Processes
Small wind: Green energy gets greener
Kilowatt-rated vertical axis wind turbines supply green electric power where utility-scale turbines can’t.
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Under the hood: Thermoplastics tackle tough jobs
Reinforced plastics save weight and cost, increase underhood productivity.
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Status update on composites automation
Consultant Carroll Grant reviews progress made in recent years toward greater variety in automated composites processing machine sizes configurations and capabilities.
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Mae West: Pipe dream in Munich
Unique fiber architecture and mandrel-less filament winding process make “impossible” rotational paraboloid sculpture possible in carbon composites.
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Low-volume thermoplastics: Differential pressure molding
Cost-effective tooling and presses enable semi-automated prototyping and low-volume production of thermoplastic composites.
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Single bagging can do the job
Mechnical engineer Peter Schwarzel (CarbonWorks, Coombabah, Queensland, Australia) comments on the “Engineering Insights” article in the CT December 2010 issue, titled “Double-bag infusion: 70 percent fiber volume?”
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Addressing the cost of aerospace composites
In the aerospace composites industry’s history, millions of research and development (R&D) dollars have been spent addressing cost.
Read MorePerformance requirements: CAI vs. OHC
John Russell, who manages nonautoclave research programs for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio), recently threw down the gauntlet at the Fall SAMPE conference in Salt Lake City, Utah: “Give us a 25 percent improvement in notch properties with no microcracking in high-modulus fibers.” While OOA prepreg suppliers can’t do much about fiber microcracking, Advanced Composites Group (ACG, Tulsa, Okla.) already has announced that its XMTM47 material will be commercial by next year, designed for 120°C/248°F service with the increased notched performance requested.
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Out-of-autoclave prepregs: Hype or revolution?
Oven-cured, vacuum-bagged prepregs show promise in production primary structures.
Read MoreOld is new in vacuum bonding honeycomb sandwich
In Care and Repair of Advanced Composites (published by the Warrendale, Pa.-based Society of Automotive Engineers in 1997), Dr.
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