The use of composites is booming worldwide, owing to their unique properties. In South Africa, however, a shrinking market is evident, with composites being used mainly in niche markets such as the petrochemicals industry and aerospace.

“Composites do not have an identity or a ‘home’ in South Africa and nobody is really looking after this industry”, states Dr Kjelt van Rijswijk, president of Composites SA, the newly established local industry association.

“Internationally, cooperation between industry and the research community has proven instrumental in the phenomenal growth of composites in recent years”, notes Andy Radford, coordinator of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR’s) Biocomposites Centre of Competence (BCC), which is supported by the Department of Science and Technology. He stresses that composites are no longer limited to exotic aerospace applications but are widely applied in the automotive, rail and construction industries, as well as for making furniture and jewellery.

“Our plan is to unite and benchmark the composites industry, initiate dialogues between all private and public players and assist the industry in initiating and coordinating projects,” states Radford. “This initiative aims to contribute to job creation and a sustainable composites industry.”

State of the Industry

“Basic information such as industry stakeholders, employment figures and its contribution to the economy is not known,” explains Van Rijswijk. “Insufficient industry information makes it difficult to attract students to this field, consequently further restricting innovation and advancement in composites”.

Innovation is often done in isolation and the spillover of technology and skills from the advanced to the more basic manufacturing sectors (swimming pools, canopies, sports equipment) is limited. “Advancing the basic composites sector, however, is paramount to preventing cheap and inferior imports from flooding the local market,” stresses Van Rijswijk.

Whereas the high-tech sector is focused on high-value-added products, basic manufacturing typically aims at higher volumes and, hence, contributes more to employment. The entire industry, advanced and basic, needs to be mobilised, and the cooperation with the research community needs to be renewed. Also, proper use of the national testing infrastructure needs to be pursued. “Testing is an integral part of composites technology. At present, too many innovations fail during implementation because materials and products were not properly tested,” Radford explains.

Composites SA: New Industry Association
Composites SA will replace the Polymeric Composites Institute of South Africa (PCISA), which has its origin in the anticorrosion industry. Its firm roots have made attempts to include the wider composites industry unsuccessful. In addition, relying on voluntary participation strongly limited the output of the former association, which eventually led to a reduction in interest and support from industry. “It is key to uniting the industry without losing sight of the specific needs of individual sectors,” emphasises Van Rijswijk.

“In contrast to the PCISA, Composites SA will be in active dialogue with government,” highlights van Rijswijk, “Growing an industry involves legislation, education and long-term planning, which cannot be done in isolation. Together with the BCC, we will approach the various government departments from different angles to get composites onto our administrators’ radar.”

Composites SA also intends to stimulate composites education and upskilling to make composites more visible in everyday life and to actively promote the use of locally produced raw materials.

Biocomposites
“Biocomposites are made of natural fibres such as kenaf or flax, which are locally grown in South Africa,” explains Radford, adding with enthusiasm that should the composites industry embrace natural fibres, a whole farming production line will be required, subsequently leading to job creation and economic growth predominantly in the rural areas.

He adds that the BCC’s current focus is on activating an entire value chain from plant to composites in KwaZulu- Natal.

Radford states that, while green fibres cannot replace all composite materials needed across industries, it is not necessarily the case that only low-value products can be targeted. Previous research at the CSIR has resulted in a biocomposite aircraft interior panel, which meets all the industry’s requirements related to strength and flammability.

He points out that the composites industry tried to introduce natural fibres across South African industries five years ago, but that failure to activate the entire value chain simultaneously resulted in uncertainties in supply and demand, which led to the failure of the materials’ incorporation into the production processes.

“However, times have changed and companies and industries are now more focused on environment-friendly and sustainable alternatives, as well as local content,” states Radford, adding that companies are driven by their clients to supply such alternatives.

He aims to promote biocomposites by introducing the material to companies that are already manufacturing compo- sites such as fibre glass, as the design and manufacturing processes of biocomposites are similar. “A mobilised industry is more capable and eager to innovate, which will greatly enhance the success of biocomposites,” Radford concludes.

Composites Conference in Durban
To get stakeholders together, a conference will be hosted by the Durban University of Technology (DUT) from December 2 to 4, in conjunction with the BCC and Composites SA.

This is the first international conference on composite, biocomposite and nano- composite materials (ICCBNM) and is to be hosted by the Composite and Mechatronic Research Group from the DUT Department of Mechanical Engineering. The conference will bring together leading international researchers and scientists and will cover various topics pertaining to the application, processing, analysis and modelling of these advanced materials.

“We aim to officially launch our asso- ciation during the conference, but the ultimate goal is to organise future events that combine a research-focused conference with an industry-focused exhibition,” explains Van Rijswijk, adding that this is the standard formula that composites events around the world follow to attract stakeholders from government, industry and the research community.

‘Composites, where are you?’

“It is our belief that, before officially launching the association, we should have an industry directory in place with all compo- sites role-players,” continues Van Rijswijk. “Without this directory, it is impossible to create a comprehensive overview of the key statistics of our industry and we cannot track the effects of our activities. A feasible industry development plan with value proposition and trackable deliverables can also not be developed without a directory of this kind,” he adds.

Because the composites industry is so broad, it is challenging to locate the various stakeholders, which is why Compo- sites SA is launching the ‘Composites, where are you?’ initiative. “We simply request composites stakeholders, including suppliers, distributors, manufacturers, engineering bureaus, equipment suppliers, training institutes, testing facilities, inspection bureaus, government officials, consultants and interested end-users to email Composites SA.”

The directory will enhance the communication related to dissemination of knowledge and employment opportunities or notifications related to, for instance, conferences and exhibitions. “After all,” says Van Rijswijk, ”it’s much nicer to receive a personal invitation to a conference than to read about it in a magazine.”