Focus on Design Column
Carbon fiber, bionic design achieve peak performance in race-ready production vehicle
Porsche worked with Action Composites to design and manufacture an innovative carbon fiber safety cage option to lightweight one of its series race vehicles, built in a one-shot compression molding process.
Hannah Mason
Technical Editor, CompositesWorld
Thermoplastic composites: Cracking the horizontal body panel nut
Versatile sandwich panel technology solves decades-long exterior automotive challenge.
Read MoreCirculinQ: Glass fiber, recycled plastic turn paving into climate solutions
Durable, modular paving system from recycled composite filters, collects, infiltrates stormwater to reduce flooding and recharge local aquifers.
Read MoreComposites enable massive wastewater infrastructure project
To build complex drop shafts for New Zealand’s Central Interceptor project, RPC Technologies pushed the limits with glass and carbon fiber, vertical filament winding and UV-cure resins.
Read More3D-printed CFRP tools for serial production of composite landing flaps
GKN Aerospace Munich and CEAD develop printed tooling with short and continuous fiber that reduces cost and increases sustainability for composites production.
Read MoreJeep all-composite roof receivers achieve steel performance at low mass
Ultrashort carbon fiber/PPA replaces steel on rooftop brackets to hold Jeep soft tops, hardtops.
Read MoreCompositeWorld's top ten articles from our "Focus on Design" column
CW’s Focus on Design assists our readers in staying up to date on the latest trends and innovations in composite materials and design. Take a look at the top ten most read articles from our popular column.
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Aviation-specific battery system uses advanced composites to address electric, hybrid flight
BOLDair’s composite enclosure, compression structures and thermal runaway management enables high-performance electric energy storage.
Stewart Mitchell
Contributing Writer
Composites-reinforced concrete for sustainable data center construction
Metromont’s C-GRID-reinforced insulated precast concrete’s high strength, durability, light weight and ease of installation improve data center performance, construction time and sustainability.
Read MoreComposite sidewall cover expands options for fire-safe rail components
R&D project by CG Rail explores use of carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastics and recycled manufacturing scrap to meet fire safety, weight and volume targets.
Read MoreSeat frame demonstrates next-generation autocomposites design
Light weight, simplified/cost-effective manufacturing, passenger comfort and safety informed materials and process innovations and won awards for the 2022 Toyota Tundra‘s second-row seat frame.
Read MoreNovel composite technology replaces welded joints in tubular structures
The Tree Composites TC-joint replaces traditional welding in jacket foundations for offshore wind turbine generator applications, advancing the world’s quest for fast, sustainable energy deployment.
Read MoreHigh glass transition temperature, 100% bio-based thermoset resins for space composites
With the European Commission Restrictions Roadmap soon banning entire classes of chemical substances found in fossil fuel-based synthetic polymers, the space industry is looking to a chemical combination to produce competitive thermoset resins.
Read MoreThermoset-thermoplastic joining, natural fibers enable sustainability-focused brake cover
Award-winning motorcycle brake disc cover showcases potential for KTM Technologies’ Conexus joining technology and flax fiber composites.
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Carbon fiber composite pallet revolutionizes freight industry
LOG Point Pallet fuses advanced materials with innovative design and manufacturing to improve supply chains worldwide.
CFRTP upper stage propellant tank
PROCOMP uses in-situ consolidation AFP and ultrasonic welding to demonstrate lightweight, novel tank design.
Read MoreOne-shot manufacture of 3D knitted hybrid thermoplastic composite structures
MAPICC 3D project replaces steel seat support in heavy-duty vehicle with a 3D knitted composite made from thermoplastic hybrid yarns comprising the matrix and reinforcing components.
Read MoreProtecting EV motors more efficiently
Motors for electric vehicles are expected to benefit from Trelleborg’s thermoplastic composite rotor sleeve design, which advances materials and processes to produce a lightweight, energy-efficient component.
Read MoreCFRTP enables better, greener smartphones
Carbon Mobile’s “monocoque” design eliminates separate case, cover and frame, better protects electronics and simplifies disassembly.
Read MoreModernizing the mechanical rotor sail
Composites are key for Norsepower’s award-winning redesign of a century-old rotor sail for reducing carbon emissions on passenger and cargo ships.
Read MoreComposite buildings go monocoque
Superior protection from the elements plus fast, affordable installation and maintenance have quickly made Orenco Composites’ DuraFiber buildings an attractive choice for water and wastewater, communications, transportation and power industry outbuildings.
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Next-generation airship design enabled by modern composites
LTA Research’s proof-of-concept Pathfinder 1 modernizes a fully rigid airship design with a largely carbon fiber composite frame. R&D has already begun on higher volume, more automated manufacturing for the future.
Hannah Mason
Technical Editor, CompositesWorld
Digital design, multi-material structures enable a quieter supersonic NASA X-plane
NASA’s composites-intensive X-59 QueSST experimental aircraft is set for its first flight by the end of 2022, after nine years of design, manufacture, assembly and testing by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.
Read MoreRefurbishing bridges at half the time, cost versus replacement
Instead of demolishing and rebuilding bridges, SUREbridge doubles the strength and durability of existing structures with an FRP deck for a smart, sustainable solution.
Read MoreHydrostatic membrane consolidation: Skin-stringer panels in 60 minutes
Airbus and Siempelkamp demonstrate press process as alternative to thermoplastic welding, aimed to enable rate 100 aircraft and future mobility manufacturing.
Read MoreMulti-composite thrust chamber aims to boost rockets, reduce cost for New Space economy
Black Engine uses new, microporous CMC liner for transpiration cooling and multiple lightweight composites in modular design that offers increased lifetime and lower maintenance versus current launch vehicle engines.
Read MoreSMC material configurations tailored to automotive battery enclosure design
SMC battery cover offers various module configurations, levels of performance, mass and cost for electric vehicles.
Read MoreBMW rolls out multi-material Carbon Cage with 2022 iX vehicle line
For its new battery-electric iX sports activity vehicle, BMW combines CFRP strategies from previous i3, i8 and 7-Series designs and adds CFRTP for a lightweight, rigid frame.
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