Nonwoven veils enhance composite finish, fabrication and performance

Technical Fibre Products Ltd. (TFP, Burneside, U.K.), a James Cropper company, is showcasing a portfolio of lightweight advanced nonwovens. Featuring nonwoven veils as light as 2 g/m², TFP says it is setting the performance standard for improved finish and enhanced composites fabrication across industries including aerospace and advanced air mobility (AAM), wind energy, automotive applications and sporting goods.

TFP’s range of multifunctional veils deliver improved finish with added functionality, including static dissipation, abrasion and corrosion resistance. Incorporated at the surface of the composite, on top of the structural component, TFP veils are highly porous and feature consistent fiber distribution and weight, ensuring a uniform resin wetout and zero dry spots. Easy to handle and incorporate, the nonwovens minimize print-through from the underlying reinforcement, reducing the need for further processing of the finished part.

According to TFP, its high-quality veils have enabled aerospace suppliers to manufacture uniform, resilient and high-quality adhesive films for more than 30 years. Its nonwovens are accredited to AS9100 and are used extensively in the aerospace industry as an adhesive carrier or support for a fragile material. In carrier applications they enable rapid, even wetout of adhesive, creating a thin, uniform bondline; this increases the quality and consistency of the film, while the nonwoven architecture also improves the resilience and handling of the final product. The nonwovens are also used in fabrication to stabilize fragile materials and aid processing, an example of which is displayed at TFP’s booth.

In addition, TFP’s veils provide a flexible solution for imparting tunable electromagnetic (EMI) shielding and electrical conductivity to composites. Easy to handle and integrate, they provide consistent conductivity and shielding with minimal additional weight. Proven to provide a high level of shielding to electromagnetic interference from 100 MHz up to and beyond 40 GHz, TFP veils are used in a range of applications, from medical devices and mobile phones to composite electronics and battery enclosures. Incorporated at the surface of the composite these materials are conformable and resistant to flex fatigue, forming part of the composite structure, rather than being applied after manufacture with additional process steps.

TFP invites visitors to learn more about its lightweight nonwovens and how they advance composite finish, fabrication and performance.

Visit TFP at Booth N40 in Hall 5.