Reinforcements
Boeing 787 Update
Approaching rollout and first flight, the 787 relies on innovations in composite materials and processes to hit its targets
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Carbon/epoxy guitar: Competitive in quality and price
When former aerospace engineer and guitar aficionado Ellis Seal set out to design a composite acoustic guitar, he believed the inherent properties of carbon fiber could produce sound, playability, durability and consistency impossible in a wooden instrument.
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Sizing Up Fiber Sizings
What glass fiber users need to know about sizings, and how new sizing developments are enhancing the performance of glass-reinforced composites.
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Low-cost carbon fiber: Real or just wishful thinking?
In a wide variety of applications, from easy-to-install bridges to ultra-lightweight, fuel-efficient vehicles, there has been great excitement in recent years about the potential for using carbon fiber-reinforced composites.
Read MorePre-Cured Sleeves For High-Pressure Pipes
Clock Spring is one of several composite wrap approaches developed by inventor Norman C. Fawley of NCF Industries Inc. (Santa Maria, Calif., U.S.A.). The concentrically-coiled, glass fiber-reinforced polyester composite sleeve was devised with support from the Gas Technology Institute and the gas pipeline indu
Read MoreNew-Generation Composite Buoyancy Elements Key For Deep Drilling And Production
Principal suppliers of riser buoyancy products include major producer Balmoral (Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K. and Houston, Texas, U.S.A.) and CRP Group Ltd. (Skelmersdale, Lancashire, England, U.K.), which also owns Emerson & Cuming (Canton, Mass., U.S.A.). Balmoral customizes epoxy resins, which are used to cr
Read MoreOther Applications Expand
A growing area in the offshore world is the refitting or “recycling” of older oil platforms to support additional production. A particularly active area for recycling is in the North Sea, where additional pipelines can be run to existing rigs for about $1 million (as opposed to spending $20 million for a new r
Read MoreModular Cable Offers Flexibility
The Composite Carbon Cable system developed by Doris Engineering, IFP, Soficar and Freyssinet is based on a different design. Their concept is to assemble a tether from uniformly sized strands or “modules” made up of parallel rods. Each module is hexagonally shaped, allowing any number of modules (strands) to
Read MoreOngoing Research And Onshore Applications Lead The Way
Deep subsea developments require integrated service umbilicals (ISUs) to transport hydrate control fluids, such as methanol, and hydraulic fluids to control valves at subsea wellheads. ISUs are typically made from small-diameter (typically 0.25 inches/6.5 mm up to 2 inches/50 mm) stainless steel tubes and/or s
Read MoreOther Types Of Repairs Possible With Composites
Since 1995, DML Composites (Plymouth, U.K.) has been one of the pioneers in the use of customized wet layup repairs for offshore pipework and other platform component repairs. A project completed by DML in 2000 involved the in-service repair of a steel caisson on a platform in the North Sea. A caisson is a lar
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