Exclusive interview with Terry Morgan, CEO, The Composites Group

15 September 2011

Pira International speak with Terry Morgan, CEO, The Composites Group before GOCarbonFiber2011.

 

Quantum Composites, a subsidiary of The Composites Group, will be sponsoring the networking drinks reception at the Museum of Flight for GOCarbonFiber2011.

 

Please give us some background on your experience in composites and your role at Quantum Composites & The Composites Group.

I first became involved in the Composites Industry in 2008, when in partnership with Highlander Partners, we acquired Hadlock Plastics. Hadlock Plastics is a leading custom molder and finisher of high-quality engineered composite products.

From our research of the composites industry we recognized this as a dynamic industry with attractive growth potential. As CEO of Hadlock, I continued to increase my exposure and experience in the composites industry as we grew the business. With continued growth and strategic positioning in mind, we acquired Quantum Composites via the acquisition of its parent company, Premix Incorporated, in December of 2010. We subsequently formed The Composites Group™ which reflects the combined capabilities and synergies of these three composites businesses.

My role as CEO of The Composites Group is to continue the pursuit of our strategic vision. Our vision is to drive growth through the combined resources of these three solution based businesses by using our market proven expertise, depth of material and manufacturing offerings, and our vertical integration of capabilities (from material development, to molding and machining, to final finishing and assembly) to be your total composites source.

 

Quantum Composites specialize in thermoset structural sheet molding compounds - can you explain this to the layman and outline the key applications

Composites parts and assemblies utilizing compression molded sheet molding compounds (SMC) have been an established composite solution for a number of years. Typical SMCs are comprised of polyester or vinyl ester resin with discontinuous fiberglass reinforcement and filler. SMC chopped fiberglass lengths are typically 25mm with a content of 20 - 30% in the finished compound. Quantum Composites materials are produced in the same configuration as typical SMC materials but with much higher levels of fiber reinforcements. We refer to these materials as Engineered Structural Composites™ (ESC™). ESC materials include carbon fiber or fiber glass reinforcements at 50 - 67% content in a variety of high performance resin systems including epoxy, phenolic, BMI, Polyimide and toughened vinyl esters.

These unique and proprietary ESC materials exhibit higher mechanical and thermal performance as well as elevated strength to weight ratios that present opportunities for compression molded composite solutions for more demanding applications. Key applications include a variety of structural and semi structural parts in automotive, medical, oil/gas, aerospace, military and general industrial markets.

 

You have worked closely with the Lamborghini ACSL at the University of Washington, what have you contributed to the project?

Having developed and produced chopped carbon fiber molding compounds for 20+ years, we were able to augment and support the material and process development process as well as the application and tool design with our in house technical staff.

 

What are the main challenges in growth of carbon fiber thermoset sheet molding compounds?

The cost of the carbon fibers clearly presents the largest impediment to exponential growth of these compounds. Although, we are optimistic that we will continue to see a decline in the cost of these materials as more capacity is brought on line. As for the physical properties and "moldability" of carbon fiber SMC, our carbon fiber Advanced Molding Compounds (AMC™) lead the way in terms of compression molded structural and semi structural parts. However, we continue to develop new formulations and technology to improve performance and value.

 

What is the biggest opportunity for carbon composites in mainstream automotive, and what is key in realising this opportunity?

We see compression molded structural and semi structural applications as a major growth market for our carbon fiber ESC™ materials in the mainstream automotive market. Carbon fiber SMC will enable the OEM to significantly reduce weight and in many cases, improve the overall physical properties at the same time. The key to driving this growth is maintaining cost parity with other metallic and non metallic materials and fabrication processes.

 

Apart from lightweighting, what other advantages can your materials bring to composites end users?

As discussed, our carbon fiber SMC materials (ESC™) offer market leading strength to weight ratios, physical properties, enhanced flow and moldability. These properties offer the opportunity for significant parts consolidation and elevated temperature performance all via the compression molding manufacturing process which will likely yield improved productivity and an overall cost reduction through decreased cycle times vs. typical carbon fiber material conversion processes.

 

We are pleased to have you on board, what do you hope to gain from your participation in the conference?

We are excited to be part of this conference and for the opportunity to support ongoing initiatives to continue the growth and development of the global carbon fiber composites industry. Obviously we seek to increase awareness in the industry of our market leading carbon fiber SMC products and material solutions. Beyond that we want to increase our involvement and mutual collaboration efforts with OEM's that may be interested in investigating how carbon fiber materials can benefit their products and applications.

Quantum Composites are sponsoring the GOCarbonFiber2011 Grand Evening Reception at the Museum of Flight. Find out more here.

To find out more about GOCarbonFiber2011 see the agenda.