The EHang unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) complies with approved type design, safety and quality requirements, with deliveries to customers now underway.
Overair heads to flight testing in early 2024, marked by rapid prototype development. Ar Glassfibre Roving
The eVTOL developer is scouting locations in the U.S. for continued flight testing of its inaugural consumer aircraft, AIR One, through the Agility Prime program.
Together, the two Spanish companies will outline plans for eVTOL aircraft and operations integration in Europe and Latin America to ensure compatible interaction and maximize aircraft performance.
Following DOA approval, Lilium shifts from the design phase to industrialization, including fuselage matching and joining and a ramp-up of parts production from Tier 1 aerospace suppliers.
The composites-intensive electric aircraft was purchased to meet the airline’s goal of flying a commercial demonstrator by 2026.
A new ASTM-standardized test method established in 2022 assesses the compression-loaded damage tolerance of sandwich composites.
Composites automation specialist increases access to next-gen technologies, including novel AFP systems and unique 3D parts using adaptive molds.
Combined LSAM and five-axis CNC milling capabilities will optimize D-Composites’ production services, flexibility and cut time and cost for composite tooling manufacture.
Evaluation of CFRTP m-pipe through Element’s U.K. facility aims to qualify the system for new operating environments.
Innovative prepreg tooling is highly drapable, capable of forming complex carbon fiber tooling shapes, in addition to reducing through thickness porosity and only requiring one debulk during layup.
Simutence and Engenuity demonstrate a virtual process chain enabling evaluation of process-induced fiber orientations for improved structural simulation and failure load prediction of a composite wing rib.
JEC 2024: Swancor demonstrates its EzCiclo recyclable epoxy and recycling process in wind, sporting goods and automotive applications.
Completed in 2023, COMPINNOV TP2 explored thermoplastic composites, enhancing the understanding between prepregs and production methods to foster the potential for French aerospace innovation.
Limited-edition sneakers feature soles composed of micronized dismantled wind blades from a wind farm in Navarra, Spain.
The long-term agreement covers the supply of fire-resistant, sustainable, epoxy-based products for use in aircraft cabins.
Backed by previous composites-related projects, Kineco continues to contribute its expertise to future space exploration in India.
Among the latest advances are toxicity tests, used to evaluate the effect of different resins and plastic degrading on aquatic and terrestrial organisms, and thus determine the technology’s long-term sustainability.
Named the NASA Government Invention of the Year, the 3D orthogonally woven materials supports structural and thermal performance needs for Orion mission and more.
Breiana Whitehead, pioneering Australian kite-foil sailor, spearheads board design intricacies with ATL Composites to enhance her performance ahead of the July 2024 competition.
Three prefabricated, low-carbon homes, using Mighty Buildings’ large-format 3D printing and UV-curable resins, will be built in the San Francisco Bay Area as models for future industry developments.
T50B masterbatch by Mechnano, in partnership with Bomar, streamlines AM resin development, resolving CNT dispersion issues and elevating mechanical performance while catering to various printing technologies
Composites automation specialist increases access to next-gen technologies, including novel AFP systems and unique 3D parts using adaptive molds.
Plastics and composites manufacturers will benefit from Roctool’s heat and cooling induction for molding processes, with increased technical service support and capability demonstrations on a global scale.
CW explores key composite developments that have shaped how we see and think about the industry today.
Knowing the fundamentals for reading drawings — including master ply tables, ply definition diagrams and more — lays a foundation for proper composite design evaluation.
As battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles continue to supplant internal combustion engine vehicles, composite materials are quickly finding adoption to offset a variety of challenges, particularly for battery enclosure and fuel cell development.
Performing regular maintenance of the layup tool for successful sealing and release is required to reduce the risk of part adherence.
Increasingly, prototype and production-ready smart devices featuring thermoplastic composite cases and other components provide lightweight, optimized sustainable alternatives to metal.
The composite pressure vessel market is fast-growing and now dominated by demand for hydrogen storage.
The burgeoning advanced air mobility (AAM) market promises to introduce a new mode of transport for urban and intercity travelers — particularly those who wish to bypass the traffic congestion endemic to the world’s largest cities. The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft serving this market, because they depend on battery-powered propulsion, also depend on high-strength, high-performance composite structures produced at volumes heretofore unseen in the aerospace composites industry. This CW Tech Days will feature subject matter experts exploring the materials, tooling and manufacturing challenges of ramping up composites fabrication operations to efficiently meet the demands of a challenging and promising new marketplace.
