Jeff Sloan

Jeff Sloan Brand Vice President, ÂÌñÏ×ÆÞ & Plastics Technology

Epoxies

NASA considers carbon nanotube mirrors for cubesat telescope

The carbon nanotube/epoxy combination is being evaluated for the fabrication of mirrors on cubesats for planetary space exploration and Earth observations.

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Carbon Fibers

RMX Technologies to commercialize plasma surface treatment technology

After developing a plasma-based technology for carbon fiber oxidation, RMX Technologies is targeting plasma-based surface treatment technology.

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Sustainability

Building a market for recycled carbon fiber

Recycling uncured and cured carbon fiber was once a challenge, but that hurdle has been cleared. The difficulty we have now is in developing a market for what has become a mountainous amount of recycled material. CW's Carbon Fiber 2016 conference will address this issue.

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Out of Autoclave

Cooperating on new-generation ground transport

ÂÌñÏׯÞ's editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan shares his observations about the mixture of excitement and anxiety about the future of composite in the auto industry on display at the recent Thermoplastics Composites Conference for Automotive (TCCA), held in the Detroit suburb of Novi, MI, US.

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Automotive

Covestro kicking the tires on polycarbonates for automotive

Although development work has only just begun, the company's Makrolon polycarbonate, in a carbon fiber-reinforced composite, is proving highly impact resistant and offers a Class A surface.

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Aerospace

Massive Stratolaunch nears completion

Paul Allen's Vulcan Aerospace is working with Scaled Composites to build the largest aircraft yet made, and it uses a lot of composites. The plane, it is hoped, will deliver satellites into low-Earth orbit — affordably and efficiently.

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Automotive

Taking the hand out of hand layup

Hand layup has a long history in aerospace composites fabrication, but it's not well suited for automotive composites manufacturing, where volumes are much higher. But the discrete placement of fiber reinforcements still has value. Research is pointing toward automated hand layup that might help this process bridge the aerospace-to-automotive divide.

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RTM

Getting real: Thermoplastic resin transfer molding

KraussMaffei is launching this fall thermoplastic resin transfer molding (T-RTM), through which caprolactam is injected into a preform and then in-mold polymerized to create polyamide 6.

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Construction

Composites in a very large gate

The Wilhelmina Canal in Northern Europe is getting a major upgrade from massive (6.2m by 12.9m), lightweight (24 MT) composite doors that are designed for up to 80 years of continuous in-water service.

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Aerospace

GE Aviation breaks ground on CMC facilities in Alabama

The two adjacent factories in Huntsville will mass-produce silicon carbide (SiC) materials used to manufacture ceramic matrix composite components (CMCs) for jet engines and land-based gas turbines for electric power.

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Weaving

Carver Non-Woven Technologies opens its doors

US-based Carver Non-Woven Technologies offers nonwovens made with glass fiber, bast, carbon fiber, basalt fiber and thermoplastic fibers in densities ranging from 300-2,400 gsm.

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Construction

An FRP facelift

When the University of Valencia's business school expanded its facilities, it turned to fire-rated composite structures to fabricate the 7000-sq-m of façade used to help modernize the structures.

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