CW Blog

Aerospace 20 Nov 2007

Potential buyer of three EADS plants in Germany pulls plug

Forbes.com reports that a suitor for three EADS plants in Germany has bowed out, citing a breakdown in talks with Airbus.

13 Nov 2007

Anderson America adds new office

Anderson America adds a new office in Riverside, Calif. to support West Coast manufacturers.

Out of Autoclave 1 Nov 2007

Friction products: Carbon fiber stopping power

Low weight, thermal shock resistance, and extreme strength drive growth of carbon-reinforced friction products and materials in brake applications.

Workforce Development 1 Nov 2007

Robotic trimming radically shortens Corvette fender production cycle

Plasan USA (Bennington, Vt.) molds the Chevrolet Z06 Corvette’s front fenders with hand layed, autoclave-cured carbon/epoxy prepreg. Until recently, however, manual deflashing, trimming and drilling of the demolded parts consumed more than an hour to meet requirements for edge quality and fastener hole location

Out of Autoclave 1 Nov 2007

A multitude of markets - 11/1/2007

The overall outlook for the composites industry remains healthy, driven by developments in the commercial aircraft market - the advent of Boeing's 787 and Airbus Industrie's (Toulouse, France) A380, the future arrivals of the Airbus A400M military transport and its mid-sized A350 XWB, and a host of general aviation

Aerospace 1 Nov 2007

Compression after impact testing

During the late 1960s and most of the 1970s, the composites industry was absorbing the impact of what was then the recent introduction of carbon fiber. The resulting composites exhibited both high strength-to-weight and high stiffness-to-weight ratios. And while it was known that composites reinforced with this new

Weaving 1 Nov 2007

Focus on Design: Composite adaptor board supports medical treatment

Carbon fiber/epoxy the only material choice in this critical X-ray application.

Aerospace 1 Nov 2007

Repairing flying composite structures

As the Boeing 787 nears first flight, certification and delivery and as the design of the Airbus A350 XWB is solidified, we hear more and more about how airlines that fly these planes might deal with maintenance and repair.

Infrastructure 1 Nov 2007

Managing multi-axis manufacturing

Much early computer numerically controlled (CNC) machinery served short-run military and space programs where cost per part was too high to be acceptable in the manufacture of commercial aircraft. Now, Automated CNC machinery moves toward volume production and part-specific design.

23 Oct 2007