NetComposites news archive: May 2012
Search the NetComposites news archive now
Recycled composites and flax reinforced composites, products born out of joint development programmes involving Umeco, have been used to manufacture parts for the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV, an all-electric prototype racing car demonstrating the potential of sustainable ‘green’ technologies in the motorsport industry.
Angstron Materials has named Digichem Corporation, Anyang City, Korea, its distribution partner for Korea.
A new flexible ultrasonic transducer which can squeeze into corners and conform to curved surfaces is set to revolutionise the inspection of composites and components with complex geometries.
The 2012 J.H. (Jud) Hall Composites Manufacturing Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers award was presented to Jon DeVault at Composites Manufacturing 2012, in Mesa, Arizona, US, on March 14.
Barrday Composite Solutions has earned AS9100, Revision C, certification for its Millbury, Massachusetts manufacturing facility.
SCIGRIP has appointed Marineware as a key distributor, supplying the UK marine market with SCIGRIP’s most cutting edge toughened adhesive chemistries and bonding systems.
Boeing awarded a contract valued at $1 billion over 10 years to Mubadala Aerospace’s composite aerostructures unit, which will produce aircraft parts, as the Middle East expands its role as an aviation hub.
Hexcel has officially opened an extension to its prepreg facility in Stade, Germany – a development that will increase plant capacity in order to support increasing build rates for the Airbus A350 XWB and legacy programmes.
Dixie Chemical has launched a bio-based reactive diluent designed to replace or reduce styrene in many polyester and vinyl ester resin systems.
Umeco manufactured a suite of large-scale tooling mandrels for GKN Aerospace using their tooling prepregs and GKN now uses these tools to produce Airbus A350 XWB rear wing spars using advanced fibre-placement (AFP) technology.
epm technology is supporting and sponsoring the Composite UK 12th Annual Conference which will be held on the 10th and 11th May, Manchester Conference Centre, UK.
Formax continues its dynamic plans for expansion with the completion of the installation of a new Karl Mayer 100” Malitronic Multiaxial machine.
SP-High Modulus is the silver sponsor of the 2012 Superyacht Cup in Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK.
Edra Equipamentos has developed an ATM booth using composite materials that promises to draw attention for its looks and for its sustainable character.
PRF Composite Materials were selected as suppliers of the epoxy resin system and glass roving for an innovative composite structures design and manufacturing project led by Andrew Mills at Cranfield University’s Composites Centre.
RheTech has been named a winner of the Michigan Green Leaders Award, Medium-Sized Business category, by the Detroit Free Press.
Lockheed Martin has partnered with Ingersoll Machine Tools to develop a new and visibly improved software package for the programming of Automated Fibre Placement equipment.
Shakespeare has teamed with Rolatube to offer a line of light weight, highly portable mast systems developed for man portable tactical use.
Dixie Chemical has launched a bio-based composite resin that offers a combination of bio-based content over 55% and physical and mechanical property performance comparable to standard unsaturated polyester resins.
Araldite has agreed a business association with South Staffordshire College which will engage students from engineering and media courses in programmes that add to their ‘employability’.
RHC Lifting has commissioned and supplied its first Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) to GKN Aerospace’s new state of the art composite wing structures manufacturing and assembly facility, near Bristol.
Gurit and Sino Composite have signed a long-term agreement to immediately initiate supplies of balsa core materials for the Chinese market.
Laurel BioComposite has made its second major capital equipment investment in its new production line with the purchase of an Amtek Microwave system from Cellencor.
Fibrelite has successfully adapted the manufacturing process to utilise recycled glass fibres reducing waste and carbon emissions enabling them to produce a cost-effective A15 load rated 50mm trench panel available in sizes from 800mm to 1600mm long.
Formaplex has increased production space by a further 30% with the opening of a new 15,000 square foot factory.
Composites One is now wholly-owned by Synergy 55 Corporation after its shares, previously owned by Total Corporation through its affiliate CCP Composites, were acquired through an acquisition vehicle named GLS Composites Distribution Corporation which is owned by Synergy 55.
Huntsman Advanced Materials has supported University Racing Eindhoven (URE) in an innovative project which sees the development of a hybrid composite wheel which will feature on the team’s electrical powertrains prototype in this year’s Formula Student competition.
Umeco’s Structural materials business has signed an agreement with leading Canadian motorsports organisation Multimatic Motorsports to sponsor two Aston Martin Vantage V8s in the 2012 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC), allowing Umeco to promote its new brand and advanced composite materials to a continent-wide audience of race car enthusiasts.
