Materials
Space mission maximized via minimized survivability
CFRP design and manufacturing flexibility prove key in first spacecraft fuel tank designed to disintegrate upon reentry for improved mission efficiency and debris mitigation.
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Market Outlook: Surplus in carbon fiber's future?
Participants at CW’s Carbon Fiber 2012 Conference see one coming as early as 2016.
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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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Market Outlook: Fiber-reinforced phenolics
When it comes to corrosion resistance and low smoke toxicity, it's hard to beat fiber-reinforced phenolics. Manufacturers look for new applications for this often overlooked material.
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The structural grid: Prefabrication
Digitally designed and cut, preformed and preinfused stringers and bulkheads reduce boat weight, labor and cycle time and improve boatbuilder process control.
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Paddleboard productivity: Adhesively bonded hull/deck is key
Dragonfly Boatworks LLC's (Vero Beach, Fla.) new standup paddleboard for fly fishing is built without fasteners, with the aid of SG200-40 methacrylate adhesive from SCIGRIP Smarter Adhesive Solutions (Durham, N.C.).
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Deep draw: Unique laminate architecture enables bus part
For a major mass-transit manufacturer, Amtech LLC (Wapato, Wash.) successfully thermoforms a luggage cover with a remarkably deep draw of 40 inches (1,016 mm), using a laminate architecture that includes a top layer of 0.180-inch/4.5-mm gauge Grade 4800 thermoplastic sheet, supplied by Boltaron (Newcomerstown, Ohio).
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Cure for cratering: Gel coat perfected with design of experiments software
Resin manufacturer Interplastic Corp. – Thermoset Resins Div. (St. Paul, Minn.), a major gel coat producer, recently developed a new gel coat with the aid of Design-Expert design of experiments software from Stat-Ease Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.).
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In new Corvette Stingray, another step forward for composites
Plasan Carbon Composites puts its "pressure press" process, developed with Globe Machine, to work in the manufacture of the hood and roof for the new 2014 Corvette Stingray, introduced last week at the Detroit Auto Show.
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TenCate's acquisition of Amber Composites a sensible surprise
TenCate, known for years as a thermoplastics specialist, is signaling more and more that it wants to move into new markets with new materials.
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