Aerospace
Market Trends: This industry is ready to explode
I recently was invited to speak at the COMPOSITESWORLD Carbon Fiber Conference, held Dec. 5–7, 2007, in Washington, D.C. As usual it was a successful gathering of fiber manufacturers and users. As a consultant to the composites industry, I’ve tracked carbon fiber supply and demand for years. Some of you might remember
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Automate or emigrate
Automated fiber and tape placement is not just a notion, but a real manufacturing strategy, and one being embraced by HITCO Carbon Composites.
Read MoreAircraft interior bins benefit from fast-heat, fast-cool tool
Airbus Industrie (Toulouse, France) wanted to cut cycle time off the production of interior storage bin doors for its A320 and A380 commercial airplanes and identified part cooling in the mold as the most likely source of potential time savings. The doors, about 1m long, are fabricated of a glass fiber prepregged with
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Aviation Outlook: Composites in rotorcraft reaching new altitudes
One of the earliest markets for advanced composites, helicopter manufacture is and will continue to be a stronghold for industry growth.
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Aligned discontinuous fibers come of age
Discontinuous but aligned carbon fibers are proving formable and formidable in high-performance, compound-curvature applications.
Read MoreFrom the Publisher - 3/1/2008
I just attended COMPOSITESWORLD’s first Composites Industry Financial Forum (CIF) in New York City, where composites industry, M&A and banking specialists and a Merrill Lynch analyst — in a show of notable accord — agreed that we will see unprecedented opportunities for growth in the use of composites during the
Read MoreStartup struggles
A week before Adam Aircraft made the somewhat surprising announcement that it had run out of cash and couldn’t find anyone to lend it money, I found myself on the phone with one of the company’s composites design engineers. We were discussing trends in composites design for aerospace, aerospace design challenges, and
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Dust Collection: Expense or Investment?
Well-engineered dust control systems not only improve shop air quality but also boost productivity, prolong machine life and save energy.
Read MoreMarket Outlook: Carbon fiber in sporting goods
Although demand for carbon composites in aircraft has put a squeeze on long-established sporting goods categories, carbon’s use in sports soon will set new records.
Read MoreCarbon/BMI and carbon foam form Invar alternative
For years, Invar steel has been the material of choice for tooling that must endure repeated autoclave cycling in volume part production. Invar's disadvantage is its relatively high density and resulting large mass. As processors move away from hand layup and toward automated fiber and tape placement, there is a
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