IACMI SURF Jim Plaunt displays the SMC Part Process with 4,000-ton Schuler press
April 11, 2019
UPDATE: The IACMI SURF “SMC 101: From What to Why” workshop has been rescheduled for August 21-22. Visit the event website and register here.
IACMI will host “SMC 101: From What to Why” training workshop at the Scale-Up Research Facility (SURF) in Detroit, Mich., May 22 – 23, 2019. The two-day workshop is open to anyone interested in SMC, and will introduce attendees to the merits of SMC processes and best practices. IACMI SURF is home to a 4,000-ton Schuler compression molding press – the only one in North America that is available to industry for research and development testing.
The “SMC: 101 From What to Why” workshop is open to technicians, buyers, engineers, and anyone interested in SMC the opportunity to understand the benefits of SMC in general and the advantages of its adoption. SMC is a combination of chopped glass or carbon fiber reinforcement, thermoset resin, and fillers; and SMC achieves complex parts with superior characteristics of stiffness and low mass.
SMC can be utilized in moderate to high-volume applications because of its strength and low production cycle – which is an important characteristic in the automotive industry. SMC can be formulated to be as light as aluminum but has the capability to be molded into surfaces more easily than the metal. Furthermore, the tooling costs are less costly than aluminum. For example, with a metal part, progressive tooling is required to achieve a finished part but only one tool is needed with a SMC panel.
Join IACMI at “SMC 101: From What to Why” on May 22 – 23, 2019 to learn more about best practices and techniques to create and repair SMC. Topics covered in the workshop include standard and low-density SMC, shrinkage control, SMC formulating, SMC compounding, Compression molding SMC, and more. Workshop training fees for non-IACMI members are $650; IACMI members, $550; and students, $325. To learn more about the details of the workshop, click here to register by May 17, 2019.
For more information, visit iacmi.org/smc.
Read more in CompositesWorld.