Saxon Textile Research Institute e.V. (STFI)
JEC World will take place from March 4 to 6, 2025, with the motto “Pushing the Limits”. With its groundbreaking solutions, unique manufacturing and business opportunities, the leading trade fair for lightweight construction is a networking hub for creativity, vision and action. It shows how composites are pushing the boundaries of projects and ambitions.
The Saxon Textile Research Institute (STFI) is building on this motto and will be presenting highly oriented semi-finished products and organic sheets made from recycled carbon fibers for aviation at Paris 2025. These semi-finished products currently represent the limit in the field of rCF. In addition, the members of the MC4 consortium, in which the STFI optimizes recycling solutions for composite materials made of glass and carbon fibres with European partners, will be presenting their results at their own stand.
With the newly installed wetlaid nonwoven line, the Saxon institute also offers a nonwoven technology that will also be of interest for the reuse of short carbon fibres in the future. Visit us at the joint stand of the Saxony Economic Development Corporation and talk to our team of lightweight construction and recycling experts. STFI Hall 5, Stand D97. You can meet our MC4 team in Hall 6 D114-01.
Highly integrated organic sheets for secondary structures
The aim of the project is the continuous production of component-specific organic sheets for secondary structures and cabin parts in aviation. Hybrid nonwovens made from recycled carbon fibers (rCF) and aviation-certified PPS staple fibers for secondary components form the basis for these organic sheets. Depending on the mechanical component requirements, local reinforcement with oriented fibres as well as the introduction of various functionalizations, thickness jumps and local fibre volume content adjustments with subsequent consolidation of the entire structure into organic sheets is carried out.
The component-specific semi-finished products can then be joined in a two-stage thermoforming and joining process to form an application-optimized near-net-shape component in a box structure.
MC4 – Optimizing material cycles for carbon and glass fiber composites
High-performance fiber materials made of carbon and glass have a considerable ecological footprint, and not just because of their energy-intensive production. High waste volumes in the manufacturing process and the reuse of raw materials at the end of the product life cycle offer enormous recycling potential for the future. MC4 (Multi-level Circular Process Chain for Carbon and Glass Fiber Composites) is a European project to promote circular approaches for carbon and glass fiber composites. These materials are indispensable in many technical applications due to their lightweight construction properties and good mechanical characteristics. The project consortium is working until March 2025 to make the European value chains for carbon and glass fibers more ecologically and economically efficient and will be presenting the development work carried out and what is technically feasible on selected demonstrators both at the STFI stand and at its own stand.
Wetlaid system offers new possibilities
The Center for Textile Sustainability at the STFI now has a wetlaid line for the application-specific processing of short fibres. At the same time, all available nonwoven formation technologies are now installed at the STFI for the first time. With a working width of 600 mm and a line speed of up to 10 m/min, single-layer wet-laid nonwovens can be produced. Short fibers with fiber lengths of up to 25 mm are processed in wet laid nonwoven production. Almost all fiber types and materials in various lengths, thicknesses or preparation states as well as material blends and recycled fibers can be processed into wet laid nonwovens. Decisive factors for the product include the dispersing behavior of the fibers and the fiber length. In the first process step, fibers are dispersed in water to form a suspension. The headbox is then used to form the web on an inclined screen belt. Bonding is achieved thermally by adding binding fibers or by applying an additional binding agent. Finally, the fabric web is dried and wound. The newly installed wetlaid line will also be of interest for the reuse of short carbon fibers in the future.
Meet us in Paris
The highly oriented textile and composite semi-finished products based on rCF for aviation can be seen together with other STFI research highlights from March 4 to 6, 2025 at JEC World in Paris in Hall 5 at Stand D97. Together with our partners Cetex Institut gGmbH, Chemnitz University of Technology – Institute of Lightweight Structures (IST), Schmietex Engineering GmbH, we will be at the joint stand of Wirtschaftsförderung Sachsen GmbH. Meet our MC4 team in hall 6 at stand D114-01 – we look forward to seeing you there!
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