Keynote speakers at the CompositesWorld Expo, held Oct. 28-30 in Schaumburg, Ill., explore current and potential composites use in aerospace, automotive, wind, and infrastructure applications. Revelations and insights were eye-catching and promising.

Peter Wu, vice president and chief scientist at Spirit AeroSystems Inc. (Wichita, Kan.), reported that his firm, despite the recession, has seen no slowdown in activity as it works to fine-tune production of the composite forward fuselage section of the Boeing 787 and prepares to begin work on the composite center fuselage section and wing spars of the Airbus A350. He noted that Spirit has $28.2 billion in backlog orders, which means the company will be busy for some time to come. Wu emphasized that Spirit is evaluating many emerging composites technologies, including new processes, materials, out-of-autoclave technology, fast non-destructive inspection, waterjet processing and simulation. He said Spirit is actively seeking technical partners: "We don't want to do everything ourselves. We need to buy some technology, so this industry is very important to us."

Jim deVries, Ford Motor Co. (Detroit, Mich.) Lightweight Materials Group Manufacturing Systems Development, discussed the role composites will play in an evolving automotive market. He focused first on the perfect storm that hit the auto industry in the last 18 months: Record-high oil prices, recession and new CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards. Lightweighting of cars, he noted, is critical, and said that traditional automotive composites have been good, but won't be good enough to meet future weight needs. He said composites will be most challenged by aluminum in future vehicles, not steel, and said that Ford is evaluating low-density sheet molding compound (SMC) reinforced with carbon fiber in a polyester matrix. Mr. deVries noted that carbon fiber SMC, processed via compression molding, would have to meet volume requirements of more than 200,000 units annually. Given current cost structures, deVries says Ford favors aluminum over carbon fiber and glass fiber SMC. If the cost of industrial grade carbon fiber drops to $5 per lb, then that material becomes more competitive, he noted. Finally, deVries wondered that even if the cost of carbon fiber dropped, would carbon fiber suppliers be able to meet the needs of the automotive industry? He calculated potential automotive demand of $5/lb carbon fiber would be 75 million lb per year.

Stephen Nolet, principle engineer and director of innovation at wind turbine blade manufacturer TPI Composites (Scottsdale, Ariz.) dicussed the current effort in the United States to provide 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030 from wind sources (www.20percentwind.org), noting the challenges the industry faces, including federal policy, transmission, tower siting and cost/reliability concerns. Nolet set out a series of benchmarks that he thinks must be met by the wind industry to meet the 20 percent target: 10 percent reduction in captial costs; 15 percent increase in turbine capacity factor; 35 percent reduction in operations and maintenance costs. He explored the need for longer, lighter blades, the challenges of wind sheer and blade technology designed to mitigate load variations. Carbon fiber, he said, has a role to play in blades, but that the cost of carbon fiber is the largest mitigating factor. On the maintenance site, Nolet discussed the importance of embedded sensors in blades that can signal real or potential failure. TPI has evaluated piezo sensors, crack gages and wireless load cells. Ask about the potential to automate wind blade production, Nolet was cautious. He believes automation "will follow design," and that composite fabric placement via automated gantry system (as proposed by some machinery designers) is too expensive. He does see automation as critical in other areas, including fabric cutting and adhesive application.

Dr. Habib Dagher, director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine, wrapped up the keynotes with his review of the Center's work with a new composite technology for bridge replacement. Called "bridge in a backpack," the technology uses preformed fiber fabric tubes that are inflated and then infused with resin in the shape of an arch. These tubes are then placed side-by-side to create the bridge's archway. Once placed, these tubes are filled with concrete, covered with composite panels and reinforced again with concrete. The sides of the bridge are reinforced with composite panels and entire structure is loaded with fill dirt before final paving along the top of the bridge (see link at right for previous report on this technology in Composites Technology magazine). Most interesting, noted Dagher, is that this technology can compete on a first-cost basis with concrete and steel. For a bridge in Maine, the composite technology was the low bidder, and it took only 12 days to remove the old bridge and build the new one. There are six more bridges coming for the Center in 2010-2011, ranging from 24 to 72 ft in length. Dagher says 50 percent of bridges in the U.S. in need of replacement are 70 ft or less and are good candidates for this technology.