Manufacturers often struggle with production anomalies that can be traced back to material deviations. These can cause fluctuations in material flow, cooling, and cure according to environmental influences and/or batch-to-batch variations. Today’s competitive environment demands cost-efficient, error-free production using automated production and stable processes. As industries advance new bio-based, faster reacting and increased recycled content materials and faster processes, how can manufacturers quickly establish and maintain quality control? In-mold dielectric sensors paired with data analytics technology enable manufacturers to: Determine glass transition temperature in real time Monitor material deviations such as resin mix ratio, aging, and batch-to-batch variations throughout the process Predict the influence of deviations or material defects during the process See the progression of curing and demold the part when the desired degree of cure, Tg or crystallinity is achieved Document resin mix ratios using snap-cure resins for qualification and certification of RTM parts Successful case histories with real parts illustrate how sensXPERT sensors, machine learning, and material models monitor, predict, and optimize production to compensate for deviations. This Digital Mold technology has enabled manufacturers to reduce scrap by up to 50% and generated energy savings of up to 23%. Agenda: Dealing with the challenge of material deviations and production anomalies How dielectric sensors work with different composite resins, fibers and processes What is required for installation Case histories of in-mold dielectric sensors and data analytics used to monitor resin mixing ratios and predict potential material deviations How this Digital Mold technology has enabled manufacturers to optimize production, and improve quality and reliability
SolvaLite is a family of new fast cure epoxy systems that — combined with Solvay's proprietary Double Diaphragm Forming technology — allows short cycle times and reproducibility. Agenda: Application Development Center and capabilities Solutions for high-rate manufacturing for automotive Application examples: battery enclosures and body panels
OEMs around the world are looking for smarter materials to forward-think their products by combining high mechanical performance with lightweight design and long-lasting durability. In this webinar, composite experts from Exel Composites explain the benefits of a unique continuous manufacturing process for composites profiles and tubes called pull-winding. Pull-winding makes it possible to manufacture strong, lightweight and extremely thin-walled composite tubes and profiles that meet both demanding mechanical specifications and aesthetic needs. The possibilities for customizing the profile’s features are almost limitless — and because pull-winding is a continuous process, it is well suited for high volume production with consistent quality. Join the webinar to learn why you should consider pull-wound composites for your product. Agenda: Introducing pull-winding, and how it compares to other composite manufacturing technologies like filament winding or pultrusion What are the benefits of pull-winding and how can it achieve thin-walled profiles? Practical examples of product challenges solved by pull-winding
Composite systems consist of two sub-constituents: woven fibers as the reinforcement element and resin as the matrix. The most commonly used fibers are glass and carbon, which can be processed in plane or satin structures to form woven fabrics. Carbon fibers, in particular, are known for their high strength/weight properties. Thermoset resins, such as epoxies and polyurethanes, are used in more demanding applications due to their high physical-mechanical properties. However, composites manufacturers still face the challenge of designing the right cure cycles and repairing out-of-shelf-life parts. To address these issues, Alpha Technologies proposes using the encapsulated sample rheometer (premier ESR) to determine the viscoelastic properties of thermosets. Premier ESR generates repeatable and reproducible analytical data and can measure a broad range of viscosity values, making it ideal for resins such as low viscous uncured prepreg or neat resins as well as highly viscous cured prepregs. During testing, before cure, cure and after cure properties can be detected without removing the material from the test chamber. Moreover, ESR can run a broad range of tests, from isothermal and non-isothermal cures to advanced techniques such as large amplitude oscillatory shear tests. During this webinar, Alpha Technologies will be presenting some of the selected studies that were completed on epoxy prepreg systems utilizing ESR and how it solves many issues in a fast and effective way. It will highlight the advantages of this technique that were proven with the work of several researchers. Moreover, Alpha Technologies will display part of these interesting findings using the correlations between the viscoelastic properties such as G’ and mechanical properties such as short beam shear strength (SBS).
