Editorial
Recyclable composites must still be reused
Fresh from the IACMI's recent Detroit conclave, CW editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan notes the attendees' admirable commitment to ensure that the carbon fiber composites we build today will be recyclable tomorrow, but asks who will be there, as those products reach end of life, to buy and reuse those reclaimed materials?
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Carbon Fiber: Refiguring the supply/demand equation
CW editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan returns from Carbon Fiber 2015 in Knoxville TN, US, with news that carbon fiber demand will outstrip supply by 2020, prompting expansion in the 2018-2019 timeframe that could include sources in China.
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Tracking energy costs and resin prices
The price of crude oil has, over the past year, dropped precipitously, and resin prices have, as a result, stopped going up. CW editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan asks what this might mean to the composites professional.
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Is it time for carbon fiber manufacturers to cooperate?
In anticipation of CompositesWorld's 2015 iteration of its annual Carbon Fiber conference, set for December, CW editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan looks ahead to the future as he recalls some tough questions about carbon fiber standardization posed by last year's keynote speaker.
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Materials selection for automotive is a meritocracy
CompositesWorld's editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan caught up with CAMX 2015 keynote speaker Dr. Gary Smyth, executive director of Global Research and Development at General Motors (GM, Detroit, MI, US), for a pre-show interview and came away with some interesting comments about the role composites will play in automotive manufacturing.
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Some thoughts on the M&A "heat wave"
CompositesWorld's editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan takes some admittedly educated guesses at the significance of the six momentous acquisitions that were announced in the short space from mid-July through early August in the composites industry.
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IP vigilance: Good business?
CW editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan observes that in the composites industry, where much of what is considered to be trade secrets and proprietary knowledge really isn't, a better course might be to share that knowledge and, thus, advance the industry as a whole.
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Workforce development: Let's start in high school
CW Editor-in-Chief Jeff Sloan says one concern at the otherwise positive initial membership meeting of the new Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) was that the composites industry is quickly losing knowledge, as old-timers retire, that is not so easily replaced. Here's his prescription.
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The ends will be justified by the means
CW Editor-in-chief Jeff Sloan recalls the one question he's consistently fielded throughout his quarter century in magazine editing and publishing: “Don’t you worry about running out of things to write about?” Here's his answer.
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What is the genesis of automated tape laying technology?
CW Editor-in-Chief Jeff Sloan seeks and finds the roots of automated tape-laying technology in the work done by close associates of legendary composites-industry pioneer Brandt Goldsworthy.
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