The recent American Composites Manufacturers Assn. (ACMA) COMPOSITES 2004 conference, held Oct. 6-8 in Tampa, Fla., U.S.A. brought together a wide range of composites industry exhibitors and some newsworthy announcements. ACMA unveiled a new industry logo and tag line for its Composites Growth Initiative (CGI) that it hopes will be an effective "branding statement" for the industry, says ACMA spokesman John Busel. Composites Growth Initiative logo

Source: ACMA

The logo graphic shows a pyramidal structure of integrated building blocks, and is accompanied by the statement "Composites: Multiple strengths, infinite possibilities." Busel says that ACMA is encouraging its members to display the logo and branding statement, as an adjunct to each company's own identity, on product labels, packaging, literature and Web sites. Members only have to accept a licensing agreement to use the logo and statement at no cost.

AGY (Aiken, S.C., U.S.A.) held its first-ever ACMA press conference, using the opportunity to announce expansion of its S-2 Glass production capacity to meet increased demand. By optimizing efficiency and employing some new technology, capacity has been increased by 10 percent, says AGY president Douglas Mattscheck. In addition, the company's facility in Huntingdon, Pa., U.S.A. will be expanded to increase production output by 15 percent, for a total expansion of 25 percent.

3TEX (Cary, N.C., U.S.A.) showed its three-dimensional 3-WEAVE woven carbon products, including an innovative approach for making automotive engine valves from woven carbon. The company is almost ready to unveil a new nine-module, three-dimensional braiding machine, under development for several years, says 3TEX's Bob Schartow.

Zoltek Corp.'s (St. Louis, Mo., U.S.A.) relocated U.S. prepreg operation, formerly Zoltek Materials Group in San Diego, is now up and running in Salt Lake City, Utah, says sales and marketing manager Paul Harrison. Now called Zoltek Prepreg Operations, the company's hot-melt prepreg tape line is fully operational and capable of producing uni tape up to 48 inches wide in a range of areal weights. The 36,500 ft2 facility houses not only the prepreg equipment but all raw material storage, resin mixing, pre-filming and cold storage operations as well.

First-time exhibitor Basaltex (Wevelgem, Belgium) showed its line of continuous-filament basalt fiber reinforcement products. With production facilities in the Ukraine, the company is introducing its fiber products in the U.S. Basalt fiber, with properties similar to E-glass, has excellent fire performance.

For additional product news from ACMA's COMPOSITES 2004 event, see the ACMA show wrap-up in the December 2004 issue of HPC's sister publication Composites Technology.

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