Design & Tooling
Tooling up for larger launch vehicles
NASA and Janicki Industries demonstrate composites’ cost advantage in tooling for fabrication of 10m/33 ft diameter payload fairing for next-generation launch vehicle.
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Optimization software improves small, low-cost satellite design
Ames Research Center’s (Moffett Field, Calif.) designs and builds a low-cost, small spacecraft on a quick turnaround, using a modular strategy based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts and with the aid of several design software packages and finite element solvers.
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The Double-Notch Shear test specimen for composite materials
Dr. Donald F. Adams (Wyoming Test Fixtures Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah) recommends best practices for double-notch shear test specimens.
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Revisioning the Viper: Clamshell hood challenge
Autoclave-cured carbon-fiber prepreg hood/fender combo proves as technically formidable as it is visually stunning.
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Software isolates, identifies porosity-related flaws in tooling from fuselage test data
Software and composites manufacturing data specialist NLign Analytics, a division of Etegent Technologies (Cincinnati, Ohio) helps identify and track product flaws caused by tooling porosity.
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Janicki Industries: Breaking the mold
Once known only as a toolmaker, Janicki offers unique precision, production capability and problem solving as it pioneers leading-edge composites technology.
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Thickness-tapered unidirectional composite specimens
Sometimes a testing concept is known for a long time but is never developed into an established test method.
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Building a better tail boom
Out-of-autoclave carbon fiber/thermoplastic demonstrator is a 30 percent lighter drop-in replacement for an existing aluminum design.
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Flexural test method standards for composite materials
Dr. Donald F. Adams (Wyoming Test Fixtures Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah) proposes a common-sense standard method for flexural testing of composite materials.
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Faster cycle, better surface: Out of the autoclave
GM is first automaker to use Class A CFRP parts from new pressure-press technology.
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