Design & Tooling
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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Fiber patch preforms help tailor kiteboard performance
Automated means for laying fiber only where needed offers new potential to fine-tune torsional stiffness and flexibility to board and rider styles.
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NASA/Boeing composite launch vehicle fuel tank scores firsts
Subscale 5.5m-diameter cryogenic tank demonstrator with innovative fluted-core skirt is formed via robotic AFP and cured out of the autoclave.
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Advanced composites — An idealized future
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 imagines an ideal future for our industry then challenges us to make it real.
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CompoSIDE and Trace: Game-changer for development of composite parts
Structural design challenges (delamination, coupling and shape distortions, resin-driven failures, local stress concentration and the like) are inherent in laminate architecture. The author's contention is that a solution can be found in design simplification afforded by the work of Dr. Stephen Tsai in Trace-based analysis.
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Top composites blog articles of 2015
Blog articles about additive manufacturing, 777X composite wings and colored carbon fiber all generated your interest in 2015.
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Fracture mechanics testing of composites
Dr. Daniel O. Adams, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Composite Mechanics Laboratory at the University of Utah, and vice president of Wyoming Test Fixtures Inc. (Salt Lake City, UT, US), addresses ways to acquire mechanical test data and then calculate the values for the composite material property of fracture toughness.
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Turnkey manufacturing systems: Part-per-minute thermoplastic composites
Pinette Emidecau Industries’ (PEI, Chalon-sur-Saône, France) leads a consortium of providers that are collaborating on the Quilted Stratum Process (QSP), a means to accelerate thermoplastic composites processing in the auto industry.
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Hybrid analysis: Making the most of FEA by leveraging traditional analysis
CW guest columinst Collin Petersen (Janicki Industries, Sedro-Woolley, WA, US) suggests the use of more traditional analysis methods, where it is sensible to do so, making your finite element analysis (FEA) significantly simpler in the process.
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