Chomarat, a specialist in textile reinforcements for composites, is continuing to develop its advanced composites and carbon fibre activities with the opening of an additional plant that will be fully equipped with new manufacturing equipment in the United States.

Chomarat is establishing a new 58,500-ft² plant in South Carolina, which will be dedicated to the development of Chomarat’s advanced composite activities. It will open during the first quarter 2014 and start producing its first C-Ply spread multiaxial reinforcements mid year.

Innovative solutions

The South Carolina site will initially be equipped with the new LIBA MAX5 100-inch machine (variable width) for producing spread-tow carbon multiaxials.

It will be the second LIBA MAX5 machine operated by the Group, following the one installed in France. The state-of-the-art machine is expected to help boost Chomarat’s development in the carbon markets and complement the spread/non-spread carbon fabric offerings already available in France and Asia.

The company believes that these new capabilities will enable Chomarat to propose its innovative advanced composite solutions in the North American industrial, automotive and aerospace markets.

Continuous partnership

These investments in the US are part of a process that began in 2011 when Chomarat launched C-PLY in partnership with a group of manufacturers and academics.

The partnership continues to be based on the research of Stanford University’s Prof. Steven Tsai that suggests it is possible to design and build better composite parts by escaping the rules of standard aluminium construction.

C-Ply is the industrial embodiment of that concept that is said to simultaneously reduce weight and manufacturing cost, which ultimately leads to composite structures that are more competitive, the company reports.

www.chomarat.com