Sara Black Senior Technical Editor Emeritus
Quay cable tray: Composites upgrade container ship terminal
When the Cape Town, South Africa, Transnet National Ports Authority began a 12-month effort to expand its facility and upgrade its existing quays (wharfs), engineers realized that the Authority had a safety problem at its main container quay. Composites provided the solution.
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Building a house, with a 3-D printer
A Dutch project is working with Henkel on an effort to 3-D print an entire house to help evaluate material and manufacturing strategies.
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Reselling, reusing composite materials and parts
The more carbon and glass fiber is used, the more it's thrown away. How the industry copes with reusable material will matter much in the coming decades. What do you do with your usable scrap?
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Thermoplastic composites save weight in rotorcraft aerostructure
This helicopter structure outdoes both metal and thermoset-composite alternatives.
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Laser encoder enables highly accurate cutting of critical wingskins
To ensure machined part dimensional accuracy on Flow International Corp.’s (Kent, Wash.) new Composites Machining Center’s (CMC) gantry design, in x-axis lengths of 6 to 50m (19.5 to 162.5 ft), one of the keys is Renishaw plc’s (Gloucestershire, U.K.) HS10/HS20 laser encoder.
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Composites fit telecom tower repair like a glove
Telecome towers are critical to phone, television and radio communications, but building new ones is expensive. Composites-based repair systems aim to extend the life of towers already in operation.
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Video: Morphing wing technology update
A new video from NASA Dryden shows how aircraft wing morphing technology is being used to develop quieter and more efficient aircraft systems.
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Sportfishing yacht: Infusion optimized
This well-loved deepsea fishing brand has moved from Miami to a new facility, and to a state-of-the-art resin-infused laminate for its Bertram 64.
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Inspection: 30-year-old fiberglass pipeline stands test of time
Examined after three decades in service (half its predicted service life), this filament wound fiberglass pipe showed no signs of degradation.
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Lisa Airplanes rises, falls, rises again
Creative use of carbon fiber helped make Lisa Airplanes' Akoya LSA a possibility, and with some fresh financing, it's now on its way to becoming reality.
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High-speed RTM work cell holds promise for faster part production
Pinette Emidecau Inc. (Troy, Mich.) reports that it has developed an automated, high-speed RTM cell for aerospace and automotive manufacturing applications that is designed to increase molded part throughput and improve process consistency.
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Carbon stairs make boarding a sailing yacht a breeze
GMT Composites (Bristol, R.I.) makes lightweight but strong — typically carbon fiber — yacht-boarding systems that are easily moved and stowed.
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