Thermoplastic door a first for automotive composites
A team of automotive researchers are engaged in a four-year project with goals of building a lighter, 100% recyclable, carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic door.

People in Composites – January 2019
CW’s monthly roundup of people news in the composites industry.

Altair announces SIMSOLID acquisition
SIMSOLID works on full-fidelity CAD assemblies for structural simulation without geometry simplification, cleanup or meshing.

Safe cycling: Keys to composite bike design integrity
Steps bike designers and manufacturers must take to keep high-performance carbon fiber bikes safe, upright and on the road or trial.

New licensing model offers access to Altair's solidThinking software suite and cloud resources
solidThinking Units (sTUs) will enable small and midsize business (SMB) customers and the design engineering community to drive product innovation with simulation.

Altair launches startup program
The global program offers preferential pricing to startups for its simulation-driven design, computer-aided engineering, cloud computing and Internet of Things software solutions. 

Teaming to define what automotive CFRP could be
Ford and Magna explore a high-volume chassis front subframe build from co-molded chopped fiber and noncrimp fabric SMC.

Tour de France and bicycles: a showcase for composites
Senior editor Sara Black offers a round up of CW’s reporting over the years about composite bikes and the design efforts and complex materials that go into them.

Composites Pavilion at AIA 2018
New composite products for architecture/construction and student designs innovate how composites can be used.

Webinar: Virtual Composite Design–A Predictive Approach using Altair HyperWorks
CompositesWorld is presenting a free Altair sponsored webinar on Wednesday June 27, at 2:00 p.m. EDT, on virtual composite design.

Wood/carbon composites for architecture
Innovative organic architecture enabled with wood/carbon laminates, software tools.

JEC World 2018 preview: Altair
Altair hosts conference session on “Simulation-driven Design for Composites” featuring case histories from Airbus, Pronal and others

Composites-intensive folding bike: Simplifying multi-modal transportation
The world’s lightest folding bike relies on CFRP for high stiffness and strength at low weight.

Composites bucking the market trend in M&A
During 2015 and 2016, the composites industry saw such impressive activity in mergers and acquisitions, it was perhaps to be expected that, in 2017, we would see a dip in transaction levels, especially given the global regulatory uncertainty and the impact that might have on larger, more complex deals.

Webinar: Composites in architecture
CompositesWorld is hosting a free Altair-sponsored webinar on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 11:00 am EST, titled, “Use of Composite Materials in Organic Architecture.”

Altair acquires Componeering
Altair (Troy, MI, US) has acquired Componeering Inc. (Helsinki, Finland), a technology company specializing in structural analysis and design of composite structures. Componeering, now Altair Engineering Finland Oy, is the developer of ESAComp composites simulation software.

Webinar: Composites in a racing catamaran
CompositesWorld is providing a free Altair Engineering Inc.-sponsored webinar on Sept. 28 at 2:00 p.m. EDT titled, “Composites Optimization of a Foiling C-Class Catamaran.”