May 2, 2022
(press release)
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New fastcuring composites for high-volume automotive applications with outstanding structural part performance Solvay, a leading global supplier of specialty materials, has announced an important addition to complement its broad portfolio of composite materials for the automotive industry: SolvaLite® 714 Prepregs, a new generation of unidirectional carbon-fiber and woven-fabric products pre-impregnated with SolvaLite® 714 epoxy resin. These innovative prepregs offer fast-cure cycles, long outlife, and have been optimized for manufacturing automotive components, such as body panels, at short compression-molding cycle times in serial production runs. “Our new SolvaLite® 714 Prepregs have been specially developed to ensure strong product robustness in large-scale industrial compression-molding processes and deliver high structural part performance,” said Greg Kelly, Product Manager Prepregs, Solvay Composites. They are available in a wide range of unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced and woven-fabric formats.” SolvaLite® 714 Prepregs are currently manufactured in Europe, and will be commercially available worldwide beginning in the second quarter of 2022. Solvay will officially launch and introduce the new product family to the automotive market during the JEC WORLD International Composites Show in Paris from May 3-5, 2022, at Hall 5 Booth M41. In addition, Solvay recently invested in production capability enhancements for Xencor™ LFT (long fiber technology). The investment includes new manufacturing assets and additional capabilities in Solvay’s Oudenaarde facility in Belgium, as well as an expansion of research and development resources at one of Solvay’s technical centers in Alpharetta, Georgia. Xencor LFT is one of the key pillars in Solvay's light-weighting portfolio, which also includes short-fiber compounds and continuous carbon-fiber composites. Xencor LFT opens up new light-weighting potential for aluminum die-cast replacement in next-generation electric vehicles. This includes several areas of metal replacement, such as those in braking and steering, electric-drive units, inverters, and battery module protection, among others. SolvaLite® and Xencor™ are a registered trademark of Solvay.
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