Competencies

Intelligent Clever lightweight construction is a precondition for efficient movement of weight, effortless acceleration, as well as excellent and accurate mechanical performance. Lightweight construction is central to the 3A Composites Mobility philosophy and the focus of its competencies. Our tested and proven construction methods, as well as their load-specific design, enable us to tap the potential of the materials. Weight and performance are optimized in parallel. This means that raw materials and energy are efficiently deployed during the production and operation of vehicles and buses.

Competent 3A Composites Mobility has all the required competencies to design and produce components and working resources. These competencies apply along the entire value-added chain, from the concept design all the way to series production, backed by ongoing development of concepts, materials and methods. With regard to testing, verifying and certifying its solutions, 3A Composites Mobility opts for an approach based on close partnership with selected institutes and specialized service providers. Supported by our efficient design process, we develop custom solutions of high reliability.

Simplification As a result of functional integration and additional services, we can produce our components in installation-ready modules. These simplify processes and systems for the customer. Such integration of technical functions also drives lightweight construction and product optimization. Functional integration demands high standards of interdisciplinary competence and corporate performance. Together with the customer, 3A Composites Mobility develops solutions that lead to customer benefits in procurement, logistics and operations.

Methodical Using intelligent materials and high-performance composites, 3A Composites Mobility develops advanced solutions for many different markets and industries. Tried-and-true methods and processes are utilized in this regard:

• Vacuum Resin Infusion (VAC)

Vacuum-supported infusion is a sustainable and reproducible moulding process for large-surface, solid or sandwich-panel constructions made of fiber-reinforced plastic. In closed moulds, semi-finished fibrous structures and core materials are set into structural components through the injection of fire-retardant synthetic resin systems that wet the structure entirely. The VAC process produces up to four flat composite parts with a surface area up to 50 square meters per mould per day.

• Structural Sandwich Bonding (AVT)

The AVT vacuum technique is the process of combining semi-finished sheets to structural sandwich panels using selected high-strength bonding systems. The load-bearing surface layers, which are made of metallic or composite sheets, are bonded under pressure with the lightweight core materials and intermediate or edge profiles. This process is scalable within broad limits. Standard component surfaces vary between 0.5 and 50 square meters, with daily production of 1 to 50 parts.

• Hand lamination is the most universal method to produce laminates. The most important advantage is the ability to get almost all shapes, at a low cost of tooling. This process is used for complicated shape parts with a surface area of 0.01 to 50 square meters and a production time of 1 to 10 days per form.

• Thermoforming is one of the oldest and most common methods of processing plastic materials. A sheet of plastic is heated to reach soft point and then formed over a mould. When the plastic comes into contact with the mould surface it reaches the desired shape. At the end of process, the semi-product is cooled down and demoulded; it is then trimmed to make a useable product. It is a fast and economical process with relatively low mould cost, flexibility of product wall thickness and the possibility of producing large, thin parts.