Sara Black Senior Technical Editor Emeritus
Optimizing the Ares V payload shroud
Sizing software allows rapid analysis of candidate composite architecture for highly loaded and weight-sensitive launch vehicle component.
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Simulation simplifies fabrication of all-composite crew module
Specialized simulation software shortens development cycle on first all-composite crew module demonstrator for NASA space program.
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Ocean-going catamarans: Making speed on composite hulls
This yacht is one of 13 composite yachts from sailboat builder Gunboat (Cape Town, South Africa) able to comfortably travel 300 nautical miles (345 miles/556 km) per day with a minimal crew.
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FEA facilitates custom megayacht design
Modeling software and design ingenuity meet vibration challenges in ocean-going luxury yacht.Â
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Automated solution: New presses for SMC molding process
Using glass/polyester sheet molding compound (SMC) that it formulates and manufactures in-house, Stahlin Non-Metallic Enclosures (Belding, Mich.) produces composite boxes and enclosures for electrical systems and components.
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Direct manufacturing of military aircraft parts
 Laser sintering process shortens lead time, simplifies production of complex, high-performance parts.
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Composite engine valves?
 HPC technical editor Sara Black reports progress on CFRP intake and exhaust valves for race car engines.
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Solvent-free release a good match for wind blade molding
Wind power’s reputation as a “green” technology belies the fact that production of turbine components requires many materials and products that aren’t green.
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Automating wind blade manufacture
Recent technology announcements portend a new era of more efficient blade production.
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Challenge of engineering retrofit blades
Myriad interrelated design factors are considered in new blades for turbines originally built for high-wind regimes.
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Lightweight, stable large-tool concept requires no master model
After two years of testing, partners Advanced Composites Group (ACG, Tulsa, Okla.) and GrafTech (Parma, Ohio) are commercializing the ACG GRAFOAM FPA-20 tooling system, a new concept in dimensionally stable, low-mass, high-temperature-compatible composite tooling. The system’s foundation is carbon foam.
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C-Scan inspection facility cuts cost for commercial copter
Bell Helicopter Textron’s (Ft. Worth, Texas) 429 helicopter, first revealed in 2008, is targeted to individual, corporate and emergency-services customers.
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