Work In Progress

Work In Progress

Inside Teijin’s thermoplastic tape expansion

Teijin is qualifying its second thermoplastic tape line in Heinsberg, Germany, that will significantly expand the company’s presence in this material segment.

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Thermoplastics

New polymer expands composites options in demanding environments

Aromatic thermosetting copolyester offers unique properties, availability in multiple form factors.

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Fabrics/Preforms

One-piece, one-shot, 17-meter wing spar for high-rate aircraft manufacture

GKN Aerospace has spent the last five years developing materials strategies and resin transfer molding (RTM) for an aircraft trailing edge wing spar for the Airbus Wing of Tomorrow program.

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Work In Progress

Evolution of the one-piece, all-composite Funny Car body

Large, one-piece drag racing vehicle bodies require extreme lightweighting and precise layup skills. Specialist MTCcorp shares how its John Force Racing Funny Cars have evolved over the past 25 years.

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Thermoplastics

Flexible, induction-based heating for thermoplastic composite part repair

Spinning off from a German Aerospace Center (DLR) research project, msquare GmbH’s technology aims to innovate and enable repair for high-temperature thermoplastics.

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Automation

Low-void, large-scale, high-volume 3D-printed composites

Among its many composites-related projects, Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently installed its first AMCM test cell, combining extrusion with compression molding for fast, low-void, low-porosity thermoplastic composite parts.

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3D printing and AFP join forces in automotive demonstrator

Bavarian auto industry and TU Munich research how to reduce molding costs by combining continuous fiber and 3D-printed composites.

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Aerospace

Multi-flange RTM frames enable radical rear fuselage design

The Clean Sky 2 Advanced Rear End (ARE) demonstrator combines patented new frame design, thermoset and thermoplastic composites and smart tooling to advance aircraft design and cut weight, cost and production time.

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Sustainability

High-performance sustainability and cost-efficiency advance with HiPerDiF

In the latest chapter of the HiPerDiF (High Performance Discontinuous Fibre) story, commercial production is on the near horizon for high-performance composite materials that are both sustainable and formable, leading to simpler, more cost-efficient composites manufacturing.

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Work In Progress

Multi-material steel/composite leaf spring targets lightweight, high-volume applications

Rassini International was challenged by Ford Motor Co. to take weight out of the F-150 pickup truck. Rassini responded with a multi-material steel/composite hybrid leaf spring system that can be manufactured at high volumes.

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