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Tis’ the season: Christmas gift ideas for composites enthusiasts

Gift your boss, coworker, family members or even yourself this holiday season with one of these fun composites-related ideas.  

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Christmas season is all about spreading holiday cheer, spending time with loved ones and finding time to decompress before a new year. It can also be one of the most frustrating and anxiety-induced holidays around for one primary reason: gift-giving. And not just the act of giving gifts, but also receiving them (I think we all can admit we’ve returned a present or two in our time).

This is why the CW editorial team has compiled a unique list of 21 gift ideas for you, our readers, with one thing in common: each idea uses composite materials or is applicable to composites manufacturing in some way. Whether you’re looking for yourself, someone else or need to give friends and family some ideas that fit your style, we hope you find something that piques your interest. Even if you’re an extraordinary gift-giver and already have everything packed, wrapped and tied with a bow, stick around — you never know what you might discover:

1. Athletic footwear: There are a range of options, but a few that stood out to us were the Athletic Propulsion Labs | McLaren HySpeed line of luxury athletic footwear, an Arris Composites next-gen, individually tailored carbon fiber/thermoplastic plate for running shoes and Deckers Innovation Lab “fast-casual” composite footwear.

Photo Credit: Decker X Lab (top left), McLaren (top right) and Arris Composites (bottom).

2. Inspiring design ideas for reusing renewable energy structures — we suggest the recently released Re-Wind Design Catalog 2nd Edition Fall/Autumn 2022 for a start.

3. The four-wheel Dragonfly electric hyperscooter by D-Fly, featuring a lightweight carbon fiber composite deck.

Photo Credit: D-Fly

4. The limited-edition Big Crown ProPilot watch from famed Swiss manufacturer Oris in collaboration with Canadian aerial firefighters Coulson Aviation, featuring a 9T Labs 3D-printed carbon fiber watch case.

Photo Credit: 9T Labs AG

5. Convergence bicycle wheelset options from We Are One Composites. The carbon fiber rim shape uses Boston Materials ZRT composite film.

Photo Credit: We Are One

5. A free subscription to CompositesWorld magazine (subscribe here).

6. Carbon Mobile’s CFRTP smartphone combining “high-quality German engineering with cutting-edge materials innovation.” It’s light, sleek, green and comes in a monocoque design.

Photo Credit: Carbon Mobile GmbH

7. The latest in sporting goods from Vactech_carbon and diver_Australia using Hypetex-colored carbon fiber.

Photo Credit: Instagram handles vactech_carbon and diver_australia

8. Redo your interiors with earth-friendly, better-than-wood Ekoa Surfaces Peel N’Stick natural fiber/bio-based thermoplastic composites from Lingrove (click here for more details).

Photo Credit: Lingrove

9. A space tourism experience aboard the composites-intensive Spaceship Neptune with Space Perspective.

Photo Credit: Space Perspective

10.Handbook of Sustainable Polymers for Additive Manufacturing,” a comprehensive, 600-page first edition handbook authored by Antonio Paesano, PhD, that provides the latest technical information on sustainable materials — including composites — that are feedstocks for additive manufacturing.

11. Pultruded fiberglass Jump Stick workout equipment from Flexi-StiX, inspired by fiberglass composite pole vaults and exercise equipment.

pultruded fiberglass rods for athletic training equipment

Photo Credit: Flexi-StiX

12. AFP head shipped to your door — Addcomposites AFP-XS is Plug-and-Place with any robot, easily installed, starting at less than $200,000.

Photo Credit: Compoxi

13. Pela compostable phone cases made from flax fiber/biopolymer.

Photo Credit: Pela

14. Wings for Living outdoor furniture made from repurposed wind blades, developed by Polish recycler Anmet (click here for more details) or a luxury REI chair from Tras manufactured from Bcomp’s flax-based ampliTEX technical fabrics.

Photo Credit: Wings for Living (top) and Tras, Bcomp (bottom).

15. Carbon fiber power suit collaboratively developed by Mubea and German Bionic that can aid workers when lifting heavy loads.

Photo Credit: German Bionic

16. SNO-GO accessible ski bikes, which incorporate composites to decrease user fatigue and improve agility and responsiveness of the bike.

Photo Credit: SNO-GO

17. Free trial of Markforged Simulation software to design and virtually test your 3D-printed composite parts.

Photo Credit: Markforged

18. Predn Surf Co.surfboard using flax fiber composite construction.

Photo Credit: Predn Surf Co.

19. Elegant, sporty 20-inch composite rim design by Bucci Composites 20-inch for the aftermarket.

Photo Credit: Bucci Composites

20. Boka Marine recreational watercraft line featuring battery- or solar-powered technologies with a fiberglass frame.

Photo Credit: Boka Marine

21. Products made of recycled carbon fiber, including Vartega’s ultralight tire levers that weigh less than 10.5 grams, Braskem’s 3D printing filaments, 3D printing powders and 3D printing pellets or injection-molded carbon fiber racing and training wheel bodies from Encore.

Photo Credit: Vartega

 

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