Surface preparation is a critical step in composite structure bonding and plays a major role in determining the final bonding performance. Solvay has developed FusePly, a breakthrough technology that offers the potential to build reliable and robust bonded composite parts through the creation of covalently-bonded structures at bondline interface. FusePly technology meets the manufacturing challenges faced by aircraft builders and industrial bonding users looking for improved performance, buildrates and lightweighting. In this webinar, you will discover FusePly's key benefits as well as processing and data. Agenda: Surface preparation challenges for composite bonding FusePly technology overview Properties and performance data
The annual Conference on Composites, Materials, and Structures (also known as the Cocoa Beach Conference) is the preeminent export controlled and ITAR restricted forum in the United States to review and discuss advances in materials for extreme environments. The Conference started in the 1970s as a small informal gathering for government and industry to share information on programs and state-of-the-art technology. Attendance has grown to nearly 500 people while preserving this same objective to share needs and trends in high-temperature and extreme environment materials, and the latest information on advanced materials and manufacturing processes. The five-day conference program includes two to three parallel sessions per day on topics including thermal protection materials, ceramic matrix composites, carbon-carbon materials, ballistic technologies, hypersonics, and gas turbine engines. Attendees are engineers, scientists, managers, and operational personnel from the turbine engine, aviation, missiles and space, and protective equipment communities. These communities include the Navy, Air Force, Army, MDA, NASA, DARPA, FAA, DOE, engine manufacturers, missile and aircraft manufacturers, commercial space companies, and material and component suppliers. The Conference will be held in St. Augustine again for 2024! Participation is limited to U.S. Citizens and U.S. Permanent Residents only with an active DD2345 certification.
The 48th International Conference & Exposition on Advanced Ceramics & Composites (ICACC 2024) will be held from Jan. 28–Feb. 2, 2024, in Daytona Beach, Fla. It is a great honor to chair this conference, which has a strong history of being one of the best international meetings on advanced structural and functional ceramics, composites, and other emerging ceramic materials and technologies.
Venue ONLY ON-SITE @AZL Hub in Aachen Building Part 3B, 4th Floor Campus Boulevard 30 52074 Aachen Time: January 31st, 2024 | 11:00-16:00h (CET) This first constitutive session will shape the future of the workgroup. ✓ Insights into solutions for e.g. circularity, recycling, sustainability, end of life etc. ✓ Interactive exchange along the value chain to tackle these challenges: Share your input in the “World Café” workshop session! ✓ Are you a solution provider? Take your chance and present your solution approach in a short 5-minute pitch. Get in touch with Alexander.
The Transformative Vertical Flight (TVF) 2024 meeting will take place Feb. 6–8, 2024 in Santa Clara, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley and will feature more than 100 speakers on important progress on vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft and technology.
The Program of this Summit consists of a range of 12 high-level lectures by 14 invited speakers only. Topics are composite related innovations in Automotive & Transport, Space & Aerospace, Advanced Materials, and Process Engineering, as well as Challenging Applications in other markets like Architecture, Construction, Sports, Energy, Marine & more.
JEC World in Paris is the only trade show that unites the global composite industry: an indication of the industry’s commitment to an international platform where users can find a full spectrum of processes, new materials, and composite solutions.
Thousands of people visit our Supplier Guide every day to source equipment and materials. Get in front of them with a free company profile.
Arris presents mechanical testing results of an Arris-designed natural fiber thermoplastic composite in comparison to similarly produced glass and carbon fiber-based materials.
Cevotec, a tank manufacturer, Roth Composite Machinery and Cikoni, have undertaken a comprehensive project to explore and demonstrate the impact of dome reinforcements using FPP technology for composite tanks.
Initial demonstration in furniture shows properties two to nine times higher than plywood, OOA molding for uniquely shaped components.
The composite tubes white paper explores some of the considerations for specifying composite tubes, such as mechanical properties, maintenance requirements and more.
Foundational research discusses the current carbon fiber recycling landscape in Utah, and evaluates potential strategies and policies that could enhance this sustainable practice in the region.
In its latest white paper, Exel navigates the fire, smoke and toxicity (FST) considerations and complexities that can influence composites design.
Alliance for European Flax-Linen and Hemp has partnered with ecoinvent to enable a more comprehensive and transparent inventory database for the environmental impact of natural fiber-based products, services.
Online industry event in spring 2024 will feature six presentations covering sustainability in the composites industry.
Austrian research institute Wood K plus makes 95% silicon carbide ceramics more sustainable (>85% bio/recycled content), enables 3D shapes via extrusion, injection molding and 3D printing.
Thermoplastic polymer resin was designed to tackle distinctive industry challenges of large-scale 3D printing while also assisting with sustainability initiatives.
