Out of Autoclave

Automotive

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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GE Aviation, Batesville, MS, US

With a supply chain busy making commercial jet engines like the GE90, GEnx, LEAP and GE9X, GE Aviation has invested heavily in its composites capabilities in Batesville.

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Carbon Fibers

“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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Aerospace

February supplement: Out-of-autoclave processing for aero use

We here at CW put together a supplement published with the February issue of the regular magazine that focuses on the technologies, tools and materials being used today in out-of-autoclave (OOA) processing for aerocomposites.

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Infusion

Plant tour: Spirit AeroSystems: Prestwick, Scotland, UK

Global aerostructures giant Spirit AeroSystems ventures into out-of-autoclave (OAA) composites manufacturing via vacuum infusion.

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Out of Autoclave

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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Carbon Fibers

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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Adhesives

Polyurethanes: Collaboration and adaptation for optimal application

Guest columnist Kevin Meyer, associate scientist, Dow Polyurethanes, The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, MI, US), asks, and suggests some answers to, the question, "Why have polyurethanes, given their performance advantages, not been adopted in place of other thermosetting resins in a host of applications?"

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Construction

Disruptive composite infrastructure

FiberCore Europe claims the "Holy Grail" of delamination-resistant FRP bridge and infrastructure components with its patented InfraCore technology.

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Autoclave

CW opens up on out of autoclave, in February

You may not know that CW has prepared a Supplement to the upcoming February 2016 issue that examines out of autoclave processing in detail. It asks the question: Can OOA options be matured sufficiently to yield parts with <1% void content, outside of the autoclave?

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microwire technology for composites