Processes

Out of Autoclave 28 Jan 2016

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?"

Infrastructure 28 Jan 2016

Disruptive composite infrastructure

FiberCore Europe claims the "Holy Grail" of delamination-resistant FRP bridge and infrastructure components with its patented InfraCore technology.

Thermoplastics 8 Jan 2016

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.

Molds/Tools 1 Jan 2016

Turnkey manufacturing systems: Part-per-minute thermoplastic composites

Pinette Emidecau Industries’ (PEI, Chalon-sur-Saône, France) leads a consortium of providers that are collaborating on the Quilted Stratum Process (QSP), a means to accelerate thermoplastic composites processing in the auto industry.

Compression Molding 1 Jan 2016

Turnkey manufacturing systems: Aiming for automotive-industry volume production

Fives Cincinnati (Hebron, KY, US) has announced an integrated manufacturing system for automotive composites comprising two automated manufacturing cells.

RTM 1 Jan 2016

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).

Autoclave 1 Jan 2016

Turnkey manufacturing systems: Automated RTM for aerospace

German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) Center for Lightweight Production Technology site in Stade, Germany, has developed EVo, an automated production line capable of 100,000 complex composite parts/yr.