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Creel-Free UD™ Carbon Fiber Prepreg High-Performance UD with HyperCure™ Technology
MakoBond's new "Creel-Free UD" Unidirectional Carbon Fiber Prepreg combines custom carbon UD reinforcement with our proprietary HyperCure™ epoxy resin system, delivering short lead time and lower MOQ while dramatically reducing cure times compared to conventional UD prepregs.
Designed for aerospace, motorsports, industrial, marine, sporting goods, and advanced composite applications, our Creel-Free UD prepregs provide engineers and manufacturers with the ability to place fiber exactly where it is needed for maximum structural efficiency, while curing at the same rate as other woven prepregs in your stack.
Why Choose Unidirectional Prepreg in the first place?
Unlike woven prepregs, where fibers interlace in multiple directions, unidirectional (UD) prepreg contains all fibers aligned in a single direction. This allows designers to optimize laminate construction by orienting each ply to match anticipated load paths.
Key advantages include:
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Higher stiffness and strength in the primary fiber direction
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Increased fiber efficiency with minimal fiber crimp
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Improved tensile and compressive performance
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Reduced laminate weight for equivalent structural performance
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Greater flexibility in laminate design through custom ply orientations
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Excellent consolidation and surface quality
By strategically stacking UD plies at different fiber angles (0°, ±45°, 90°, etc.), engineers can build laminates that precisely match application requirements while minimizing unnecessary weight. Many advanced composite structures combine UD prepreg for primary structural reinforcement, and woven prepreg for surface plies, impact resistance, or cosmetic finishes.
What is Creel-Free UD™ from Mako?
Designers have long understood the benefit of UD in their part design - however, the setup required to manufacture UD prepreg is extensive - requiring massive floor space and time. As a result, legacy UD prepreggers stuck with creel setup often require a higher MOQ, or longer lead times, and are much less likely to run custom weights, fibers, or new resin formulations like Mako's HyperCure. Moreover, the largest accounts like Boeing might consume an entire production run of the most common types like 150gsm T700 epoxy UD, with nothing left for the smaller players.
Enter Mako Creel-Free UD™: by starting with fibers that are both aligned and stabilized for coating, Mako can manufacture UD prepregs with the same short lead time and smaller batch sizes as a standard 3K carbon prepreg. And resin changes - no problem, Mako can apply HyperCure epoxy, or FR (Flame Retardant epoxy), or a custom formula perhaps more suited to honeycomb core bonding, or toughened for sporting goods and race components.
Creel-Free UD Fiber Options
Mako's Creel-Free UD options include:
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Standard Modulus T700 fiber, with your custom width and areal weight available upon request
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Intermediate Modulus T800 fiber, with your custom width and areal weight available upon request
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High Modulus fiber, available in specific widths and weights, call for more information
These UD reinforcements can be combined with any Mako resin, and any Resin Content, including HyperCure.
Creel-Free UD Resin Options
MakoBond Creel-Free UD prepregs can be manufactured using our proprietary HyperCure™ epoxy resin system. This makes it easy to add stiffness to parts already using HyperCure resin on 7781 fiberglass, 3K plain or twill weave carbon fabrics, or lightweight 1K woven or spreadtow fabrics.
HyperCure™ is engineered to significantly reduce cure time while maintaining the mechanical performance demanded by advanced composite applications. Faster cure cycles can increase manufacturing throughput, reduce energy consumption, and improve overall production efficiency without sacrificing laminate quality.
Benefits of HyperCure™ include:
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Significantly shorter cure cycles of around 9-10 minutes
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Increased manufacturing productivity = more parts per day
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Excellent fiber wet-out
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High laminate quality, low porosity
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Outstanding mechanical performance
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Compatible with conventional composite manufacturing processes
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Standard outlife of 30 days - does not suffer like previous generation "snap-cure" systems
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Compatible with low temp cures for prototype stage, then high temp/rapid cure for production parts, all in one system
Available Widths and Areal Weights
MakoBond Creel-Free UD options already include a broad selection of areal weights and widths to accommodate everything from lightweight drone wing skins to heavier reinforced structural laminates. Some are as light as 55gsm! Others include stitched UD with 0/90 or +/-45 plys for a combined 250gsm FAW (Fiber Areal Weight) or more.
Widths include 12", 24", 1-meter (39"), and 50" depending on fiber type. Please call to discuss your ideal configuration: 949-735-9324 (Matt Jones, Business Development).
Additional configurations, fibers, weights and widths will be announced as Creel-Free UD™ production expands.
Engineered for Performance. Built for Speed.
MakoBond continues to expand its advanced prepreg portfolio with innovative materials designed to improve the customer experience and your manufacturing efficiency.
Our new Creel-Free UD Carbon Fiber Prepreg, powered by HyperCure™ epoxy technology, delivers the structural advantages of optimized fiber alignment together with dramatically reduced cure times—helping manufacturers produce stronger, lighter composite parts in less time.
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Matt Jones
Head of Business Development, Joint Platforms Mako Advanced Materials and PTM&W
- Skilled engineer in advanced composites field with 20+ years experience
- Former head of BD at Axiom Materials, Inc.
- B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at University of Colorado Boulder
- Based in Costa Mesa, CA