Norck: Advanced Composite Material Manufacturing for High-Performance Applications

Norck delivers expert composite manufacturing services for prototypes and production across aerospace, automotive, sporting goods, industrial, and other demanding sectors. Our skilled engineers, advanced facilities, and robust quality control ensure exceptional strength-to-weight ratios, precision tolerances, and complex geometries.

Capabilities for Composite Excellence:

• Material Expertise: Carbon fiber, fiberglass, aramid, and hybrid composites with tailored resin systems.
• Diverse Processes: Hand layup, prepreg autoclave, vacuum infusion (VARTM), compression molding, and more.
• Complex Geometries: Manufacturing of intricate shapes, thin-walled structures, and integrated features.
• In-House Tooling: Design and fabrication of molds and fixtures for cost-effective production.
• Finishing & Assembly: Trimming, sanding, painting, and integration of hardware and subassemblies.

Engineering Support for Composites:

• Design for Composite Manufacturing: Guidance on material selection, layup schedules, and optimizing for process efficiency.
• FEA Analysis: Simulation of stress, stiffness, and failure modes to optimize composite designs.
• Testing & Validation: Mechanical testing (strength, modulus), environmental exposure testing, and non-destructive evaluation (NDT).
• Production Scale-Up: From prototypes to volume production with consistent quality and performance.

Why Norck for Composite Manufacturing?

• High-Performance Focus: Proven success in industries demanding lightweight, durable parts.
• Engineering-Driven Approach: Collaboration from design to delivery for optimized composite solutions.
• Quality-Centric: Rigorous inspection and process control to ensure reliable composite parts.
• Diverse Manufacturing Options: Selecting the right process to match your design and volume needs.

A composite material combines two or more materials with different physical properties to improve its properties.

Fiberglass is a widely known composite material that combines plastic and glass fibers. Fiberglass properties are a combination of plastic and glass. It is rigid, light, and durable. One of its uses is making roofing laminate, storage tanks, surfboards, and many other applications.

Another example is carbon fibers, combined with other materials, such as resin, to form a well-known material called carbon fiber (carbon fiber reinforced polymer). Carbon fiber is significantly more rigid than steel and much lighter. It is widely used, and some of its uses are aircraft bodies, sport cars bodies and seats, drone bodies, prostheses, bicycles, hockey, and baseball bats.

Composite manufacturing designates a set of fabrication methods used to manufacture a part. It  is used in the following sectors:

   - Medical: Surgical tools, implants, and orthopedics.
   -  Industrial: Jigs, fixtures, and enclosures.
   - Aerospace & Automotive: Bodies of aircraft and cars, electrical cables
   - Robotics: Robots' bodies, grippers
   - Consumer products: Cooking utensils, swimming pools panels, shower stalls

Composite manufacturing offers many benefits, including:

• Highly customizable: Due to the combination of the materials, their properties are combined to result in better properties.
• Complex shapes: Depending on the mold, the shape of the workpiece can be complex
• Surface finish: Composite material parts have a smooth surface finish due to gel (applied in the process)

Composite materials are made through different manufacturing processes. Choosing the proper method depends on the functionality and aspect of the final product.

Generally, the composite comprises two materials, the matrix, and the reinforcement. Matrix materials, such as polymers, bind the reinforcement material, such as carbon fiber.

Mainly there are three types of composite materials

1. Article-reinforced: A particle-reinforced composite uses particles of reinforcement material in a matrix material. It is used for wear-resistant components such as road surfaces.

2. Natural composite: A composite material, such as bones and wood, can be found in nature.

3. Fiber-Reinforced:In this type of composite, the reinforcement material consists of continuous or chopped fiber. It is used for

1. Hand lay-up: Unlike injection molding and die casting techniques, the used mold for this process consists only of one-half in which the final product shape is carved.

Firstly, the mold is cleaned, and a thin gel coating layer is applied. The gel coating provides a surface finish (color, smoothness, texture) and prevents the reinforcement and matrix from getting in contact with water or chemical. Upon the gel coating, a layer of matrix material is applied to the mold, this first layer will be the visible part, and it will have an excellent surface finish, for example, the external surface of a boat.

Then the reinforcement material is added, and a roller, a second layer of the matrix material, is applied to bind the reinforcement to the matrix. This process is repeated until the molded part reaches the desired thickness. Then the resin is cured to solidify the part. The last thing is ejected, whether manually or using ejector pins.

The limitation of this process is that the internal surface of the molded part doesn't have a good finish and shouldn't be used as a functional surface. Also, the production rate is low.

2. Spray lay up: Similar to the hand lay-up process, the spray lay-up process uses an open mold, but instead of manually laying the matrix and reinforcement, it is made using a sprayer that mixes both materials. The sprayer chops the reinforcement fiber into 1" to 2" chopped fiber.

3. Injection molding: Injection molding uses a thermoplastic material with fiberglass. This process is made through four steps:

  • Plastification: The plastic granules are transferred from the hopper to the mold using a rotating screw and molted using heaters.

  • Injection: The screw will advance to increase pressure in the injection chamber to inject the molted plastic into the mold. The two cavities are maintained close until the plastic solidifies.

  • Cooling: After injection, the molted plastic will be cooled down to become solid using a cooling circuit. The screw will hold its position to hold the pressure inside the mold.

  • Ejection: After the molted plastic solidifies using a cooling circuit, the Die is opened, and the part is ejected via ejector pins. The screws will retreat to prepare for the next injection.

Norck is a technology-powered manufacturing leader specializing in CNC machining, 3D printing, sheet metal fabrication, and injection molding. Our intelligent, data-driven approach ensures exceptional quality, optimized costs, and seamless supply chain management for companies worldwide.

Key Services:

• Precision CNC Machining: High-quality custom parts and components.
• Advanced 3D Printing: Rapid prototyping and complex production parts.
• Sheet Metal Fabrication: Custom fabrication solutions across materials.
• Injection Molding: Scalable production for plastic parts.

Why Choose Norck?

• AI-Powered Manufacturing: Data and AI optimize our processes for superior quality, minimized costs, and supply chain visibility
• Vast Production Capacity: Our extensive partner network in Europe and the US guarantees both low and high-volume production.
• End-to-End Expertise: Our team of engineers, data scientists, and product developers ensure design for manufacturability and unparalleled service
• Single-Source Solution: Norck streamlines your supply chain, reduces overhead, enhances purchasing power, and delivers just-in-time results.

Experience the Norck difference. Get a quote fast for your manufacturing needs today!