New sides of a high-tech material - Schütze
Carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) are amazing materials. They are strong and rigid, yet extremely light. No wonder they have been used in aviation for some time now. At Braunschweig-based Schütze GmbH, the high-tech material is primarily processed into rods.
"These are used wherever high load-bearing capacity and low mass are required," explains Martin Schütze, one of the managing directors of the family business. "These can be structural struts or control rods in aeroplanes. Or the truss girders in the Zeppelin NT. But we are also present in the aerospace sector, in specialised mechanical engineering and in measurement technology with our CFRP rods.
We wanted to expand our production process and our product portfolio.
The company, founded in 1985 by Martin Schuetze's father and uncle, relies on a process it developed itself: a round-ground foam core is covered with resin-impregnated, longitudinally oriented carbon fibres. Once the resin has hardened, the result is a highly resilient and rigid rod. In recent years, the company has refined the process and the associated machines down to the last detail. But there is nothing that cannot be improved or expanded. This is why Schütze GmbH was also a partner in the two LuFo projects Air Carbon I and Air Carbon II. "The big goal was to develop an aerospace-grade carbon fibre in Germany," explains Martin Schütze. "At the time, our rods served the project partners as test carriers for a typical aviation application." But that was not enough for the Braunschweig team. They wanted to be involved with their own research part. "So we made it our mission to expand our production process and therefore our product portfolio to include other resins within the two LuFo projects," he adds.
Schütze GmbH
Without the financial support of the LuFo programme, we would not have been able to do this.
The resin in which the carbon fibres are embedded has a major influence on the subsequent use of the components. For example, some enable CFRP materials to work reliably at very low or very high temperatures. However, these resins usually need heat to cure. And that was a major challenge for Schütze GmbH. "The process, which we developed ourselves and perfected over the years, was designed for normal ambient temperatures, as was the system we developed," says Martin Schütze, looking back. It was therefore nothing less than a completely new development, which initially raised many questions. How can a heating section be integrated into the existing process? Who can supply the appropriate materials? Is there a winding device that can be used to consolidate the rods? Can all the resins be processed or are they too low or too high in viscosity?
Even though the project certainly cannot be compared with large-scale projects, it was a challenge for a small company, says the Managing Director. "We wouldn't have been able to do it without the financial support from the LuFo programme," he adds. "The opportunity to conduct research outside of normal business operations is very important for us as an SME."
This would not have been conceivable with our previous process..
He and the company consider LuFo to be a well-equipped and very useful funding instrument and feel that they are in very good hands. "It focuses very strongly on longer-term, more in-depth and technically more demanding development than perhaps many other funding instruments," says Martin Schütze. "This is a great opportunity for us to simply develop further."
The company seized this opportunity. After all, the new production process was not the only thing in place when Air Carbon II was completed. The product portfolio had also been expanded. The rods with the enhanced properties are now very popular in aircraft construction. And not only there. "We were also able to score points with a carrier rocket, where the customer needed lightweight and highly resilient struts that work safely in the temperature range between -150 and 150 degrees Celsius," says the Managing Director happily. "And that would have been inconceivable with our previous process. Thanks to Air Carbon and LuFo, we managed it and were subsequently selected as a series supplier."
Text: Kai Dürfeld