Zyvex Technologies and ENVE Composites have formed an exclusive partnership to provide a bicycle rim specifically for downhill mountain biking that uses the latest advanced materials comprised of nano-enhanced carbon fibre.
Umeco will be exhibiting its Structural materials and Tooling prepreg technologies for the renewable energy market at the 2012 All-Energy show in the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre - Bridge of Don, Aberdeen on the 23 and 24 May, from their Stand F89.
Advanced Composites has completed an Eagle Registrations audit to earn the AS9100 REV C certification upgrade.
SP-High Modulus is to exhibit at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show from 24th-27th May 2012 in Queensland, Australia.
ACOBAR (Brazilian Boat Builder Association) is planning a set of technical workshops that will be held in the 3 mainly marine hubs of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Santa Catarina states, and will happen in August, October and November consecutively.
The first A380 for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) returned to Toulouse on 9th May following completion of interior furnishing and cabin system tests in Hamburg and is now stationed at the Airbus flight line for final system checks prior to the start of the customer acceptance process and delivery at the end of the month.
Unitech Composites and Structures has invested in Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) equipment to streamline and accelerate its production and inspection processes.
NaturalNano has been granted a patent application covering the use of its proprietary Halloysite NanoTubes (HNT) as a key strengthening component to enhance the performance of Polymeric Composite materials including nano-particle fillers by the US Patent & Trademark Office.
Altair has added Finnish based company Componeering to the HyperWorks Partner Alliance (HWPA).
SCIGRIP is launching a unique range of products formulated specifically for the Sign and Display market.
AGY has increased production output of its S-2 Glass fibre reinforcements by twenty percent with the capability to further increase its output as market demands dictate.
Bayer MaterialScience plans to establish a global wind energy competence and development centre at its existing site in Otterup, Denmark.
One of this year‘s Joseph-von-Fraunhofer prizes was awarded to Dr. Jörg Ihde and Dr. Uwe Lommatzsch, from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Bremen, for their development of a resource-efficient process for the highrate deposition of functional nano-layers.
In response to an increase in demand for refrigerated vehicles, Solomon Commercials looked for cost effective ways to increase output from their existing production lines and achieved this through eliminating the need for riveting bodywork panels together, switching to using only Scott Bader’s Crestabond M1-30 primer-less methacrylate (MMA) structural adhesive.
A new activity integral to the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Composites (EPSRC Centre) will be supporting over 30 EngD programmes, of four years duration, where selected Research Engineers will undertake specialist training and conduct an industrially focused research project, spending 75% of their time at a company.
Earnings in the Brazilian composite materials industry totalled USD 366 million in the first quarter, corresponding to an increase of 1.6% in comparison with the last quarter of 2011, and a 2.5% growth when compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the Latin American Composite Materials Association (ALMACO).
Umeco’s Structural materials operations in Derby and Manchester, UK, have been awarded certification to AS9100C.
DSM Composite Resins will increase the price of its complete portfolio of resins in Europe from June 1st, 2012.
Babcock has achieved a significant step forward with a new technique allowing non-destructive examination (NDE) of composite repairs and the underlying substrate – something they describe as a valuable advance allowing repairs to be monitored for assurance of long term performance.
New Vipel F010-H2O-00 vinyl ester from AOC is certified to NSF/ANSI 61: Drinking Water System Components-Health Effects by NSF International, making it easier for customers to manufacture products for potable water applications.
Collier Research has released HyperSizerv6.2 structural sizing and analysis software which includes new modelling capabilities for airframe wing box designs, and laminate zone and ply-count optimisation enhancements to improve manufacturing efficiency.
Johns Manville (JM) recently received another new approval by Germanisher Lloyd (GL) for glass fibres to be used in wind turbine blades.
Vanguard Space Technologies has been awarded a multi-million dollar subcontract from Lockheed Martin for fabrication and testing of two spacecraft bus structures for the US Air Force’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Satellite.
Formax has been awarded the renowned DNV materials qualification its entire range of carbon multiaxial fabrics.
Dr. Nandan Khokar, R&D Manager and Co-founder of Oxeon, was installed as Professor of Textile Technology for Composite Materials at the Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Sweden, on the 11th of May in a special ceremony.
The Boeing 787 Dream Tour will draw to a close with a seventh leg of international trips where a refurbished flight test airplane has demonstrated the Dreamliner's capabilities to more than 59,000 guests with an estimated 6,000 more to see it during the upcoming stops.
ASTM has approved a new International standard for damage resistance testing of sandwich constructions, which they say is a common composite structural configuration.
Composites UK Annual Charity Awards Dinner held at The Midland Hotel, Manchester recognise the achievements in personnel and training in the UK composites industry.
