SAINT-GOBAIN ACQUIRES RT2I'S 3D KNITTING TECHNOLOGY The French subsidiary of Saint-Gobain’s composite activities has acquired RT2i’s 3D knitting technology. Saint-Gobain now has unique know-how in the use of this breakthrough technology for manufacturing composite parts. “This innovative manufacturing process enables us to offer our customers, especially from the aerospace sector, a higher level of performance and custom-built solutions”, states Scott Huth, General Manager for the Aero, Films and Fabrics Business Unit, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics. Compared with traditional weaving or pre-impregnated fabric draping techniques, 3D knitting offers the possibility to develop a 3D preform incorporating materials such as carbon, glass or quartz while reducing material waste and draping or cutting time. The 3D preform can directly integrate the thermoplastic or be infiltrated with a system of liquid resin. It is thus optimized to respond to issues of resistance, weight, radio-transparency and other environmental properties. Thanks to this investment, Saint-Gobain’s facility at Saint Jean d’Illac (near Bordeaux, France), which uses this technology notably to make composite air ducts, has strengthened its production capacity to better fulfill the needs of its European aircraft-manufacturing clients. This acquisition also opens growth prospects for the business on new markets, such as the marine or automotive sector, all over the world.