FOCUSONDESIGN

Carbon Fibers

Composites-reinforced concrete for sustainable data center construction

Metromont’s C-GRID-reinforced insulated precast concrete’s high strength, durability, light weight and ease of installation improve data center performance, construction time and sustainability.

Stewart Mitchell
Contributing Writer

Glass Fibers

Novel composite technology replaces welded joints in tubular structures

The Tree Composites TC-joint replaces traditional welding in jacket foundations for offshore wind turbine generator applications, advancing the world’s quest for fast, sustainable energy deployment.

Glass Fibers

CirculinQ: Glass fiber, recycled plastic turn paving into climate solutions

Durable modular paving system from recycled composite filters, collects, infiltrates stormwater to reduce flooding, recharge local aquifers.

Resins

High glass transition temperature, 100% bio-based thermoset resins for space composites

With the European Commission Restrictions Roadmap soon banning entire classes of chemical substances found in fossil fuel-based synthetic polymers, the space industry is looking to a chemical combination to produce competitive thermoset resins.

Thermoplastics

Thermoset-thermoplastic joining, natural fibers enable sustainability-focused brake cover

Award-winning motorcycle brake disc cover showcases potential for KTM Technologies’ Conexus joining technology and flax fiber composites.

Thermoplastics

CFRTP upper stage propellant tank

PROCOMP uses in-situ consolidation AFP and ultrasonic welding to demonstrate lightweight, novel tank design.

Glass Fibers

One-shot manufacture of 3D knitted hybrid thermoplastic composite structures

MAPICC 3D project replaces steel seat support in heavy-duty vehicle with a 3D knitted composite made from thermoplastic hybrid yarns comprising the matrix and reinforcing components.

Thermoplastics

Composite sidewall cover expands options for fire-safe rail components

R&D project by CG Rail explores use of carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastics and recycled manufacturing scrap to meet fire safety, weight and volume targets.

Hannah Mason
Technical Editor, CompositesWorld

Carbon Fibers

Protecting EV motors more efficiently

Motors for electric vehicles are expected to benefit from Trelleborg’s thermoplastic composite rotor sleeve design, which advances materials and processes to produce a lightweight, energy-efficient component.

Injection/Overmolding

CFRTP enables better, greener smartphones

Carbon Mobile’s “monocoque” design eliminates separate case, cover and frame, better protects electronics and simplifies disassembly.

Marine

Modernizing the mechanical rotor sail

Composites are key for Norsepower’s award-winning redesign of a century-old rotor sail for reducing carbon emissions on passenger and cargo ships.

Glass Fibers

Composite buildings go monocoque

Superior protection from the elements plus fast, affordable installation and maintenance have quickly made Orenco Composites’ DuraFiber buildings an attractive choice for water and wastewater, communications, transportation and power industry outbuildings.

Aerospace

Digital design, multi-material structures enable a quieter supersonic NASA X-plane

NASA’s composites-intensive X-59 QueSST experimental aircraft is set for its first flight by the end of 2022, after nine years of design, manufacture, assembly and testing by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.

Infusion

Refurbishing bridges at half the time, cost versus replacement

Instead of demolishing and rebuilding bridges, SUREbridge doubles the strength and durability of existing structures with an FRP deck for a smart, sustainable solution.

Automotive

Seat frame demonstrates next-generation autocomposites design

Light weight, simplified/cost-effective manufacturing, passenger comfort and safety informed materials and process innovations and won awards for the 2022 Toyota Tundra‘s second-row seat frame.

Hannah Mason
Technical Editor, CompositesWorld

Processes

Hydrostatic membrane consolidation: Skin-stringer panels in 60 minutes

Airbus and Siempelkamp demonstrate press process as alternative to thermoplastic welding, aimed to enable rate 100 aircraft and future mobility manufacturing.

Aerospace

Multi-composite thrust chamber aims to boost rockets, reduce cost for New Space economy

Black Engine uses new, microporous CMC liner for transpiration cooling and multiple lightweight composites in modular design that offers increased lifetime and lower maintenance versus current launch vehicle engines.

Automotive

SMC material configurations tailored to automotive battery enclosure design

SMC battery cover offers various module configurations, levels of performance, mass and cost for electric vehicles.

Automotive

BMW rolls out multi-material Carbon Cage with 2022 iX vehicle line

For its new battery-electric iX sports activity vehicle, BMW combines CFRP strategies from previous i3, i8 and 7-Series designs and adds CFRTP for a lightweight, rigid frame.

Aerospace

Composite ring frame improves safety, cost for workhorse helicopter

Airbus Helicopters replaces aluminum primary structure with CFRP using multi-piece preform and single-shot infusion.

RTM

Designing for automated composites manufacturing of low-volume aerostructures

The commercial aerospace industry is heavily focused on design for efficient high-rate manufacturing, but there is still need for automated, affordable fabrication of low-rate aerostructures.

Carbon Fibers

Jeep all-composite roof receivers achieve steel performance at low mass

Ultrashort carbon fiber/PPA replaces steel on rooftop brackets to hold Jeep soft tops, hardtops.

Peggy Malnati
Contributing Writer

Molds/Tools

Leveraging motorsports composites for next-gen rotorcraft

FastCan consortium integrates hollow, solid and cored CFRP into single-cure, single-piece canopy for reduced weight and cost.

Core

Industrial-scale wave energy system enabled by mobile filament winding

Sweden-based CorPower Ocean designed its 9-meter-long, filament-wound GFRP buoy prototype for high-efficiency, durable wave energy generation and fast, on-site manufacture.

Glass Fibers

Integrating antennas into composite aerostructures

ACASIAS project integrates Ku-band array antenna in novel AFP orthogrid with drastically reduced tooling for more fuel-efficient, multifunctional CFRP aircraft fuselage panel.

Aerospace

Rocket engine thrust frame proves a strong candidate for composites conversion

The engine thrust frame of a space launch vehicle, located at the bottom of a rocket stage, joining fuel tanks to engines, must deliver strength and stiffness across a range of temperatures — cost-effectively.

Glass Fibers

Optimizing a wind turbine nacelle cover to meet LCOE demand

Suzlon Group redesigned a composite nacelle cover with in-situ molded stiffeners to reduce manufacturing and material costs while maximizing part performance.

Epoxies

Design innovations improve efficiency of composite medical table

WIT-Composites' efforts to design a more effective all-composite surgical table led to development of complex components and an elastic carbon fiber material.

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