Resins

Carbon Fibers

Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM): Increasing material feed and speed

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Knoxville, TN, US) and Cincinnati Incorporated (Harrison, OH, US) take steps to increase the laydown rate on their large-format, gantry-based thermoplastic composite 3D printer.

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Ketones

Additive manufacturing: Can you print a car?

Collaborative demonstration dispels doubt about 3D printing’s disruptive potential for direct-to-digital manufacturing of just about anything BIG.

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Infrastructure

SkyPath: Scenic bikeway/walkway a winner with composites

E-glass/carbon/epoxy provides the means for this long-sought addition to a 1.1-km harbor bridge in New Zealand’s capital city.

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Autocomposites Update: Engine oil pans

As thermoplastic composites makes inroads into these complex, modular parts, weight and cost go down, functionality goes up.

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Wind/Energy

Looking for Lindberghs

Every paradigm-shifting invention throughout human history has been met with skepticism. CW editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan says the composites industry has need of those willing to attempt what most believe impossible.

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Glass Fibers

Incremental thinking just won’t cut it!

Composites industry consultant and regular CW columnist Dale Brosius says if this industry is to have a future that goes anywhere profitable, then we've got to get off the road we're on and map out a whole new way to think about the tasks at hand.

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Epoxies

Donauwörth as composites pioneer

Airbus Helicopter Germany produces composite primary structure for 30+ years, first all-composite doors for A350 XWB and latest “kinked” composite blades for new “quiet” rotorcraft.

Watch

New hydraulic press for automated processing of thermoplastic CFRP

Wickert Presstech delivers new system to German Aerospace Center which reportedly can process all materials and uses latest in automated technology.

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Automotive

DuraStor/HOST participants

In 2010, a multi-partner, multi-year research program called Low Cost, Durable Thermoplastic Hydrogen Storage Tanks, or DuraStor, was formed to address these problems by investigating a drop-in replacement for Type IV tanks. A UK-only program called Hydrogen – Optimisation of Storage and Transfer (HOST) picked up where DuraStor left off in mid-2014. These were the participants.

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New aerocomposites niche: Helicopter transmission gears?

A NASA study shows that steel/composite hybrid gears save significant weight, and could mitigate vibration-related noise.

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