The MB9, representing a combination of high performance and eco-conscious materials use, will be commercially available in time for the 2024 sailing season.
For 42 months, the Aitiip Technology Center will coordinate the EU-funded project to design a new range of intermediate materials, such as pellets or resin-impregnated carbon fibers, which will be used to manufacture more sustainable final products.
In the Automated Composites Knowledge Center, CGTech brings you vital information about all things automated composites.
This CW Tech Days event will explore the technologies, materials, and strategies that can help composites manufacturers become more sustainable.
Explore the cutting-edge composites industry, as experts delve into the materials, tooling, and manufacturing hurdles of meeting the demands of the promising advanced air mobility (AAM) market. Join us at CW Tech Days to unlock the future of efficient composites fabrication operations.
CompositesWorld’s CW Tech Days: Infrastructure event offers a series of expert presentations on composite materials, processes and applications that should and will be considered for use in the infrastructure and construction markets.
Closed mold processes offer many advantages over open molding. This knowledge center details the basics of closed mold methods and the products and tools essential to producing a part correctly.
During CW Tech Days: Thermoplastics for Large Structures, experts explored the materials and processing technologies that are enabling the transition to large-part manufacturing.
The composites industry is increasingly recognizing the imperative of sustainability in its operations. As demand for lightweight and durable materials rises across various sectors, such as automotive, aerospace, and construction, there is a growing awareness of the environmental impact associated with traditional composite manufacturing processes.
CW’s editors are tracking the latest trends and developments in tooling, from the basics to new developments. This collection, presented by Composites One, features four recent CW stories that detail a range of tooling technologies, processes and materials.
CompositesWorld’s CW Tech Days: Infrastructure event offers a series of expert presentations on composite materials, processes and applications that should and will be considered for use in the infrastructure and construction markets.
Explore the cutting-edge composites industry, as experts delve into the materials, tooling, and manufacturing hurdles of meeting the demands of the promising advanced air mobility (AAM) market. Join us at CW Tech Days to unlock the future of efficient composites fabrication operations.
Thermoplastics for Large Structures, experts explored the materials and processing technologies that are enabling the transition to large-part manufacturing.
MVP's Automated Equipment: Revolutionizing Composites Part Production Through Filament Winding within CompositesWorld's CompositesWorld Collections Knowledge Center
Composites One Offers Manufacturing Efficiencies with Aerovac Kitting Solutions within CompositesWorld's CompositesWorld Collections Knowledge Center
A report on the demand for hydrogen as an energy source and the role composites might play in the transport and storage of hydrogen.
This collection features detail the current state of the industry and recent success stories across aerospace, automotive and rail applications.
This collection details the basics, challenges, and future of thermoplastic composites technology, with particular emphasis on their use for commercial aerospace primary structures.
This collection features recent CW stories that detail a range of tooling technologies, processes and materials.
Shocker Composites and R&M International are developing a supply chain for recycled CF with zero knockdown vs. virgin fiber, lower cost and, eventually, lengths delivering structural properties close to continuous fiber.
Currently, the most common recycling process used to recover carbon fiber from composite waste is pyrolysis, where high heat basically burns off the resin. Solvolysis, which uses a solvent to dissolve the resin, has long been claimed to offer superior properties. So far, commercialization of both pyrolysis and solvolysis has been through batch processes. But inline processing is finally in the works.
Shocker Composites (Wichita, KS, US) is a start-up out of Wichita State University (Wichita, KS, US) founded by Ph.D. student Vamsidhar Patlolla. He developed a method to recycle and reuse carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) test coupons during a research project on self-healing composites. “He came to us about 18 months ago, looking for sales channels for his recycled Aerospace grade fibers,” explains Stephen Rawson, a partner at R&M International (Fort Washington, PA, US), which specializes in the international import, export and trade of textiles, plastics and recycling materials. “The process uses solvolysis to dissolve the resin and then to completely remove it from the fiber. We were very interested because the recycled carbon fibers are not only very high quality, with the same properties as virgin aerospace grade fibers, but the process is profitable cost-wise.”
Scanning electron micrographs of virgin carbon fiber (left) and carbon fiber recycled using Shocker Composites’ solvolysis process (right). SOURCE: R&M International
Rawson explains that R&M had already seen opportunity in recycling carbon fiber. “We were looking for a sustainable, competitive advantage vs. what is already out there. Shocker Composites’ process offers this advantage because it is an inline process, not a batch process.” He notes that batch processes are expensive and difficult to scale. “You must copy process modules over and over to add capacity.”
