Thermoplastics
Inside a thermoplastic composites hotbed
As production of the A350 XWB ramps up, so does manufacture of the thermoplastic fuselage clips the plane requires. HPC sees how it’s done.
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Wind blades: Progress and challenges
Despite double-digit wind energy industry growth, turbine blade manufacturers and materials suppliers acknowledge a pressing need to reduce costs and innovate.
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Additives and modifiers: Matrix optimization
New and reengineered modifiers for thermosets and thermoplastics target previously elusive goals in composites processing and performance.
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Market outlook: Fiber-reinforced phenolics
Phenolics gain new footholds in anticorrosion markets now dominated by polyesters and epoxies.
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Pultruding polyurethane: Sheet pilings break boundaries
High-pressure pultrusion process creates polyurethane composite sheet pile system with the strength and stiffness to compete with steel.
Read MoreEvolution of tailored D-LFT
In the past two decades, two competing composite technologies — sheet-form glass-mat thermoplastic (GMT) and pelletized long-fiber thermoplastic (LFT) — led to the development of a new form of glass-reinforced thermoplastic composite.
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Chevy Volt battery pack: Rugged but precise
GM and partners engineer composites for this complex assembly with an accent on repeatability.
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Paddleboard productivity: Adhesively bonded hull/deck is key
Dragonfly Boatworks LLC's (Vero Beach, Fla.) new standup paddleboard for fly fishing is built without fasteners, with the aid of SG200-40 methacrylate adhesive from SCIGRIP Smarter Adhesive Solutions (Durham, N.C.).
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Deep draw: Unique laminate architecture enables bus part
For a major mass-transit manufacturer, Amtech LLC (Wapato, Wash.) successfully thermoforms a luggage cover with a remarkably deep draw of 40 inches (1,016 mm), using a laminate architecture that includes a top layer of 0.180-inch/4.5-mm gauge Grade 4800 thermoplastic sheet, supplied by Boltaron (Newcomerstown, Ohio).
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Cure for cratering: Gel coat perfected with design of experiments software
Resin manufacturer Interplastic Corp. – Thermoset Resins Div. (St. Paul, Minn.), a major gel coat producer, recently developed a new gel coat with the aid of Design-Expert design of experiments software from Stat-Ease Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.).
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