Dragonfly 40: Full review, tour and a few crazy ideas

Welcome back to Naval Gazing at Camp David. This week's guest yacht is one of the most beautiful and fast craft in its category The Dragonfly 40 retractable trimaran! Innovation Corner • Dragonfly 40 Web page: https://dragonfly.dk/dragonfly-40 • Arkema's recyclable liquid thermoplastic resin, Elium: https://www.arkema.com/global/en/resources/post/elium-resin-a-disruptive-innovation-in-the-world-of-composites/ o For information contact: Nicolas Valloir, Business Manager, 561 252 1909, nicolas.valloir@arkema.com Although I salute the leadership of Windelo in green boat building, the first thing I thought about, when I heard of their innovative fiber, was all that poisonous, unrecyclable vinylester resin that it is soaked in. Although beneficial, the effort seemed a little futile. Then my first subscriber and constant source of inspiration and information, Clive, pointed me in the direction of the answer. A new recyclable liquid thermoplastic resin called Elium, developed by Arkema (www.arkema.com). Although extremely new, Arkema's Elium has already caught the eye of the Beneteau group, the largest sailboat manufacturer in the world, and they have already started using it for two production boats, the Beneteau First 44e and the Oceanis 30.1e. To say that this is a strong endorsement is an understatement. Arkema's Elium: • Has an average material cost similar to a vinylester resin • A life span/durability the same as vinylester and epoxy • Has a weight similar to vinylester and epoxy • Has no special manufacturing requirements such as temp or humidity • Has resistance to osmosis similar to vinylester and epoxy …BUT, it can be separated from end of life structures, using several different techniques, and used again, having retained the same properties as virgin resin. What's more, given the adoption of this technology by major builders, volume production will go up and cost is most likely going to come down even further over the next five years. A liquid like the epoxy resins, Elium® resin allowed the same molds as for the thermoset composites to be used. But it required less energy consumption because the molds did not need to be heated and manufacturing was carried out at ambient temperature. A further advantage was that the part elements were assembled simply by gluing, with no added heat source, in contrast to thermoset gluing. It was even possible to assemble certain elements simply by thermowelding, allowing for considerable savings in terms of time and manufacturing costs. Speaking about winf turbine blade development, Arkema said, "Since then, we have made a new 13-meter prototype blade which has demonstrated a 20% savings in manufacturing time compared to epoxy blades," The company further stated that their many trials have proved conclusive. Arkema 3, one of several demonstration racing sailboats, has demonstrated equivalent mechanical performance to epoxy models, the top end of thermoset resins. Elium® resin even offers a slight advantage: it is slightly more resilient to the impact of waves, chunks of wood, etc., and returns to its original shape without losing its mechanical qualities in terms of energy recovery. Beside the already mentioned advantages, Elium does not contain any styrene which clearly improves safety in the workplace. • Basalt Fiber: http://www.eatc-online.org/wp-content/uploads/Combining-the-Best-of-Two-Polymer-Worlds_.pdf So now the resin issue is resolved in spectacular fashion, what about the fiber. E-glass is cheap and effective, but leave a gigantic carbon footprint in its manufacturing wake. Carbon fiber is just too expensive to be practical for all but the exotic builds. So what is left. Flax fiber adds weight, and that may be ok on a mono hull, it won't fill our needs for multihulls. The idea combination with Arkema's recyclable liquid thermoplastic resin, Elium is the same basalt fiber that Windelo has pioneered on their new 50 and 54 foot catamarans. • The basalt fiber can be fully recycled • Basalt rock is one of the main constituents of the ocean crust and is an abundant resource. No additives are needed to transform it, which reduces carbon emissions by 10. The fiberization process for basalt is more environmentally safe than that of glass fiber. • Basalt and E-glass fibers now have similar production costs, putting basalt and glass FRP products on similar pricing. • Basalt/epoxy sample's strength tested 13.7 percent higher than that of the E-glass sample and exhibited 17.5 percent greater stiffness, although the basalt sample was 3.6 percent heavier than the E-glass sample. The net result is higher strength and stiffness for the same weight. • Additionally, basalt fibers are naturally resistant to ultraviolet (UV) and high-energy electromagnetic radiation, maintain their properties in cold temperatures, and provides better acid resistance.