Focus on Design
Hydrostatic membrane consolidation: Skin-stringer panels in 60 minutes
Airbus and Siempelkamp demonstrate press process as alternative to thermoplastic welding, aimed to enable rate 100 aircraft and future mobility manufacturing.
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Multi-composite thrust chamber aims to boost rockets, reduce cost for New Space economy
Black Engine uses new, microporous CMC liner for transpiration cooling and multiple lightweight composites in modular design that offers increased lifetime and lower maintenance versus current launch vehicle engines.
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SMC material configurations tailored to automotive battery enclosure design
SMC battery cover offers various module configurations, levels of performance, mass and cost for electric vehicles.
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BMW rolls out multi-material Carbon Cage with 2022 iX vehicle line
For its new battery-electric iX sports activity vehicle, BMW combines CFRP strategies from previous i3, i8 and 7-Series designs and adds CFRTP for a lightweight, rigid frame.
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Composite ring frame improves safety, cost for workhorse helicopter
Airbus Helicopters replaces aluminum primary structure with CFRP using multi-piece preform and single-shot infusion.
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Designing for automated composites manufacturing of low-volume aerostructures
The commercial aerospace industry is heavily focused on design for efficient high-rate manufacturing, but there is still need for automated, affordable fabrication of low-rate aerostructures.
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Leveraging motorsports composites for next-gen rotorcraft
FastCan consortium integrates hollow, solid and cored CFRP into single-cure, single-piece canopy for reduced weight and cost.
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Industrial-scale wave energy system enabled by mobile filament winding
Sweden-based CorPower Ocean designed its 9-meter-long, filament-wound GFRP buoy prototype for high-efficiency, durable wave energy generation and fast, on-site manufacture.
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Integrating antennas into composite aerostructures
ACASIAS project integrates Ku-band array antenna in novel AFP orthogrid with drastically reduced tooling for more fuel-efficient, multifunctional CFRP aircraft fuselage panel.
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Rocket engine thrust frame proves a strong candidate for composites conversion
The engine thrust frame of a space launch vehicle, located at the bottom of a rocket stage, joining fuel tanks to engines, must deliver strength and stiffness across a range of temperatures — cost-effectively.
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