New partnerships for Australian Composites for its UV curing composite technology

Australian Composites Pty Ltd signs partnership deal with Sunrez Corporation for expansion of UV curing composite technology
Moorabbin based composites raw materials manufacturer, Australian Composites Pty Ltd, announced on November 5th that it has signed a partnership agreement with Sunrez Corporation of El Cajon, CA, pioneers of UV curable resins, putties and prepregs, to expand sales of the Company’s UV curing pre-impregnated fibreglass materials (prepregs) into Canada and the US as well as to commercialize its revolutionary new rapid cure Flame Resistant prepreg technology (MTT 986t) to manufacturers of mass transit parts that require flame resistant, low smoke, and low toxicity materials.

Daniel Leipnik, CEO for Australian Composites and Mark Livesay, CEO and Founder of Sunrez Corporation are delighted to be working together. “Both our companies have been working in the same area of technology (UV cure composite materials) for many years and this partnership creates a great opportunity to bring together know how, high quality automated manufacturing capability, innovative materials and market presence all aimed at expanding sales in the region.”

Leipnik sought out Sunrez Corporation specifically as the ideal partner for increasing its presence in the US and Canadian composites industry. “Sunrez is already the market leader in this field and has received multiple patents for their UV cure technology. They are ideally placed to create further growth of UV curable products and utilise machine capacity available in our plant that can produce up to ten tonne of prepreg per day using custom designed computerised equipment. We expect to see a tremendous response from the market as a result of this partnership”, claims Leipnik.

Livesay, who has been involved in UV curable technology for over thirty years, believes the time for large scale adoption of UV curing prepregs has never been better. “Most companies manufacturing composite parts in North America these days face great competition from emerging nations such as China, India, and Vietnam, where labour rates are considerably less. There is a heavy focus by American and Canadian firms to reduce the costs of labour, material, and energy. One of the easiest ways to do that is by utilizing light curing composites materials which harden in minutes with sunlight or artificial light, enabling composite parts to be made rapidly with fewer people, less electricity, and without the quality concerns of staff having to formulate resins and catalysts and then wetting out the glass to form the part,” comments Livesay.

Prepregs have the added advantage over wet hand lay up in that the resin content is controlled through an automated manufacturing process. This ensures that no excess resin is used and parts are even in weight and mechanical properties through the length and width of each item.

The technology also scores points on the environmental front as styrene emissions are reduced by up to 50% as materials are supplied partially cured. “With emissions of volatiles (VOC’s) being of such concern in the work place, reduced styrene emissions particularly appeals to workers who spend their day around resins and employers who are ultimately responsible for their well being” advises Leipnik.

Australian Composites Pty Ltd signs exclusive distribution agreement with Tehran’s Sazeh Morakab for supply of UV curing composite materials to Iran
Moorabbin based composites raw materials manufacturer, Australian Composites Pty Ltd, announced on November 9th that it has signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Tehran based Sazeh Morakab, to introduce and distribute the Company’s UV curing pre-impregnated fibreglass materials (prepregs) into the Iranian composite market place.

Chief Executive Office for Australian Composites, Daniel Leipnik and Chief of the Board for Sazeh Morakab, Mrs. Marzieh Bozorg recently met at the JEC Composites trade show in Singapore and immediately recognized the tremendous value in working together to meet the huge potential in Iran for innovative materials such as Australian Composite’s out of autoclave (OOAC) technology.

“Our Company has been supplying fibre glass, woven carbon, resins, tissues, veils, putties, vacuum bagging materials & equipment, and manufacturing know-how to the Iranian composites Industry since 1996 and we pride ourselves on being the number one supplier of all composite material options in the region. Being able to offer highly technical prepregs such as those made by Australian Composites not only compliments our current product offering but allows local manufacturers access to materials that until now have been unavailable to the Industry,” admits Bozorg. “With the number of products being made out of composites materials growing every day as well as the huge market for repair and reinforcement solutions in Iran’s giant oil and gas Industry, we see Australian Composites UV cure prepreg technology as being the perfect material for Iran’s growing composites need.”

“Expanding our network of distribution into the Iranian market is part of our overall business strategy to sell our materials globally and continue along our path of double digit growth each year. Sazeh Morakab is a well established, knowledgeable supplier of composite materials and represents a key mechanism for us to enter a new market,” suggests Leipnik.

Sazeh Morakab plans to warehouse large quantities or UV cure Vinyl Ester and Polyester E glass prepreg and supply roll goods to local manufacturers.

“One of the great attributes about our product is that it can be stored in a warehouse for up to 12 months at room temperature without refrigeration during shipping or storage,” Leipnik confirms. “This is a far better option than other resins that require constant refrigeration or those with very short shelf lives”.

Beyond ease of shipping and storage, Australian Composites UV cure materials offer significant manufacturing advantages such as curing within minutes using sunlight or artificial light, eliminates the need for workers to mix resins or catalysts, provides materials that are completely uniform in weight and thickness that creates for mechanically superior parts. Also, as the UV cure prepreg uses half as much resin as wet hand lay up manufacturing, composite parts weigh up to 40% less which offers tremendous advantages for structural items used as transport parts.

The first container of Australian Composites materials will leave Australia early January 2010. There is an expectation that this will be the first of many.

“This will be our very first sale of product to Iran and we are really excited to see the technology being adopted by the Iranian composites Industry. We hope that some of our more technical products, such as our UV curable flame resistant range, will even enable the Industry to expand in new directions where human safety requirements can be met,” concludes Leipnik.

More information
www.auscomposites.com.au
www.sazehmorakab.com
www.sunrez.com

Source : Australian Composites

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New partnerships for Australian Composites for its UV curing composite technology

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