NetComposites news archive: April 2008
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At the JEC composites show in Paris Hexcel celebrated the company’s 60th anniversary by promoting the latest composite innovations for aerospace and industrial markets.
Interplastic Corporation’s Thermoset Resins Division is raising the price of CoREZYN and Silmar brand products $0.07 per pound for shipments on or after May 1, 2008.
Twintex Technical Fabric has been chosen by German sport and leisure boat builder, Mega Sports Vertriebs, for its new innovative Robson Brook-16 composite canoe.
A new semi-permanent mould release from Axel Plastics Research Laboratories, XTEND 840, has been designed to provide gloss and durability for RTM operations.
IDI Composites International has launched AV-206, a new corrosion-resistant, lightweight sheet moulding compound (SMC).
Time Sport International, the sports bicycle frame and accessories manufacturer, has recently worked with Huntsman Advanced Materials to develop a unique high performance bike – the RXR.
Magnum Venus Plastech has released several new accessories to the light RTM product line.
Swerea Sicomp has started the Funfirebic project “Functional fibre reinforced bio-composites”, an ERA-NET project within the EU’s WoodWisdom Net programme.
NPSP Composieten is using. DSM Composite Resins in fibre composite nose and rear panels for the next generation of high-speed Dutch InterCity trains.
Bayer MaterialScience and Clariant Masterbatches have agreed to cooperate on thermoplastic compounds.
SABIC Innovative Plastics is to open a major production line at its Chung-Ju, Korea facility, to produce LNP Verton long glass fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites.
Henkel’s aerospace group has launched Epsilon 99100, a benzoxazine RTM/VARTM resin system, optimized for aerospace applications.
AGY has launched its new S-Series high performance materials product line - S-1 Glass, an industrial grade product, and S-3 Glass a special grade product.
Ten Cate Advanced Composites and Airborne Composite Tubulars ratified their intended strategic collaboration relating to the development and production of continuous tubular systems based on thermoplastic composite materials.
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A new company, Rigicom Ltd, has been formed to extend hot compaction technology for the manufacture of self-reinforced composites, originally developed at the University of Leeds.
Ericsson Racing Team’s boat ‘Ericsson 3’, which was unveiled to the yachting press on the 12th February, is the first one-off Volvo Ocean Race (VO70) challenge yacht to come out of the purpose-built Ericsson boatyard in Kista, Sweden.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has awarded Flow International a second multi-million dollar contract to supply MHI with Flow’s Composite Machining Center (CMC) waterjet machine tools to cut carbon fibre wing skins.
Using its proprietary quick-cycle moulding processes, Diaphorm Technologies LLC is now producing composite combat helmets that they say weigh up to 10% less than available ACH (Advanced Combat Helmet)-grade helmets.
The pan-European Foremost consortium has completed the development of its first composite coating, based on ApNano Materials’ inorganic fullerene (IF) nanoparticles.
In response to increasing demand for large pultruded products, Strongwell Corporation has increased its pultrusion capacity for these products in its Bristol, Virginia plant.
Ito & Assoc, a Vancouver based distributor of building products to Japan, has placed Duxton fiberglass windows into the first Net Zero house project in Japan.
More than 260 composites industry leaders, 50 students and 20 faculty members participated in a highly successful ACMA conference at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, March 4 - 6, 2008.
High Modulus has opened its operation in Qingdao, China, well-placed to serve the company’s growing number of Asian customers.
Recent projects have led to the UK's lead private training providers forming a working partnership as well as achieving approval of their courses by Composites UK, the UK's composites trade association.
The recent JEC Composites Show was a great success, with a record turnout and greatly expanded exhibit area.
Vistagy says that the latest version of its suite of composites product development software, FiberSIM 5.4, delivers optimized composites designs in a shorter period of time by enabling engineers to perform more design iterations later in the development process.
RocTool has successfully carried out a private placement amongst qualified investors, in the form of a €3.2 million capital increase.
Boeing has revised plans for first flight and initial deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner, that includes additional schedule margin to reduce risk of further delays on the program.
Lord has signed a long-term agreement with Wabash National for the supply of Lord engineered adhesives and Lord Fusor aftermarket repair adhesives.
AOC will make a US$0.07 per pound price increase on all resins and gel coats exported from the United States, effective for all shipments beginning April 21, 2008.