Shocker Composites had already demonstrated taking uncured prepreg waste, removing the resin and producing recycled fiber that shows no damage when compared with virgin carbon fiber (vCF). “They performed microscopic analysis on the recycled fiber and found it to be almost identical to virgin fiber, except there is no sizing,” says Rawson. The fiber structure was seen to be essentially the same as vCF.
However, it now had to be demonstrated that the fiber could be reused with high performance. “We had difficulty because the recycled fiber was so fluffy, that it was hard to get it into a resin for reuse,” says Rawson. He concedes that it could be readily converted into a nonwoven material, “but that product is already out there via pyrolysis and we are seeing that the market is still being developed to take up these materials. We did see an opportunity, however, if we could process the fiber into pellets for thermoplastic composite molding and overmolding.”
Shocker Composites and R&M International have developed means for densifying the recycled carbon fiber (left) and compounding into pellets (right) for thermoplastic injection molding or overmolding. SOURCE: R&M International.
So, Shocker then had to solve the problem of densifying the material so that it could be compounded with thermoplastic into pellets for injection molding and extrusion/3D printing. “This is what has been accomplished over the last few months,” Rawson explains. “We have worked with a customer to compound the recycled carbon fiber with ABS into pellets and then extrude for large-scale 3D printing. The results were the same as for virgin fiber and the cost is less than current market price for pellets made with virgin fiber.”
Recycling process flow for Shocker Composites and R&M International rCF via inline solvolysis. SOURCE: R&M International
“We are now performing trials, using the recycled carbon fiber to make 3D printing filament — both 1.75mm and 2.85mm diameter — using ABS and nylon,” says Rawson. “We’ve done a test part on the Cincinnati Inc. BAAM equipment (see the blog “Additive manufacturing: Can you print a car?”) using ABS reinforced with the recycled carbon fiber, from 20% up to 40% reinforcement. It prints beautifully.” He notes that the 3D printing market for BAAM and Thermwood’s LAAM process is growing (see my report from CAMX 2017, scroll down to the 4th item, in fact the whole last part is about rCF and 3D printing).
Shocker Composites and R&M International have compounded the recycled carbon fiber into 20-40% reinforced ABS filament and demonstrated its successful use in the BAAM 3D printing process. SOURCE: R&M International.
Shocker Composites and R&M International have also sent the ABS compound to a 3D printing filament manufacturer, who converted it into 1.75mm filament and then trialed it into a commercial 3D printer to make a cube, a vase and other objects. “The hexagon-patterned vase shows how well that filament prints,” says Rawson. “The filament producer said it was excellent, that it flowed well and printed well.”
Trials of 20% rCF ABS compound converted into 1.75mm 3D printing filament show very high quality and process capability. SOURCE: R&M International.
“The unique thing about Shocker is that the recycled carbon fiber produced with this inline solvolysis process is very high quality with no apparent damage to the fibers,” says Rawson.
“Unlike other recycling methods such as pyrolysis, there is no 10-20% knockdown vs. virgin fiber, and we can produce it at a lower cost than virgin fiber. We’ve looked for where there is a good market that is sustainable long-term, and we think thermoplastic composites is the best market niche for our fiber, with 3D printing as an accelerator.”
What about injection molding and overmolding? “That market tends to be very allied with virgin carbon fiber producers and not very amenable to switching to rCF,” says Rawson. “Of course, that is for the big compounders. There is opportunity in small, niche molders of high-value components.” Rawson shows a biomedical device from MTD Micro Molding. R&M International has successfully trialed the Shocker Composites rCF in a variety of injection molded components.
R&M International does see opportunity for injection molding with rCF in high-value, niche applications like this biomedical device. SOURCE: MTD Micro Molding
R&M International has trialed the Shocker Composites rCF in a variety of compression molded parts with good results. SOURCE: R&M International.
It is also working on new densification and pelletization technologies that enable longer fiber compounds. “If you can get up to 1.0 inch in length for aligned discontinuous carbon fiber, you get almost the same structural properties as for continuous fiber,” Rawson explains. “If that’s the case, you can see recycled carbon fiber as becoming much more valuable.
The idea of using aligned discontinuous fibers to achieve greater moldability and high mechanical properties was demonstrated a decade ago with stretch-broken carbon fiber. Read “Aligned discontinuous fibers come of age”. Another interesting article on this is “Aligned Discontinuous Fibre Composites: A Short History” published in 2014 by Matthew Such, Carwyn Ward and Kevin Potter.
