Out of Autoclave
High-Performance Composites March 2003 Editorial
"Performance" seems to be the password to this issue of High-Performance Composites. Every article demonstrates the incredibly high expectations engineers place on composite materials and how new material options and improved processing technologies keep meeting those expectations. Technologies used since the
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Foam plays strategic role in rotorcraft structure
Eurocopter's Tiger helicopter incorporates an engine cowling stiffened with hat stringers made with ROHACELL XT polymethacrylimide (PMI) foam from Degussa Performance Plastics (Darmstadt, Germany). Previously, the approximately 1.5m/4.8-ft long and 0.8m/2.6-ft wide cowling was a solid laminate made with bismaleimide
Read MoreBridging the Centuries with Composites
Bob Sweet, president/CEO of Creative Pultrusions Inc. (Alum Bank, Pa.), established in 1973, is a graduate of the University of the Pacific (BS, business administration) and an active member of the Market Development Aliance (MDA) and the Pultrusion Industry Council (PIC), as well as the American Composite
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New Lightweight Trailer Delivers Heavy-duty Performance
All-composite chassis and trailer design offers truckers increased cargo capacity plus greater durability.
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Thermoplastic Composites Making An Impact
Product/process developments accelerate use of long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics in automotive and industrial markets.
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Big Blades Cut Wind Energy Cost
Rapid growth rate of composite-intensive conversion systems drives market competition and innovation.
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All-Composite Platforms?
Gibson describes how a team representing the Centre for Composite Materials Engineering, MSP (formerly Maunsell Structural Plastics, Beckenham, Kent, U.K.) and Odebrecht Oil and Gas, a Brazilian-owned platform fabrication company, were tasked with redesigning the topside of BP’s small, minimum-facility Davy-Be
Read MoreDesign Issues With Tendons
A composite tendon is essentially a rope made from small-diameter rods, which are pultruded with carbon fiber. Multiple rods are gathered together and twisted slightly to form a strand, using typical wire rope stranding methods. Depending on the performance requirements, 10 to 40 strands, about 2 to 3 inches/5
Read MoreManufacturing Methods
Composite parts can be made in a controlled factory environment and delivered to the site as finished pipe, beams or grating, or fiber and resin can be combined on site to make or repair structures. Regardless of the fabrication method and its location, a quality composite requires that the reinforcement be co
Read MoreComposite Tether Goes To Sea
Conoco and KOP have manufactured a prototype of a carbon fiber composite tether that could extend TLP production to depths exceeding 10,000 ft/3,000 m. The design has undergone extensive static testing and fatigue loading and has been verified through hydrodynamic model testing. Sea testing is being planned.
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