The SAERTEX Group again presented itself successfully at the JEC Composites Show in Paris from 27 to 29 March 2012. More than 40 employees from the eight SAERTEX locations across the world, together with a large number of regional sales representatives, met with clients, suppliers, business associates and interested trade visitors on all three days of the exhibition. The “who’s who” of the composite industry assembles annually at the world’s leading composite industry trade show in the French capital.

The JEC Composites Show in Paris gives a comprehensive overview of the entire composite supply chain, from the raw material and composite material production right up to downstream services. With its large number of conferences, technical and scientific fora, workshops and seminars, the trade fair informs attendees about all relevant topics and trends.

As a world market leader in the production of high-performance non-crimp fabrics from glass, aramid and carbon-fiber, SAERTEX was represented not only its own by stand at the trade fair. SAERTEX non-crimp fabrics were also to be seen in many of the exhibits displayed and thus, could be handled as a finished component. So, for example, a boat’s hull, made completely from SAERTEX non-crimp fabrics, was on show. On the SAERTEX stand itself, a “miniature bridge” was of particular interest to the visiting public. This was used to demonstrate innovative "Structural Health Monitoring". In the process, visual sensors are integrated into the non-crimp fabrics as early as the fabric’s production. These monitor the quality of the component over its entire service life, can measure the mechanical stresses and, in this way, provide reliable data on the condition and required repair cycles of the composite structural element. The sensors measure only a few micrometers and can be linked to any point on the element for measurement. Since more and more composite components are also used in bridge construction, the SAERTEX engineers had developed a miniature bridge for the exhibition, on which the measurements were able to be impressively tracked.