Plant tour: Hexcel, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
The scale, precision, speed and quality of carbon fiber manufacture has evolved substantially since the material’s modern introduction in the late 1960s. Hexcel offers a glimpse of the state of the art today.
Jeff Sloan
Editor-in-Chief, CompositesWorld
People in Composites: October 2019
AOC Aliancys, Boeing, Composites UK, Hexcel, Michelman, TPI Composites and UTComp announce new faces in the composites industry and honors awarded to top contributors.
GKN Aerospace delivers RTM demonstrator tool for Wing of Tomorrow
The 4-meter mid-scale tool enables large-scale use of resin transfer molding to manufacture a composite wing spar with reduced costs and weight.
Plant Tour: STELIA Aerospace, Méaulte, France
Supplier of Airbus fuselage sections pushes boundaries of hybrid aerostructures production, assembly and thermoplastic composites.
Omega Systèmes extends contract with Airbus
The three-year contract covers the manufacture, supply and processing of high-precision composites for several Airbus programs.
People on the Move: July 2018
CW’s monthly roundup of people on the move in the composites industry.
A highly specialized player on a world-class team
Tods Aerospace, located in rural England, is part of the larger Unitech Aerospace manufacturing group and specializes in highly engineered aerospace defense structures.
2019 Paris Air Show: Highlights
The 2019 Paris Air Show may have lacked the glamour of a new aircraft program announcement, but the composites industry represented is clearly gearing up for next-generation aerospace manufacturing.
Jeff Sloan
Editor-in-Chief, CompositesWorld
Airbus adjusts assembly rates for A380 and A400M
The new plan involves the production of six A380s per year starting from 2020 and eight A400Ms per year as of 2020.
Aviation’s big US show: Oshkosh 2017 highlights
The 2017 edition of the Experimental Aircraft Assn.’s (EAA) AirVenture airshow event, held in Oshkosh, WI, US, from July 24 – 30, was another blockbuster.
Carbures beats 2016 aerospace production record
Spanish Tier 2 composites producer Carbures (El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain) announced recently that it has reached an historical record for production of composite aircraft parts, with 45,695 parts produced at its plants in Illescas and Jerez de la Frontera in Spain.
Fiber-metal laminates in the spotlight
Interest in FMLs is growing again as aeroengineers search for lightweight solutions adaptable to new narrowbody commercial aircraft.
CW Plant Tour: Composite Technology Center, Stade, Germany
A cornerstone of Germany’s CFK Valley, CTC pushes composites forward via automation, recycling, digital thread-based manufacturing and more.
2016 Farnborough International Airshow Report
Composites are not the novelty in aerospace that they once were, but there was still much to see at Farnborough this year.
GKN Aerospace manufactures first demonstrator parts for Wing of Tomorrow program
Announced at the Paris Air Show, the company’s composite demonstrator wing components are part of the wing spar.
Hannah Mason
Associate Editor, CompositesWorld
Composites: Materials and processes
High strength at low weight remain the winning combination that propels composite materials into new arenas, but other properties are equally important. This article outlines the case for composites and introduces SourceBook's overview of the materials and processes used to make them.
Composites 101: Fibers and resins
Compared to legacy materials like steel, aluminum, iron and titanium, composites are still coming of age, and only just now are being better understood by design and manufacturing engineers. However, composites’ physical properties — combined with unbeatable light weight — make them undeniably attractive.
Carbures: Conquering the world for composites
This global Tier 2 supplier produced 39,322 parts for Airbus in 2015, has sold seven RMCP machines to China capable of 40,000-75,000 composite auto parts/yr and is completing a study on opportunities for composites in oil and gas applications in Mexico. What next?
Resin infusion: Taking off?
Boeing Aerostructures Australia leads large-scale development of resin infusion as an industrial process.
Structural health monitoring: NDT-integrated aerostructures
SHM moves from structural testing to an FAA-qualified inspection alternative, to reduce cost, streamline operations and mature toward lighter, more robust smart structures
Thermoplastic composites technology: A view from Europe
For this Dutch consortium, bringing the manufacturability of thermoplastic materials to maturity is the goal in concert with OEMs, materials and equipment supplier members.
Large, high-volume, infused composite structures on the aerospace horizon
Infused carbon fiber composite structures are not new, but they have never been built at the rates anticipated for next-generation, single-aisle aircraft. It is a daunting prospect — but a feasible one.
Jeff Sloan
Editor-in-Chief, CompositesWorld
Plant tour: ATK Aerospace Structures, Clearfield, Utah
High-volume, high-precision fiber and tape placement for the aerospace industry are among many specialties for this composites manufacturing behemoth.
Thermoplastics in Aerospace Composites Outlook, 2014-2023
Capable of volume production, thermoplastic composites will gain new market share in the aerospace industry.
Inside a thermoplastic composites hotbed
As production of the A350 XWB ramps up, so does manufacture of the thermoplastic fuselage clips the plane requires. HPC sees how it’s done.
The markets: Aerospace (2014)
Although North America currently dominates this market, Asia and the Middle East, in fact, are expected to be the primary drivers of global aerospace industry demand in the coming years.
A350 & A400M wing spars: A study in contrasts
In three short years, GKN Aerospace has taken its wing spar manufacturing strategies to new heights by dramatically reducing part weight, process complexity and production-cycle duration.
Paris Air Show 2013: A century of aircraft progress
Torrential rains couldn’t dampen the spirit of innovation or stop the flood of business aerospace announcements.