Sara Black

Sara Black Senior Technical Editor Emeritus

Adhesives

Comptek's consumer adhesive spin-off

When technicians involved in Aero Solutions LLC’s (Boulder, Colo.) repair projects reported that resin residue left in the bags that contained the company’s glass/polyurethane protective wraps was “great for gluing stuff,” parent conpy Comptek Structural Composites’ CEO Jim Lockwood decided to try bottling it.

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Carbon Fibers

Composites the clear choice in telecom tower rehabs

Tower permit difficulties spur repairs/upgrades of aging steel structures.

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Infusion

Quay cable tray: Composites upgrade container ship terminal

When the Cape Town, South Africa, Transnet National Ports Authority began a 12-month effort to expand its facility and upgrade its existing quays (wharfs), engineers realized that the Authority had a safety problem at its main container quay. Composites provided the solution.

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Construction

Building a house, with a 3-D printer

A Dutch project is working with Henkel on an effort to 3-D print an entire house to help evaluate material and manufacturing strategies.

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Aerospace

Reselling, reusing composite materials and parts

The more carbon and glass fiber is used, the more it's thrown away. How the industry copes with reusable material will matter much in the coming decades. What do you do with your usable scrap?

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Weaving

Thermoplastic composites save weight in rotorcraft aerostructure

This helicopter structure outdoes both metal and thermoset-composite alternatives.

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Laser encoder enables highly accurate cutting of critical wingskins

To ensure machined part dimensional accuracy on Flow International Corp.’s (Kent, Wash.) new Composites Machining Center’s (CMC) gantry design, in x-axis lengths of 6 to 50m (19.5 to 162.5 ft), one of the keys is Renishaw plc’s (Gloucestershire, U.K.) HS10/HS20 laser encoder.

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Construction

Composites fit telecom tower repair like a glove

Telecome towers are critical to phone, television and radio communications, but building new ones is expensive. Composites-based repair systems aim to extend the life of towers already in operation.

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Aerospace

Video: Morphing wing technology update

A new video from NASA Dryden shows how aircraft wing morphing technology is being used to develop quieter and more efficient aircraft systems.

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Adhesives

Sportfishing yacht: Infusion optimized

This well-loved deepsea fishing brand has moved from Miami to a new facility, and to a state-of-the-art resin-infused laminate for its Bertram 64.

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Inspection: 30-year-old fiberglass pipeline stands test of time

Examined after three decades in service (half its predicted service life), this filament wound fiberglass pipe showed no signs of degradation.

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Aerospace

Lisa Airplanes rises, falls, rises again

Creative use of carbon fiber helped make Lisa Airplanes' Akoya LSA a possibility, and with some fresh financing, it's now on its way to becoming reality.

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Composite raw materials