Engineering, Design & Project Management
Performance Composites' experienced engineers and project managers are here to ensure your composite manufacturing project is successfully completed on time and on budget. We will manage your project from start to finish and support you in every way:
- Support your product design team. Bring our engineers in during the early design phase to help optimize your overall system design using composite materials.
- Support engineering, design and analysis with CAD and FEA. Our composite and mechanical engineers will help you achieve your design goals.
- Support the conversion from other materials to composite materials
- Help you value engineer the fiberglass fabrication processes to reduce cost
- Help you develop quality standards and quality control procedures. Proficient with PPAP, TQM and other quality standards.
- Manage project schedule and priorities
- Manage vendors, subcontractors and various support services
Composite Material Selection
We have extensive experience with all composite materials used in the industry. Our composite engineers can help you determine which materials are optimal for your application ensuring that you meet your performance and quality requirements at the lowest cost.
Fibers*
- Fiberglass
- Graphite / Carbon fiber
- Kevlar
- Polyester
Resins
- Polyester (DCPD, Orthophthalic & Isophthalic)
- Vinyl ester (various corrosion resistant types)
- Epoxy
- Polyurethane
- Pre-impregnated
Core or reinforcement materials
- Balsa core
- Honeycomb (aluminum, plastic, Nomex, Kraft paper, phenolic)
- Foam (urethane, PVC, ABS & others)
- Coremat
Manufacturing Processes
We are experts at numerous composite manufacturing processes. Our engineers can help you determine the best process for your application.
Our processes include:
- Chopper gun spray up
- Hand lamination
- Vacuum infusion & light RTM
- Compression molding
- Prepreg vacuum bag layup
- Painting
- Custom assembly
- Out of autoclave cure (OOAC)
- CNC Machining (3-Axis and 5 Axis)
In addition, we can perform assembly, kitting, packaging and shipping so you receive a completed turnkey product.
Composite Tooling: Master, Molds, & Fixtures
Quality tooling produces quality and repeatable parts. Performance Composites has full tooling capabilities to design and manufacture masters, molds and fixtures.
- Fabricate CNC machined masters directly from your CAD files
- Fabricate high-quality production molds that will last thousands of cycles
- Build low-cost temporary tooling for prototypes to minimize expenses and lead-time
- Design and fabricate jigs and fixtures to ensure high-quality and repeatable manufacturing processes
One of the key advantages of using fiberglass composites is the inexpensive molds. The average cost is between 6 to 10 times part price, with typical mold completion times of less than four weeks.
World-Class Facility
We have a 53,000 SF facility in Southern California and a 51,000 SF facility in Reno Nevada. It supports all of your composite manufacturing needs.