Bond-Laminates GmbH – a wholly owned subsidiary of Lanxess – has increased its Tepex manufacturing capacity by around 50%
At its site in Brilon, Germany, Bond-Laminates GmbH – a wholly owned subsidiary of specialty chemicals company Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; www.lanxess.com) – has commissioned two new production lines for Tepex continuous-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites.
“We have increased our capacity for manufacturing Tepex by around 50% and, in doing so, are responding to the strong demand in the mass production of highly stressable components for lightweight vehicles and consumer electronics,” says Dr. Christian Obermann, Managing Director of Bond-Laminates. To accommodate the expansion from six to eight production lines, a new area covering around 1,500 square meters was constructed. The total investment ran to the mid-single-digit millions and also comprised three cutting machines, including a new four-head waterjet cutting machine for prefabricating component cuts.
Tepex is used in the automotive industry for the large-scale production of lightweight structural components such as frontend and bumper brackets, brake pedals and underbody paneling components. One recent example involved two electrically adjustable single rear seats for a variant of the Audi A8, whose seat shells are manufactured in a hybrid molding process using the polyamide-6-based Tepex dynalite. The seat shells are around 45 percent lighter than a comparable metal version, says Lanxess.