Wind/Energy

Pressure Vessels 25 Feb 2016

Gardner Business Index at 43.4 in January

Mid-sized U.S. production facilities expand; capital spending plans reach second highest level since August 2015.

Wind/Energy 25 Feb 2016

“Give us affordable carbon fiber!”

Guest columnist Dan Pichler, managing director of CarbConsult GmbH, suggests that the we need a sustained, cooperative effort in the carbon fiber supply chain. Partnering is the key.

Automotive 25 Feb 2016

SGL Group combines fibers and materials into single business unit

The new business unit, named Composites – Fibers and Materials (CFM), is headed by Andreas Wüllner, who also continues as managing director of SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers.

Injection/Overmolding 24 Feb 2016

Carbures: Conquering the world for composites

This global Tier 2 supplier produced 39,322 parts for Airbus in 2015, has sold seven RMCP machines to China capable of 40,000-75,000 composite auto parts/yr and is completing a study on opportunities for composites in oil and gas applications in Mexico. What next?

Watch

Autoclave 18 Feb 2016

Dry fiber placement: Surpassing limits

Coriolis Composites’ automated aerostructures manufacturing using dry materials moves from development projects to production.

Pressure Vessels 12 Feb 2016

Composites manufacturing from a different angle

A bunch of really smart engineers showed up in Long Beach, CA, US this week for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ (SME, Dearborn, MI, US) AeroDef conference and exhibition. All were focused on looking at ways to manufacture products — composite or not — more efficiently.

Pressure Vessels 11 Feb 2016

If we recycle it, will they come?

Thanks to the 787 and the A350 XWB aircraft programs, the composites industry has more scrap carbon fiber prepreg than it knows what to do with. At least, not yet.

Pressure Vessels 8 Feb 2016

Thermoplastic honeycomb cores: Tough insulated sandwiches

Foam-filled nylon/polyester fabric yields sandwich panel cores with excellent mechanicals, durability, thermal insulation.

Wind/Energy 29 Jan 2016

Graphene composite could help keep wings ice-free

A thin coating of graphene nanoribbons in epoxy developed at Rice University has proven effective at melting ice on a helicopter blade.

Mass Transit 29 Jan 2016

Alternative precursor R&D: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, US) has been at the forefront of North American research into alternatives to the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor used to make aerospace-grade carbon fiber.

Advert for lightweight carrier veils used in aero