Manufacturing Composite Structures (November 1994)

Innovative Manufacturing Techniques to Produce Large Phenolic Composite Shapes

Sponsor: Strongwell Corporation (formerly Morrison Molded Fiberglass)

• Project Performance Period: 2/1/1995 - 1/31/1998
• Total project (est.): $3,153,000.00
• Requested ATP funds: $2,000,000.00

The Federal Highway Administration estimates that 230,000 of the nation's 575,000 bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, amounting to $130 billion of public expense in the coming years. MMFG proposes to reduce these costs by substituting longer lasting and more easily maintained fiber-reinforced polymer composites for the conventional steel and concrete materials that are in the process of deteriorating. To date, composites with high enough mechanical and structural performance have been too expensive to make in large volumes and shapes needed for infrastructural roles in bridges, buildings, and other large structures. The project will build on the company's experience with the composites manufacturing process called pultrusion, in which reinforcing fibers are pulled through a bath of polymeric resin and then into molding and curing dies. Technical challenges include optimizing the mechanical properties of the composite through judicious choices of resins, reinforcing fibers, and their mutual arrangements; optimizing the shape and size of composite components; and establishing design standards and load capacities.

For project information:

Glenn Barefoot, (703) 645-8052

ATP Project Manager

H. Felix Wu, (301) 975-4685
felix.wu@nist.gov