Strength through cooperation. VDL Fibertech Industries

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1 Strength through cooperation VDL Fibertech Industries

2 VDL Fibertech Industries Composites such as carbon fiber and glass fiber are used in products like Formula 1 cars and the latest aeroplanes, tennis rackets and mountain bikes. These high-performance materials are increasingly finding their way into new applications, and VDL Fibertech Industries can provide you with professional assistance in applying this technology to your products. We can offer you the benefit of more than 30 years of experience in the design and production of composites. The application of composites provides the best results when co-design occurs from an early stage of product development. Therefore we recommend that you involve us in the process from the moment your idea or product is conceived. This is the shortest path toward achieving the maximum strength/ stiffness combination and/or maximum weight savings of your composite part or assembly. Our highly experienced team of engineers will never loose sight of the importance of minimising the tooling and product costs.

3 Applications VDL Fibertech Industries is a top producer of medical system components. We are the largest composite table top supplier in the world. We also supply a diverse range of polyurethane products and composite accessories to the medical industry. The extremely stringent specifications we must meet for these applications are naturally also applied to the challenging machine parts and weight-saving components we make for the automotive and defence industries. Production series ranges from a few dozen to many thousands. Technologies Composite, or fiber-reinforced plastics, is a broad field in which VDL Fibertech Industries occupies a leading market position in terms of both materials and production processes. The combination of continuous fiber and outstanding, innovative resin systems leads to composites custom made for your application. This is further reinforced by our design philosophy of only placing fiber where it is needed and our selection of the production technology best suited to your series size, product requirements and, above all, total costs.

4 RTM Resin Transfer Moulding results in extremely high fiber densities (>60%) in combination with a product surface that requires virtually no finishing. Our use of presses and mould technology developed within the company results in maximum efficiency and minimum rejects. RTM Light The RTM Light technique offers many of the advantages of RTM, yet the moulds are less expensive. The reason is that this approach makes use of injection under a vacuum instead of under pressure. This technique is most often used for smaller series that must be delivered within a few weeks. Vacuum bagging A basic composite fabrication technology perfectly suited for smaller series and achieving low start-up costs. Pre-preg A wide range of high-quality carbon fiber sheets are pressed using the pre-impregnated or pre-preg technique. This approach is also frequently used for challenging 3D products and specials. RIM We produce our polyurethane products with Resin Injection Moulding. Both foamed and solid structures are possible. As a thermoset, PUR has great properties such as a lack of sink marks, possibility of thin/thick transitions, impact resistance and high dimensional stability even at high temperatures. Assembly & Testing Whether we are talking about adhesive bonding or assembly of components, every process we carry out is performed in a controlled manner with absolute accuracy. This applies to both complex components and complete modules. Our 3D-measuring bench and X-ray NDT equipment guarantee high accuracies, therefore ensuring the expected production quality.

5 Composites: costs & automation Composites expensive? That depends. With smart design and a high degree of automation the difference between composites and conventional materials is probably less than you think. We continuously invest in the latest machines and further improvement of our production processes. VDL Fibertech Industries in short: Experienced development department Flexible professionals Innovative and no-nonsense high and ultra high modulus continuous fibers Epoxy and polyester resin systems RTM, RTM Light, vacuum bagging Polyurethane (solid/foam) RIM 2D fiber cutting, 5-axis CNC milling/ finishing, non-destructive (X-ray) testing Assembly and sub-assemblies ISO 14001, ISO 13485, UL certified

6 VDL Groep VDL Fibertech Industries is part of VDL Groep, an international company with more than 7,600 employees, spread over 79 subsidiaries in 16 countries. The strength of the cooperation within VDL Groep offers added assurance in terms of continuity to customers and suppliers of VDL Fibertech Industries alike. Furthermore, VDL Fibertech Industries can always call on the collective expertise of VDL Groep and cooperate with its sister companies in the production of combined components. VDL Fibertech Industries is a subcontracting company. In the subcontracting division, VDL specialises in metalworking, mechatronic systems and system supply, plastics processing and surface treatment. The other divisions are buses & coaches and finished products. The bus & coach division includes chassis modules, coaches, public transport buses, mini & midi buses and second-hand buses. The finished products division comprises suspension systems for the automotive industry, heating, cooling and air-technical systems, production automation systems, systems for the oil, gas and petrochemical industry, systems for the agricultural sector, sunbeds, roof boxes, container handling equipment, cigar-making and packaging machines, components for bulk handling and dust extraction installations and systems for explosion and fire protection. VDL Fibertech Industries bv Hallenweg CT Best The Netherlands Telephone +31 (0) Telefax +31 (0) info@vdlfibertechindustries.com