ESI Group has said that it is a partner in ITOOL, a project to simulate preform manufacturing, draping and impregnation, followed by the external loading of the finished component.
Plasan has delivered armour for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle (MRAP) during the last seven months, meeting its contractual commitments, and new orders for an additional 2,500 units will also be armoured by Plasan.
A new ASTM International standard will enable composite end users and materials suppliers within the aerospace industry to perform an important test for polymer matrix composites within guidelines set by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Based on the established Albidur technology, which is widely used to improve epoxy resins, AG has now developed a new range of products for cyanate ester resins.
Alenia Aeronautica has successfully completed the ultimate load testing of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner horizontal stabilizer.
Nike Bauer Hockey’s latest goal stick - the all-composite, patented One95 – is exceptionally lightweight and durable thanks to TeXtreme Spread Tow carbon fibre fabric.
PPG Industries’ fibreglass business is raising prices effective from May 1, or as permissible by contract, for products in the Americas.
When Too Kool Recreation wanted to develop a portable shade system that would allow a canopy umbrella to stand anywhere, even in a swimming pool, they chose a high-impact compound and a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) from RTP.
Biteam has applied its 3D-weaving technologies to demonstrate the direct production a 3D woven truss structure.
Construction has just started on what is envisioned to become LM Glasfiber's largest blade factory in Northern Europe.
CPS Corporation has launched AlSiC (Aluminum Silicon Carbide), a metal matrix composite intended for base plates for insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) used in high-power traction, power control, Hybrid Electric Vehicle power systems, and fly-by-wire applications.
Intertape Polymer Group has launched a new line of Anchor Marine Products developed specifically for the marine and composites industry.
Gillfab 4523, a low smoke sandwich panel with facings of modified phenolic resin reinforced with a combination of woven and unidirectional glass fibres and Nomex honeycomb core, has been qualified.
Ashland Distribution, a division of Ashland Inc, recently took delivery of 40 new International TranStar1 Series regional haul tractors with engine hoods made from Ashland’s own Arotran 720 low-density sheet moulding compound (SMC).
Amber Composites and Arkema have entered into a collaborative agreement to develop the next generation of high performance prepreg systems based on Arkema’s Graphistrength multi-wall carbon nanotubes and Amber’s proprietary resins.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has published detailed guidelines for making essential measurements on samples of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs).
A multi-partner UK project, FuturePlas, is developing the next generation of innovative, sustainable self-reinforced plastics, with funding support from the Technology Strategy Board.
Grieve has installed an electrically-heated, 350ºF (~176ºC) jumbo combination walk-in oven, used for curing composite parts at their customer’s facility.
Angstron Materials LLC has developed a new alternative to nanotubes, called nano-graphene platelets (NGPs).
M.C. Gill Corporation has been honoured as one of Boeing’s Top Suppliers for 2007.
On April 18 the new Conversion plant of Alcan Composites Core Materials Shanghai was officially inaugurated with the presence of local officials and the management of Alcan Composites and Alcan Engineered Products, Asia.
ZCL Composites has been awarded a three-year contract extension by Petro-Canada for the supply of fibreglass tanks and related products for use in its operations across Canada.
GFT has been chosen for distribution of Arkema’s peroxides for the unsaturated polyester resin market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Special-Lite has launched a concentrated effort to sell a hurricane-resistant fiberglass-reinforced polyester (FRP) door in states along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States.
Maine Secure Composites LLC has landed a $12 million contract from the U.S. Navy to develop and build more secure cargo containers.
Royal DSM plans a substantial capital expenditure program, expected to involve up to USD 450 million, to increase production capacity in its Dyneema business.
Owens Corning will further invest in the composite materials industry in the Americas by expanding glass fibre reinforcement capacity at its Amarillo, Texas, facility in 2008.
Concordia University’s Dr. Suong Van Hoa has been awarded the inaugural Nano-Academia Award by NanoQuebec.
Boeing moved the 787 Dreamliner static test airframe from its Final Assembly facility in Everett to its structural test rig last Friday.
Comfort Line Ltd. USA has won the Rome 2008 Pultrusion Innovation Award with their SunSuite Sunroom.
A team of nanotechnologists at The University of Texas at Dallas, along with Brazilian collaborators, have discovered that sheets of carbon nanotubes can produce bizarre mechanical properties when stretched or uniformly compressed.
