Fortium™ Structural Thermoset Composites are a series of composite products reinforced with 40% - 65% discontinuous glass fiber. This high level of reinforcement imparts high strength and impact resistance to these composite materials. The discontinuous nature of the reinforcement allows these materials to be molded into complex geometries by compression molding processes.
The use of various thermoset resins, like polyester, vinyl ester, epoxy and vinyl ester/urethane hybrids, imparts outstanding temperature resistance and toughness to these composite solutions. This choice of resins and various reinforcement levels also provides IDI Composites with a great deal of flexibility to optimize the cost and density of these composite materials putting them on par with Aluminum and Steel on a performance/weight basis.
Composite Truck Box Application Study
Ultrium™ Structural Thermoset Composites are a series of materials including Carbon Fiber Sheet Molding Compound (CSMC) that raise the bar on stiffness as a function of weight to a level beyond that of Fortium™ STC®. The carbon fiber reinforcement of Ultrium™ STC® makes these products well suited for complex geometric applications that require performance optimized high stiffness and low weight.
The ability to tailor the resin system (vinyl ester/urethane and epoxy are just two of the possible options) with the carbon fiber provides application designers with the compatibility necessary to marry the Ultrium™ STC® with carbon pre-pregs. This multi-material solution provides engineers with the high strength to weight ratios they have come to expect with a composite solution with the desire and need to push design geometries to the next level.
