David Hartmann and Michael Schmidt are co-CEOs of the newly established Continuous Fibre Reinforced Thermoplastic (CFRTP) Business Unit of Covestro.
Costron, a high-tech polymer manufacturer headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany, is one of the world's largest suppliers of polycarbonate resins and a major supplier of polyurethanes, coatings, adhesives and specialty materials. Covestro Group's fiscal year 2017 The sales of more than 14 billion euros.
David Hartmann and Michael Schmidt (right)
Question 1 : As the company's roots date back to the early 19th century, Bayer's early days, Covestro likes to call itself a '150-year-old startup.' How does a mature company shape the idea of a new business like CFRTP?
Schmidt : We live in an era with fast-paced rhythms. Only with rapid adjustments, can we survive in order to meet the changing needs of our customers. Covestro is no exception. When existing materials are no longer able to meet market demands, they are lighter and higher. In the case of intensity, we must introduce new businesses and expand the product categories for important industries to strengthen its leading position. Without a strong composite product category, it will not be a leader in engineering plastics by 2025.
Question 2 : Why set up an unusual corporate structure for this fledgling business unit and set up a common CEO. One of them is (David) in Shanghai, the other is (Michael) in Germany, and why is the business department set up in China?
Hartmann : As a start-up business of Covestro, CFRTP needs a faster decision-making process. There are a lot of ideas that need to be tried. The company cuts the business out and allows us to act as co-CEO, giving us the flexibility and agility we need.
Although the common CEOs working in both countries seem unusual, it is natural for us because both China and Germany are important markets in the process of promoting business development. In particular, Asia Pacific and China are We provide valuable information on the needs of our customers and industry, and we deliver these requirements to Germany to promote technology development from production processes to product and application development.
Question 3: Covestro likes to describe its approach as focusing on 'breakthrough boundaries.' How does the CFRTP business break through boundaries? What are new or different aspects?
Hartmann : To understand how the CFRTP business breaks through boundaries, we first need to understand how materials break through boundaries.
Many of today's advanced materials have reached their limit. They cannot be made thinner and lighter while maintaining mechanical stiffness. CFRTP composites pose challenges to various industries while achieving light weight, high strength and good appearance. The improvement is Modern advanced materials cannot be achieved.
For the CFRTP team, this means launching new material types in existing and emerging markets, challenging traditional business models. This requires a lot of effort and great courage, not just us, our customers. And partners need it too.
Has the value chain been formed? Not yet. So we are helping the industry to learn how to process our materials. Initially knowing nothing is normal, just try it. We are willing to face the challenge. We work with our customers to establish Trust, explore together, and share risks. This is what we call the breakthrough boundary, which we insist on every day.
Question 4: It seems that people's impression of expensive and difficult-to-machine carbon fiber composites hinders their development. In addition, many product designers are not familiar with how to design CFRTP materials such as polycarbonate, fiber reinforced tapes and sheets. How do you solve these problems? problem?
Schmidt: Yes, traditional composites are expensive and often difficult to process. CFRTP has changed all this, providing an economical, easy-to-mold modern thermoplastic composite that opens the way for new applications and user experiences. Existing thermoplastics Plastic injection molding lines can be easily modified to use thermoplastic composite sheets, while back molding techniques can be used to introduce hooks, bosses, and other structures.
Product designers may not be familiar with how to design composite materials such as CFRTP, but this situation is also changing. In the current project, we worked with many designers and saw that they adopted a new design approach inspired by CFRTP. We are very encouraged by this. They have designed products that are lighter, stronger, and have a completely new look. The intrinsic value of CFRTP to designers has been verified time and time again. We are sure that more and more Designers will use CFRTP to achieve breakthroughs throughout the entire application.
Question 5: You say that CFRTP composites are 'adjustable' to meet customer needs. Please give us one, two examples.
Schmidt: CFRTP is unidirectional, providing strength in the fiber length direction, allowing us to make adjustments based on specific mechanical requirements and aesthetic requirements. We can adjust the specific strength and stiffness, customizing different colors and surface treatment of fiber and resin combinations.
For example, in the footwear industry, the performance of the final part can be easily changed. For example, the midsole of the shoe has both bamboo-like flexibility and steel-like rigidity, giving it strength, stability, and durability.
Another example is the trunk. While keeping the trunk body thin and light, the CFRTP strips can be laid around the corners for local reinforcement. This means that the corners no longer need to be shrunk, although the products are very light, they can still be kept stable.
Question 6 : CFRTP can be processed at moderate temperatures, with short cycle times, high strength, lightweight, recyclable, and parts with Class A surface quality. These are all good. What else does this material require? What are the shortcomings of current product improvements and what are your scientists’ concerns now to further improve the product?
Schmidt: We are working with our partners to develop small ecosystems, to achieve the entire process from strips to final parts, to combine all the process steps, and to operate in a digital industry 4.0 overall. This is unique and is guiding us to the future.
Question 7 : Considering the potential application of this material, people will think of consumer electronics and automobiles. But at the first major commercial conference in March this year, CFRTP showed a large 'smart' air conditioner from China's home appliance giant Haier Group. The CFRTP is used in a pair of 1.8m high shells in Casa Di Tianyi's fashion products. Why does Haier choose this material for this product? Is Haier considering other uses of CFRTP?
Hartmann: As a composite material, CFRTP is light weight and has good mechanical properties. Naturally it will be used in consumer electronics and automotive products. However, we think its aesthetic value is equally important, especially in the consumer product field. Consumers want to have high in life. The quality of aesthetic products, CFRTP has great aesthetic and emotional value to meet this demand.
Haier is looking for an advanced material solution that requires materials with the same high-end aesthetic characteristics as metals, but it is easy to process and expand production. Haier Group designers told us that CFRTP is very attractive to them because this material is from At the beginning, it has a natural one-way surface pattern, unlike metal such as aluminum, which requires sandblasting, brushing and anodizing, and many other surface treatment processes. The surface of CFRTP is completely natural, and it looks beautiful in itself. In fact, This is the first time that Haier has been able to specify a high-performance composite material with unique aesthetic features in its high-end air-conditioning series. CFRTP uses a new visual language to give the product a luxurious metallic effect. Another sensory feature is that when the product is struck A metallic sound, not a plastic sound.
Question 8 : At the same time, at the recent CHINAPLAS show, Covestro also showed some other applications. Please introduce some products that may be put on the market, and the role that CFRTP may play in it.
Hartmann: One of the very important things we are doing is how to use materials to enhance the consumer experience of new era products. New era automobiles and personal computer equipment need more powerful materials. We are supplying these materials to related industries.
As you can see at CHINAPLAS, CFRTP will be applied to products that involve all aspects of consumer life. We work with luggage manufacturers, footwear manufacturers and top-level electronics brands. The automotive industry is also very aware of our products. Interest. The application potential of CFRTP is huge. We can touch consumers' lives in a very wide range. We are sure that some of them will soon be put on the market, and CFRTP is the reason for achieving high strength, light weight and aesthetics at the same time.
This article was written by Robert Grace. Author Robert Grace is a special correspondent based in Florida, USA. He founded the weekly Plastics News in 1989 as the founding editor. He has worked as an editor for 25 years. In 2014, he was founded. Your own company RC Grace LLC (www.rcgrace.com).