Out of Autoclave
Plant tour: Spirit AeroSystems: Prestwick, Scotland, UK
Global aerostructures giant Spirit AeroSystems ventures into out-of-autoclave (OAA) composites manufacturing via vacuum infusion.
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Fiber patch preforms help tailor kiteboard performance
Automated means for laying fiber only where needed offers new potential to fine-tune torsional stiffness and flexibility to board and rider styles.
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NASA/Boeing composite launch vehicle fuel tank scores firsts
Subscale 5.5m-diameter cryogenic tank demonstrator with innovative fluted-core skirt is formed via robotic AFP and cured out of the autoclave.
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Polyurethanes: Collaboration and adaptation for optimal application
Guest columnist Kevin Meyer, associate scientist, Dow Polyurethanes, The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, MI, US), asks, and suggests some answers to, the question, "Why have polyurethanes, given their performance advantages, not been adopted in place of other thermosetting resins in a host of applications?"
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Disruptive composite infrastructure
FiberCore Europe claims the "Holy Grail" of delamination-resistant FRP bridge and infrastructure components with its patented InfraCore technology.
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CW opens up on out of autoclave, in February
You may not know that CW has prepared a Supplement to the upcoming February 2016 issue that examines out of autoclave processing in detail. It asks the question: Can OOA options be matured sufficiently to yield parts with <1% void content, outside of the autoclave?
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IACMI starting to walk the talk
The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) is six months into its five-year life and is showing signs of collaborative-based innovation.
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How have composite bridges measured up?
The latest US highway bill includes a provision to assess performance of composite bridges built years ago, bridges that CW wrote about.
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Wet compression molding
Automated process cuts cycle time and cost for CFRP parts with potential for 65% fiber volume via Dynamic Fluid Compression Molding variant.
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Turnkey manufacturing systems: Simplifying automated HP-RTM
Having offered turnkey systems for composites since the 1990s for sheet molding compound (SMC), long fiber thermoplastic (LFT) and glass mat thermoplastic (GMT), Dieffenbacher (Eppingen, Germany) now has automated systems for high-pressure resin transfer molding (HP-RTM).
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