Defense

Prepregs

Large portable antenna goes lightweight with conductive composites

CFRP matches metal performance at one-third the weight thanks to innovative materials and precision manufacturing.

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Automotive

Gardner Business Index at 50.8 in February

New orders, production and future business expectations go up as small- and medium-sized fabricators see welcome expansion.

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Notched testing of composites

Open-hole test methods were developed in the early 1980s to compare toughness increases in new composite materials.

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Consumer

Materials & Processes: Composites part design

Designers of composite parts can choose from a huge variety of fiber reinforcements and resin systems. That makes knowledge of how those materials work together a critically important aspect of part development. Here's a short description of what that knowledge entails.

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Weaving

Materials & Processes: Fiber formats for composites

Fibers used to reinforce composites are supplied directly by fiber manufacturers and indirectly by converters in a number of different forms, which vary depending on the application. Here's a guide to what's available.

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Carbon Fibers

Supply and demand: Advanced fibers

Demand for advanced fiber, virgin and reclaimed, is on an upswing after a dip during the recent recession. Fiber suppliers are gearing up to meet an expected increase in demand as manufacturers in a number of composites end-markets scale up or start up part development and production programs

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Marine

Materials & Processes: Introduction

High strength at low weight remain the winning combination that propels composite materials into new arenas, but other properties are equally important. This article outlines the case for composites and introduces SourceBook's overview of the materials and processes used to make them.

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Defense

Aurora Flight Sciences selected to develop x-plane demonstrator

The demonstrator, called LightningStrike, features distributed hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fans and aims to offer high-speed, high-efficiency tilt-wing capability.

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Wind/Energy

Gardner Business Index at 43.4 in January

Mid-sized U.S. production facilities expand; capital spending plans reach second highest level since August 2015.

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Defense

Alternative precursor R&D: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, US) has been at the forefront of North American research into alternatives to the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor used to make aerospace-grade carbon fiber.

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