Racing to build tomorrow’s automotive composites workforce
Recent graduates share experiences gained from collegiate automotive design, engineering and motorsport competition Formula SAE.
Hannah Mason
Associate Editor, CompositesWorld
Innovation in SMC: A long history and great potential
Manufacturer’s representative Steve Brown reflects on the history of sheet molding compound (SMC) development and lessons he has learned from working with companies through the process.
48th auto-plastics competition highlights changing industry
Additive manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, greener parts featured prominently.
FCA, Toyota, Faurecia and AP&T win Altair awards
The 5th annual Altair Enlighten Awards strive to promote and celebrate innovation in automotive lightweighting.
Class A composites: A history
Composites have made a lingering and increasingly positive impression in the for exterior automotive body panels.
Weber Manufacturing Technologies: Midland, ON, Canada
With a long, storied history in composites moldmaking, this rare nickel vapor deposition specialist has built a strong niche, making large, high-quality tools.
Aerospace still matters
CW columnist Dale Brosius is the head of his own consulting company, which serves clients in the composites industry worldwide. Here, he comments on the still prominent role the aerospace industry will have in the automotive industry's integration of composites into its manufacturing mix.
Coal as an avenue to low-cost carbon fibers
An update on efforts to produce pitch-based fibers from low-cost coal.
Sara Black
Thermoplastic composites on the rise in automotive
The Thermoplastic Composites Conference for Automotive, June 11-12 in Novi, Mich., aims to shed light on materials and processes for automotive composites manufacturing.
2014 North American International Auto Show Review
Detroit’s annual automotive industry showcase highlights the rapid pace of innovation.
Move over steel — Aluminum is now the target
Dale Brosius, a consultant and president of Quickstep Composites (Dayton, Ohio), observes that chasing aluminum as a competitor is a much easier task than chasing steel — if the composites industry can meet cost and volume requirements.
Carbon Fiber 2013 Conference Report
Opportunities knock in Knoxville: CF 2013 featured nearly 30 speakers and almost 300 attendees, representing a wide range of participating industry, government and academic organizations.
Meter/Mix/Dispense Machines: Balancing speed and control for auto CFRP
Suppliers of meter/mix/dispense (MMD) equipment are under pressure to keep pace with process innovations that are drastically reducing mold cycle times for carbon fiber/epoxy laminates in automotive applications.
At NAIAS, composites not difficult to find
With CAFE requirements steadily increasing each year, en route to 54.5 mpg by 2025, automakers of all stripes are working composites into new and concept cars.
Composites in Class A body panels: Evolution continues
Low-density SMCs lead the way as fiber-reinforced polymers make headway in auto components that must please the eye.
Ginger Gardiner
Senior Editor, CompositesWorld
Revisioning the Viper: Clamshell hood challenge
Autoclave-cured carbon-fiber prepreg hood/fender combo proves as technically formidable as it is visually stunning.
Are we ready?
CT's editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan reviews activities on the automotive front, as OEMs consider composites to lightweight their vehicles in view of more stringent fuel economy and tailpipe emissions regulations, asking "Are we ready?"
Where is the automotive composites supply chain?
Long-time composites industry observer Dale Brosius, now a consultant and the president of Dayton, Ohio-based Quickstep Composites, the U.S. subsidiary of Australia-based Quickstep Technologies (Bankstown Airport, New South Wales), asks some hard questions about the composites industry's readiness to supply the auto industry with the materials and processes necessary to meet coming lightweighting challenges.
SPE ACCE 2012 Review
Bursting at the seams, the 12th annual Society of Plastic Engineers Automotive Composites Conference and Exhibition tops its previous bests.
High-temp thermoplastics: Higher Expectations
As the drive to greater fuel efficiency under the hood catches fire, fiber-reinforced thermoplastics prove they can take the heat.
Autocomposites Update: Engine oil pans
As thermoplastic composites makes inroads into these complex, modular parts, weight and cost go down, functionality goes up.
Peggy Malnati
Contributing Writer
Automotive CFRP: Repair or replace?
As more carbon composites are used on structural car components, how will crash damage be assessed and repairs be made?
Automotive composites: Structural underbody
For Detroit’s Big Three, a joint precompetitive composite design, development, fabrication and testing program nears successful completion.
Under the hood: Thermoplastics tackle tough jobs
Reinforced plastics save weight and cost, increase underhood productivity.
Q&A Forum: Automotive Composites
How will fiber-reinforced polymers fare in a post-recession, cost- and fuel-economy-obsessed auto market?
Automotive: On the fence
When it comes to the debate about composites vs. metals in car manufacture, the post-recession automotive industry could as easily fall into old habits as tip over into new possibilities.
Quiet revolution: Composites in EVs
Startup automakers make use of composite body/chassis components to extend the range of hybrid-electric and battery-electric vehicles.