application and material development
An introduction to Norplex-Micarta’s application and material development capabilities.
Norplex-Micarta’s approach to application and material development.
Norplex-Micarta approaches each development opportunity with a core set of guiding principles:
Commitment | Collaboration | Creativity
Our commitment to the composites industry is shown through our dedication to helping customers solve demanding challenges. There are many reasons to choose composite materials, such as:
- lighter weight
- electrical and thermal insulation
- specific strength and modulus
- corrosion resistance
- temperature tolerance
- part consolidation and design flexibility
Once engineers and designers begin to consider composites, our team is ready to support the material selection, development, characterization, and ramp up. We support many industry associations through membership and active participation such as: ASTM, ACMA, IACMI, SPE, SAMPE, and IEC.
Collaboration with customers is key to solving the demands of modern designs. And our approach to every customer is unique. Sometimes a quick answer is all that is needed. Other times, a highly structured and rigorous design, development, and analysis process is required. No matter the complexity or scale, our applications engineers ensure that technical and commercial requirements are communicated and understood, regularly holding reviews with customers as appropriate.
Composites are a designers dream — they have limitless customization and optimization options. This feature of composites allows everyone to arrive at creative technical and business solutions to problems. To help those interested in utilizing composite materials, the Norplex-Micarta whitepaper “Designing with Composites” lays out the engineering fundamentals.
Why Norplex-Micarta for application and material development?
Norplex-Micarta has been producing thermoset composite materials for more than 100 years. Resin systems based on epoxy, phenolic, melamine, and silicone are commonly ran in our Postville, Iowa facility. These and other resin chemistries are often modified with additives to provide even more functionality for designers and engineers looking for a material solution to demanding applications. Reinforcements are even more varied. Glass, carbon, natural and synthetic reinforcements are all possible. So too are hybridization of these reinforcements in various different fabric architectures.
Norplex-Micarta has dedicated application and material development engineers to support material selection, application development, prototyping, and customization to support designers and engineers. These efforts are also supported by our material characterization laboratories.
Norplex-Micarta produces prepreg, sheets, tubes, and other stock shapes.
Perhaps one of these forms would allow for a prototype to be produced economically and with a quicker turnaround compared to other options? Or, maybe one of these materials data can serve as a starting point for your initial evaluation?