Shocker Composites and R&M International are working with the University of South Dakota’s CNAM center to convert longer recycled carbon fiber into reinforced thermoplastic sheet though the DiFTs process. Rolls of reinforced PP tape are shown here. SOURCE: R&M International.
R&M International is pursuing this further, working with the Composites and Polymer Engineering (CAPE) Laboratory and Composite and Nanocomposite Advanced Manufacturing Center (CNAM) at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SD Mines, Rapid City, SD, US). CNAM has developed a Discontinuous Fiber-reinforced Thermoplastic sheet (DiFTs) process that produces sheets containing discontinuous fibers with significant retention of fiber length and fiber alignment. The patent-pending process is compatible with a variety of fibers, including rCF. Material supplied to Steelcase (Caledonia, MI, US) and PolyOne for molding trials have shown that CF/PP sheets made with DiFTs can be thermoformed and compression molded with good results. An automotive differential cover made from 30% rCF/PP was molded by the University of Maine’s Alfond Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory for Structural Thermoplastics and presented by David Erb at the 2017 Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE): “Development of a Thermoformed Rear Differential Cover Made From Recycled Carbon Fiber”.
This curved prototype part for a military application, roughly the size of safety goggles (center photo), has been compression molded from 30% CF/PP sheet made using the CNAM DiFTs process. SOURCE: R&M International and CNAM.
He notes that the industry-university consortium advancing this technology is also refining the tape making progress, achieving 5-10% improvement in alignment and strength properties without even pushing the fiber to longer length.
“CNAM has produced these using nylon, ABS, and PP, but it could be any Thermoplastic,” says Rawson. The DiFTs pilot line currently produces 8-inch wide tapes up to a 2.0 mil thickness from extruded pellets, and it creates approximately 80% alignment in the fibers. This now allows you to design structural parts. Through a simple laminator, we can splice these tapes together to make sheets over 1 m in width, only limited by the size of the laminator.”
These graphs show mechanical properties of the pellets manufactured using Shocker Composites rCF. The pellets were extruded into coupons and tested for tensile and flexural properties. The different colors show properties from different vendors (click to enlarge). SOURCE: Shocker Composites.
The short-term path forward for Shocker Composites and R&M International is to produce and sell high-quality recycled carbon fiber to 3D printer filament manufacturers, molding material compounders and higher-value, niche market injection molders.
The companies will continue development toward longer-term goals, including use of their rCF products in discontinuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic tapes and extension of the rCF length to 1 inch and perhaps even beyond.
“Right now, we are recycling prepreg waste using the inline solvolysis process, and there is no degradation of the fiber,” says Rawson. “This is going to make carbon fiber more and more accessible as you recycle in a way that it can be reused many times. The customer that buys our thermoplastic composite pellets will use that material and include that cost as part of their parts production. They’re not expecting to recover anything from it, but that part at the end of its life can now be recycled multiple times and therefore can once again be monetized. As more and more fiber gets into this closed loop, more increasingly cheaper fiber will become available. This is so tremendous for our industry because we’re reusing the material over and over.”
For more information, visit R&M International in booth T59 at CAMX 2018 (Oct. 16-18, Dallas, TX, US).
The old art behind this industry’s first fiber reinforcement is explained,with insights into new fiber science and future developments.
For composite applications, these hollow microstructures displace a lot of volume at low weight and add an abundance of processing and product enhancements.
There are numerous methods for fabricating composite components. Selection of a method for a particular part, therefore, will depend on the materials, the part design and end-use or application. Here's a guide to selection.
Capable of volume production, thermoplastic composites will gain new market share in the aerospace industry.
The inaugural CW From the Archives revisits Sara Black’s 2007 story on out-of-autoclave infusion used to fabricate the massive composite upper cargo door for the Airbus A400M military airlifter.
Startup Fited and Brightlands Materials Center have developed a lighter weight, thinner CFRP corrective brace, including pressure sensors made from continuous carbon fibers.
Discussion of the issues in our understanding of thermoplastic composite welded structures and certification of the latest materials and welding technologies for future airframes.
Fiberglass E Glass Woven Roving 200gsm CompositesWorld is the source for reliable news and information on what’s happening in fiber-reinforced composites manufacturing. Learn More