Winner of SPIE 2005 Smart Materials and
Structures Award

CRG Industries is proud to present our award-winning
Smart Mandrels tubes for commercial use. Capitalizing
on the unique shape memory properties of our Veriflex®
resin, a Smart Mandrels tube is reusable and exhibits rapid
modulus change. This change allows these mandrels to form
into complex geometrical shapes, which prove problematic
in conventional composite part processing. The mandrel is
elastic during the molding and removal process, but maintains
structurally rigid throughout the composite filament-winding
and cure process.

Since our tubes can be shaped and reused multiple times,
commercial filament winders and composite manufacturers now
have access to an inexpensive solution to the high labor and
materials costs normally associated with composite tooling. CRG
Industries offers Smart Mandrels tubes as a low-cost option for
the composite manufacturing industry.

Four Easy Steps in the Reusable Tooling Process:

1) Heat and mold           2) Wind or place     3) Cure the part       4) Reheat & remove

CRG Industries offers Smart Mandrels in the following diameters and lengths:

How Smart Mandrels are incorporated into a tooling process:

1) A customer purchases a Smart Mandrels tube.	2) The tube is placed in a clamshell mold, heated above its transition temperature, and formed into the complex-shaped mandrel using forced air.	3) While still under air pressure, the mandrel is cooled in its new rigid complex shape and installed on a filament-winder.
4) The rigid mandrel is filament-wound.	5) After the wound composite cures, the mandrel is heated above its transition temperature. This allows it to return to its tubular shape in a rubbery state and be easily removed from the composite part.	6) The complex part is complete. The tube can then be remolded and reused.