Materials
Natural fiber composite drives automotive sustainability
Coir felt greens an EV, improves lives in developing world.
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Automotive, going forward?
CT editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan asks when, if and how composites professionals will be ready to meet the challenges of significant use of carbon fiber composites in automobiles.
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Fabric core: Reinforced marble façades for significantly lighter weight
Natural stone specialist Kunovar & Kamini (Ljubljana, Slovenia), recently adopted trademarked Parabeam 3-D glass fabric (Parabeam BV, Helmond, The Netherlands), to reinforce flat marble façades and curved column cladding.
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Compression molding mass out of aircraft interiors
Continuous carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic lightweights smoke detector pan and slashes production cycle time.
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Ceramic matrix composites heat up
Lightweight, hard and stable at high temperatures, CMCs are emerging from two decades of study and development into commercial applications.
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Software supplier aids parts producer with greater accuracy
Paul Crosby (Crosby Composites, Brackley, Northamptonshire, U.K.) says PowerMILL software, which converts CAD models to NC toolpaths for multiaxis milling, has helped produce F1 composite parts to levels of accuracy rarely seen in the industry.
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Toray + Zoltek = potential game changer?
Consultant Dale Brosius, also president of Dayton, Ohio-based Quickstep Composites LLC, the U.S. subsidiary of Australia-based Quickstep Technologies (Bankstown Airport, New South Wales), sees the Toray buyout of Zoltek as a potential auto-industry game changer.
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Toray makes waves with Zoltek purchase
Toray was already the largest carbon fiber maker in the world, and with Zoltek it not only gets bigger, but expands into new markets.
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Structural preform technologies emerge from the shadows
Not yet in full production, with one exception, all are aimed at accelerating composite part manufacture at fast automotive rates.
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Wind blades: Progress and challenges
Despite double-digit wind energy industry growth, turbine blade manufacturers and materials suppliers acknowledge a pressing need to reduce costs and innovate.
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