and crash performance.
The use of GMT and GMTex always yields weight savings, fewer production steps in series production and greater design freedom.Metal Plastic Solutions (MPS):
Since 2008, the business unit Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials Composites has been involved through a company of its own in the development of special lightweight components made of long-fiber-reinforced plastic composites and hybrid materials, among other things for the automotive industry. At Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials Composites GmbH located in Chemnitz, the search is on for new materials and hybrid strategies that enable entirely new component concepts and production methods thanks to the ingenious merger of metals and plastics.
In close cooperation with the customer, capable teams of materials, design and production specialists draw up customized component strategies for innovative lightweight component applications.
The services available comprise consultations on design and the choice of material, CAD and FEM computation, prototype construction, component testing and the planning of the series production of lightweight components.
To permit informative results from component testing and their documentation, comprehensive test equipment is available for the defined simulation of all relevant conditions:- Compression-tension test equipment up to 100 kN
- Climate chamber for temperatures of -40 to +100°C
- Heat chamber (up to 130°C)
- Press equipment (100, 600 and 1,200 t)
- Fatigue strength analysis with special devices
- 30 m drop tower
- 100 m long slide track
- Shaker
Innovative uses for environment-friendly thermoplastic fiber composites:
Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials is constantly looking for innovative applications for its high-grade lightweight materials. Our environment-friendly thermoplastic composite materials can be used as panels or three-dimensional moldings and are already replacing steel, aluminum, plywood, HDF and MDF board, and fiberboard in many applications. Our plastic composites often facilitate a particularly cost-efficient solution – especially when panel products are employed without further thermal shaping processes. Provided with various functional or decorative cover layers, these composites are suitable for endless fields of application that require a long service life on exposure to extreme stressing.
In close cooperation with the market leaders in many different segments, our team of materials specialists is therefore constantly developing solutions for new fields of application. Our experienced teams in Europe, North America and Asia support the planning, simulation, preliminary tests, prototyping and the practical realization of the latest technologies during product implementation. This comprehensive, unique technical support is one of our strengths and explains our successful expansion into new markets.
Our high-performance materials, whose dimensions and execution are tailored precisely to the customer’s needs, are already successfully demonstrating their positive features in a wide range of applications.Sports & Leisure:
For years Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials Composites has been developing and manufacturing glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites for the automotive industry and the building sector. Increasingly, companies from various other sectors discover the advantages of fiber reinforced thermoplastics.
Extremely unbreakable, impact resistant and at the same time efficient to manufacture: GMT was thus predestined for use in forming the blade of an ice hockey stick.
GMT was also used in forming a horse saddle. The decisive advantage here was high stability with defined flexibility.
For a boat paddle, however, GMTex® is the choice: high section modulus, high stiffness and abrasion resistance. For water rafting very high impact resistance is required because of high edge load caused by stones.Injection Molded Solutions
The combination of product development, production and assembly from a single source has enabled QCMS to become a supplier to a number of leading, international main suppliers to the automotive industry.
True to its stated business objective of supplying components for critical systems, QCMS focuses on high-precision, injection-molded parts for safety, electrical, under-the-bonnet and interior applications.
Properties
- Physical Form
- Mechanical Properties
- Typical Properties
- Note
MD* = Machine Direction
| Value | Units | Test Method / Conditions | |
| Tensile Strength MD* | 70 - 390 | MPa | — |
| Tensile Modulus MD* | 5200 - 18200 | MPa | — |
| Elongation at Break MD* | 1.8 - 2.5 | % | — |
| Impact Strength MD* (Charpy 3.0mm) | 75 - 260 | kJ/m2 | — |
| Value | Units | Test Method / Conditions | |
| Thickness Availability (in panel form) | 2.5 - 5.0 (0.098 - 0.198 in.) | mm | — |
| Thickness Tolerance (In 8-ft panel form) | +/- 0.2 (0.008 in.) | mm | — |
| Width Tolerance (In 8-ft panel form) | +/- 1.0 (0.04 in.) | mm | — |
| Length Tolerance (In 8-ft panel form) | +/- 5.0 (0.197 in.) | mm | — |
| Standard & Custom Sizes Available | max. width 1.0 (3.28 ft) | m | — |
| Forming Process (if molded part desired) | Compression molding | — | — |
| Custom Colors | Yes | — | — |
| Translucent Possible | Yes | — | — |
| Water Resistant | Yes | — | — |
| Impact Resistance (Failure mode) | Very Good (Ductile; will not crack or splinter) | — | — |
| Resistance to Rot, Corrosion and Mildew | Excellent | — | — |