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Sun + composites = long-duration solar-powered flight
The Solar Impulse 2 solar-powered plane aims to fly around the world in 2015. Titan Aerospace's Solara 50 solar-powered UAV will provide Internet access for Google. Both rely heavily on composites.
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The making of the BMW i3
CompositesWorld's tour of the BMW i3 manufacturing and assembly plant in Leipzig, Germany, offers a glimpse of one possible future of automotive production.
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Wind, coal and the cost of energy
The U.S. Congress is considering extending the renewable energy production tax credit, which bodes well for wind turbine manufacturers. But despite wind's dropping costs, we still live in a world oriented toward and dependent on coal for electricity.
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Carbon fiber cryotank angles for a place in launch systems
Boeing has manufactured two carbon fiber cryotanks that are being evaluated by NASA for use in heavy-lift launch systems. They offer 30 weight and 25 percent costs savings.
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Styrene & cobalt: Headed for the exit?
Fair or not, styrene and cobalt are now considered harmful to humans. Here's an update on the impact this issue poses for the composites industry and what resin and additive manufacturers are doing about it.
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Business and busy-ness
CT editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan returns for JEC Europe 2014 in Paris with observations about several intriguing composites industry trends.
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Dow epoxy joins the fast-cure race
Dow Automotive made waves at JEC Europe with the debut of VORAFORCE 5300, a low-viscosity, <90-second cure epoxy for automotive composites molding applications.
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AFP/ATL evolution
A view of the trends in automated fiber placement and automated tape laying from inside the supply chain.
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One for the history books?
HPC editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan wonders if a current and radical proposal for change in the way aerospace materials and processes are certified — namely, certification of design/simulation software — will find the brave advocates it will need to become a watershed in aerocomposite history.
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Juggling carbon fiber supply and demand?
Boeing plans to build 777X wings in Washington state. Toray has bought 400 acres in South Carolina to build — it is supposed — a new carbon fiber manufacturing facility. The carbon fiber supply and demand picture may be changing.
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A composite wing giant is born
With the decision to build the carbon fiber wings for the 777X in Everett, Wash., Boeing is joining a short list of big composite wing manufacturers and establishing itself as a major composites fabricator for many years to come.
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Pipes vs. vessels
CT editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan notes the value of composite pressure vessel standards in the growing market for seawater desalination.
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