CW Blog

Bonding 31 Jul 2014

Solar boat: Bonding the best

Adhesives supplier SCIGRIP (Durham, N.C.) sponsors the entry from Poland, dubbed the SCIGRIP Solar Boat, during the fifth Dong Energy Solar Challenge for boats, held June 28 to July 5, in The Netherlands.

Medical 31 Jul 2014

Hyperbaric chamber: Portable, pliable FRP handles pressure

Groupe Médical Gaumond Inc. (GMG, Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada) premieres HematoCare, its portable, collapsible composite hyperbaric chamber.

Wind/Energy 31 Jul 2014

Reshoring, right shoring and innovation: Implications for composites

A CT columnist, consultant and president of Dayton, Ohio-based Quickstep Composites, the U.S. subsidiary of Australia-based Quickstep Technologies (Bankstown Airport, New South Wales), Dale Brosius sees a recent trend toward reshoring, as U.S. manufacturers retrench after decades of outsourcing fabrication to low-wage locales in emerging economies.

Editorial 31 Jul 2014

The Odd Couple

CT editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan draws attention to the disappearing gap between the composites industry's once widely separated "aerospace-grade" and "industrial-grade" sectors.

Pressure Vessels 30 Jul 2014

Emerging markets, technologies featured in CAMX 2014 presentations

The foundation of composites fabrication was built on applications in tried-and-true markets like aerospace, marine and automotive. The industry’s superstructure (and future), however, likely will depend on and revolve around emerging markets and technologies, including infrastructure, renewable energy, additive manufacturing and composites design optimization. Fortunately, each of these will be explored in depth at CAMX 2014 via conference technical sessions.

Aerospace 23 Jul 2014

Fighter jet development and the "need" for the F-35

The F-35 is expensive, behind schedule and here to stay, but Textron Airland's new Scorpion might better show how a plane should be developed.

Infrastructure 18 Jul 2014

Mini fiber-optic SHM system embedded into composites

Partners in the SMARTFIBER project have demonstrated continued and automatic structural health monitoring.

Workforce Development 16 Jul 2014

Cutting time for composites design allowables

New approach by Dr. Stephen Tsai and Daniel Melo promises to reduce the required number of tests from 1,000 to mere dozens, providing results in days vs. months and at much lower cost.

Automotive 10 Jul 2014

Large-tow carbon fiber's popularity speaks volumes

Cytec's decision this week to seek an acrylic supply for large-tow carbon fiber manufacturing is only the latest effort by a carbon fiber supplier to position itself to serve the automotive industry.