Strata delivers 100 shipsets of inboard flaps for Airbus A350-900
Strata assumes fabrication and assembly duties for inboard flaps production and plans to incorporate HDF and ATL machines into the process.
Grace Nehls
Assistant Editor, CompositesWorld
Digital thread vs. digital twin
This is an online sidebar for the July 2020 article, “Composites 4.0: Digital transformation, adaptive production, new paradigms”. When I first discussed these concepts in 2016, they were still somewhat nascent in composites.
Augmented reality system facilitates FRP component preforming
The software makes exact alignment and position of materials directly visible on the component.
Narrow UD tapes to bridge the ATL-AFP gap
Automated tape laying and automated fiber placement are similar, but not the same. Can narrow tapes provide a middle ground with advantages of both processes for next-gen aircraft?
Composites 4.0: Architecture and ontology
Adaptive systems, IoT platforms and apps, the need for 4.0 standardization and a new way to develop and certify composite aerostructures.
No business case for reteaching robots
DLR Center for Lightweight Production Technology has developed an AI-equipped work cell where collaborative robots can switch from producing composite rear pressure bulkheads to fuselage panels without requiring reprogramming or retraining.
ZAero project update
The 2019 final review demonstrated integration of an automated CFRP process chain: AFP inline inspection and rework, cure and resin flow sensors, part performance prediction and a decision support tool for line operators.
Swinburne University and CSIRO's Industry 4.0 Testlab for Composite Additive Manufacturing
Australia and Germany collaborate to build Composites 4.0 production line for competitive advantage in next-gen manufacturing and workforce.
Ginger Gardiner
Senior Editor, CompositesWorld
Plasan North America expands composite manufacturing solutions
The company plans to expand and invest in automated cutting technology to go with established prepregging, pultrusion and autoclave cure expertise.
Composites 4.0: Digital transformation, adaptive production, new paradigms
An evolving landscape of automation, sensors and AI software is not an end, but a means to achieve the cost, quality, efficiency and agility required for future manufacturing.
The untapped potential in Formula 1 composite manufacture
Formula 1’s midfield teams are struggling to bridge the gap to their better resourced frontrunning counterparts. Could Industry 4.0 composites manufacturing automation level the playing field?
Racing to build tomorrow’s automotive composites workforce
Recent graduates share experiences gained from collegiate automotive design, engineering and motorsport competition Formula SAE.
Ascent Aerospace invests in large-format AM machine
The LFAM machine will enable fabrication and delivery of production-ready fixtures and molds at significantly reduced lead-times.
First all-CFRP fuselage in Mexico
UNAQ and RHEM Composites help produce body of third prototype for Oaxaca Aerospace’s Pegasus P-400T.
Ginger Gardiner
Senior Editor, CompositesWorld
Toray TC346 prepreg earns flame-retardancy certifications
Toray TC346 prepreg resin system offers high compression strength, interlaminar shear strength and more for the automotive and motorsport markets.
Coriolis Composites and Edixia develop inline inspection for AFP
Video and discussion of how the sensor and software operate to boost composites productivity
Hyperjoint: additive metal + composites = stronger, tougher joints
Eliminates drilling holes with lap shear 60% higher than bolted joints and almost twice that of bonded joints.
SME recognizes leaders in aerospace and defense manufacturing
Boeing technical fellow Kurtis Willden, Aligned Vision and the Boeing Co. received 2020 Excellence in Composites Manufacturing Awards.
Brazilian composites sector shows third consecutive year of growth
Maxiquim’s recent study notes that the transportation and electric sectors are responsible for $560 million in revenue.
Revolutionizing the composites cost paradigm, Part 2: Forming
Boeing-led parts trials explore infusion, compression molding and thermoplastics, offering lessons and supply chain options to better compete with aluminum.
High-rate, automated aerospace RTM line delivers next-gen spoilers
At Spirit AeroSystem’s Prestwick facility in Scotland, a glimpse of the future of aerocomposites manufacturing in a resin transfer molding line for A320 spoilers.
Jeff Sloan
Editor-in-Chief, CompositesWorld
RAPM development with PtFS
Boeing-led program explores rapid part cycles using automated, 180-channel thermal control molding cell for infusion, thermoset prepreg and thermoplastic composites.
9T Labs, Arkema present new manufacturing approach for small aerospace parts
The companies demonstrate cost-competitive series production of structural composite parts using carbon fiber/PEKK materials and additive manufacturing.
Manufacturing the complex geometry parts of RAPM
Boeing-led program explores simulation, tooling, preforming and molding approaches to lower composites part cost.
Novel prepreg for compression molding in RAPM
Solvay and Boeing combine aerospace performance with process knowledge for high-rate, low-cost composites production.
Park Aerospace Corp. introduces mid-toughened epoxy resin system
The E-752-MTS mid-toughened 350°F (177°C) cure epoxy system is designed for primary and secondary aircraft structure applications.
Developing new solutions for noise, vibration and harshness
Several recent IACMI partner projects focus on technology innovation related to challenges in noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) in vehicle design.