Improve your machine performance, speed and precision with our lightweight carbon fiber beams, custom-designed and manufactured using innovative industrial processes developed by Epsilon Composite.
To boost productivity (machine speed and precision) and reduce electrical consumption during operation, more and more OEM and manufacturers are looking to integrate carbon composites in place of traditional metallic materials (steel, stainless steel or aluminum) to reduce mass, improve rigidity to reduce deflection or better absorb vibrations, and thus improve performance. Carbon fiber beams also offer additional benefits such as high dimensional stability (very low thermal expansion) and radio-transparency.
Examples of applications: gantries for cutting or inspection machines, robotized handling frames, telescopic masts, safety beams…
Epsilon Composite is a world leader in the design and manufacture of industrial carbon fiber beams with over 20 years of experience in those applications, with the ability to supply composite blanks (raw or machined) as well as finished beams (incorporating end fittings, hardware, surface coating, etc.) with tight geometric dimensioning and tolerancing.
Carbon fiber beam design
Do you need lightweight, rigid beams for your machines or production lines?
Our engineering team can help you define your exact needs and design a solution that integrates optimally into your machine, whether you’re planning to launch a new model, or improve an existing machine.
We can work from your specifications, or from an existing beam, to propose an optimized solution.
Carbon fiber beam manufacturing
We have developed several innovative technologies to meet machine manufacturers’ needs. This enables us to cover all types of beams for small, medium or large production batches, with different levels of load and stiffness, with no cross-section limit and up to 12m in length as standard.
Carbon fiber beams made from pultrusion
The ideal solution for high mechanical performance and optimized costs, within the range of cross-sections permitted by the pultrusion process.
Pultrusion (like pullwinding) is particularly well suited to manufacture profiles in medium and large production runs (several hundred meters or more).
Developing a customized profile for your application allows you to benefit from the efficiency as well as the mechanical and geometrical characteristics of pultrusion (notably high longitudinal rigidity and geometrical stability), but requires significant tooling and development costs.
However, it is often possible to use one of our many existing standard products, which means that beams can be delivered very quickly, with no minimum quantity and minimal development costs.
Examples of pultruded carbon fiber beams:
Beams for printing machines
Beams for industrial robots
Carbon fiber beams combining pultrusion and other processes
Beams incorporating our pultruded carbon profiles in complementary manufacturing processes, such as filament winding (K1 process), RTM, infusion or prepreg layup.
The combination of these manufacturing processes makes it possible to take advantage of the high mechanical performance offered by pultrusion, while benefiting from the flexibility of more traditional processes, in order to meet the needs of small or medium-sized production runs, without geometric limitations. This makes it possible to produce beams with very large cross-sections and thicknesses, as well as non-continuous shapes (conical, curved, etc.).
Examples of carbon fiber beams produced using a combination of pultrusion and other processes:
Gantry girder for industrial machines
XL composite beams for riveting machines
Carbon fiber trusses and latice girders
Some manufacturers also opt for latice structures, which has led us to develop customized solutions based on pullwinding carbon tube or strut assemblies.
The advantages of such structures include an optimized mass/stiffness ratio, an easier maintenance and a reduced wind surface area.
Example of carbon fiber lattice girders:
Lattice structure for machining centers
Trusses for an airship structure
Whatever the technology used, the use of our pultruded profiles minimizes manufacturing costs. They also provide superior stiffness as compared with traditional composite solutions, thanks to the mechanical properties enabled by pultrusion and the wide choice of materials available (including UHM carbon fibers).
Whenever possible, the use of standard profiles can drastically reduce tooling costs and lead times (compared to production using custom profiles).
Contact us for a custom study and quotation, to confirm that our solutions are technically and economically suited to your needs.
