Design & Tooling
Oil & gas: Will the composite riser rise again?
A new effort to develop a undersea pipe resets the long-term development course, again, toward an all-composite design for deepwater-capable oil and gas risers.
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GKN leads “STeM” program to successful conclusion
Technical achievements are credited to successful partner collaboration.
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Laminated composites: The original additive manufacturing process
Because fabrication of laminated composites can claim to be the original additive manufacturing process, Altair Engineering Inc.'s (Troy, MI, US.) VP of aerospace solutions Robert Yancey says it also should be the most advanced in terms of application.
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IACMI – One insider’s perspective
A CW columnist, a composites industry consultant and the chief commercialization officer for the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (Knoxville, TN, US), Dale Brosius asks, “What if we took a ‘big hat’ approach to reach faster, more cost-effective solutions?”
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Low-density SMC: Better living through chemistry
Proprietary sizing, special glass roving and microspheres strip 9 kilos of weight from Corvette body panels.
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Aircraft composites repair moves toward maturity
New technologies seek to address the challenges MROs will increasingly face in the age of commercial airliners with composite airframes.
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“Smart tooling” cuts time and risk for complex unitized composite structures production
One-piece bladder tooling helps to actualize NASA/Boeing’s revolutionary fluted core design for next-gen cryogenic fuel tank skirt.
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Inflexion technology: complex composites without fasteners
Spirit AeroSystems has developed production methods using rigid-flexible tooling for more affordable unitized composite aerostructures.
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Alternative precursor R&D: What are the alternatives to PAN?
Carbon fibers made from other precursors are in use, commercially, and many more precursor alternatives have been investigated.
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Alternative precursor R&D: First commercial use of lignin carbon fiber?
GrafTech International (Independence, OH, US) is working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN, US) and the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office to develop lignin fiber manufacturing and demonstrate it in viable products.
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