Peggy Malnati

Peggy Malnati MMT, Contributing Writer

Adhesives

Rapid layup: New 3-D preform technology

Hook-and-loop fasteners speed layup of carbon, aramid, glass and hybrid fabrics while improving composites’ mechanical performance.

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Thermoplastics

Materials characterization: Faster cheaper, better

Ford couples commercial codes to analyze auto interior parts more accurately.

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Automotive

Cleaner and greener: Bio-based end tanks

Plant-based polyamides break high-cost/low-performance paradigm to meet the demands of a challenging Toyota underhood application.

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Automotive CFRP: Repair or replace?

As more carbon composites are used on structural car components, how will crash damage be assessed and repairs be made?

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McLaren: Multilevel customer support

To address the customer “ownership experience” for its new supercar, the MP4-12C, McLaren Automotive Ltd. (Woking, U.K.) took a three-pronged approach: an intensive engineering and development program that was followed by manufacturing to demanding quality standards, and then an “after-sales safety net” that was designed to ensure an exemplary ownership experience.

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How to patch a racecar

The current state of the art in automotive CFRP repair borrows heavily from experiences gained in the aerospace/aviation and racing fields.

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Weaving

Formulation flexibility: Direct-SMC

Consortium applies inline-compounding technology to reinvent sheet molding compound.

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Spare wheel well: Functional integration

Gas-assist injection molding enables one-piece, one-shot thermoplastic composite/metal hybrid.

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A hidden revolution: composite rebar gains strength

Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) replacing coated steel in more reinforced-concrete applications.

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Automotive

Automotive composites: Structural underbody

For Detroit’s Big Three, a joint precompetitive composite design, development, fabrication and testing program nears successful completion.

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Automotive

Thermoplastic composites: Sustainable transport

Cyclic PBT oligomers used to mold Class 8 semitrailer bed via vacuum-bag processing.

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Sustainability

Small wind: Green energy gets greener

Kilowatt-rated vertical axis wind turbines supply green electric power where utility-scale turbines can’t.

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Composite raw materials