Easy Molding and Mechanical Processing

ROHACELL^® polymethacrylimide rigid foam is distinguished by its excellent specific strength properties. It can be

• milled,
• drilled,
• punched,
• turned
• sanded
• thermoformed (at low cost)

ROHACELL^® can be used as

• a production tool in fiber placement, filament winding, and flyaway mandrel technology
• a draping aid for producing profile-reinforced shells, such as hat stringers
• load-bearing structural cores in sandwich construction.

Extremely robust composite materials

ROHACELL^® sandwich construction provides extremely robust and durable composite materials compatible with all common thermoset and thermoplastic polymers. The high heat distortion temperature of the foam and its exceptional creep compression strength allow good consolidation of the fiber-polymer composite face sheets during processing, as well as very short production cycle times. The high-performance foam can be processed at temperatures up to 235°C and pressures up to 0.7 MPa over several hours.
ROHACELL^® is compatible with common composite processing methods such as:

• resin infusion (RTM, VARTM, VAP, MVI, SLIetc.),
• prepreg autoclave or Quickstep^® techniques
• tape laying, and fiber placement
• closed molding technology
• filament winding
• pultrusion

Bonding of the core and curing of the facings in a single step

ROHACELL^® has a 100-percent-closed cell structure in which only the cut cells at the surface are filled with resin. This saves unnecessary weight caused by permeating resin and also ensures adequate bonding to the facings. ROHACELL^® is available in various grades such as WF, RIST, and RIMA, which differ mainly in cell size and therefore in resin uptake. The use of ROHACELL^® allows a co-curing process in which the facings are cured and bonded to the core material in a single work step. Unlike with other core materials ROHACELL^® does not depend on stabilizing agents, potting materials or additional stabilization cure cycles to provide lateral strength as this is already an inherent property of the foam. ROHACELL^®’s homogenous cell structure provides zero print through to the composite face sheets leaving a class A surface finish every time. All this reduces work steps, cycle times and processing costs.