Technical Support

Hexcel’s technical support engineers are on hand at every step in the process to help customers - from providing advice on material selection, to helping to ensure that the products are processed to achieve an optimum result and after sales support.

Case Study
A manufacturer of resin-infused wind blades approached Hexcel with a challenging processing issue that was affecting quality. They needed a solution to reduce the wrinkling and distortion of the dry reinforcements used in their process that was causing defects along the long, straight load-bearing sections of the spar.

Hexcel recommended using an open grid cured laminate from the Polyspeed® range to support the dry reinforcement in the long, straight spar sections. The same product was recommended for the vertical walls of the mould, for use in the outermost layer to prevent the dry fabrics from collapsing and folding over. In the thickest sections of the laminate, Polyspeed® was incorporated among the dry reinforcement stack to add stability while reducing distortion.

By customizing the directional reinforcement within the Polyspeed® for each application, Hexcel’s grid laminates improved and contributed to the mechanical performance of the resulting structure. The open grid construction of Polyspeed® also promotes resin flow through the thicker laminate sections and through the highly compacted UD-reinforced areas, thus reducing the resin infusion cycle time and reducing the occurrence of dry spots.