Photo Credit: NREL With a goal toward recyclable wind turbine blades, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, Golden, Colo., U.S.), in partnership with Arkema Inc. (King of Prussia, Pa., U.S.), recently demonstrated the fe

“Overprinting” onto premade CFRP surfaces and brackets (top left), hybridizing processes such as 3D printing and filament winding (top right), 3D printing cores onto AFP laminates and AFP skins onto 3D-printed cores (bottom right) and CEAD AM Flexbot 3D printing at 45 degrees (bo

Our guest on episode 35 of CW Talks: The Composites Podcast is Lisa Ketelsen, head of thermoplastic composites and CEO of Maezio at Covestro (Shanghai, China). Ketelsen, who grew up in Germany, is based in Shanghai and manages Covestro’s Maezio product line, which comprise

On Nov. 24, Bindatex (Bolton, U.K.) announced that it has been awarded an Innovate UK grant of almost £100,000 from the Sustainable Innovation Fund. The purpose of the grant, says Bindatex, is to support a critical six-month R&D project to further develop and upscale the company&rsqu

Dr. Nishar Hameed, senior research fellow at Swinburne University of Technology, holding a 3D-printed screen prototype at Swinburne’s Factory of the Future. Photo Credit: Swinburne University of Technology One challenge for composite 3D printing and other manufacturing processes to c

It was reported on Nov. 30 that Sicomin (Châteauneuf les Martigues, France), has collaborated with Sonntag Fins to incorporate its GreenPoxy 33 bio-based epoxy resin into the development of Sonntag’s custom carbon fiber windsurf fins. Targeted at windsurf slalom sailors, racers

The National Composites Centre (NCC, Bristol, U.K.) was recently granted £355k by Innovate UK to work with U.K. SMEs to investigate and validate ways to help achieve a net zero future. Awarded as part of the Sustainable Innovation Fund, the funding will enable the resear

A recent Clean Sky 2 project, IMCOLOR, was reported to have developed a new manufacturing process that combined a multi-shot injection molding process with the integration of continuous carbon fiber reinforcements. Together, with the use of an expendable salt core material (which coul

PAL...VersaCHAR, a non-halogenated, low-smoke, lightweight, flame-retardant thermoplastic polyolefin compound developed by Dynamic Modifiers LLC (Atlanta, Ga., U.S.), is said to address several concerns surrounding more traditional flame-retardant materials. Ideal for a wide r

Alpine Advanced Materials (Dallas, Texas, U.S.) reported in October that it has completed Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) testing on HX5 — a lightweight military aviation grade thermoplastic nanocomposite material — and found it to have exceptional attenuati

ATL Composites (Molendinar, Australia) has launched KINETIX R111, a clear, bright laminating system for production surfboard lamination, which ATL says is being hailed “a game-changer” by the industry’s leading proponents. A solvent-free, liquid epoxy resin

Materials for aircraft must be highly resilient and at the same time as light as possible. Offering both, carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) have been used more and more frequently in aeroengine fan blades. (See “Rolls-Royce starts manufacture of world’s largest fa

Novotech (Naples, Italy) started as a spin-off from the University of Naples “Federico II” in southern Italy, founded by professor Leonardo Lecce in 1992. “We have supported general aviation firms and provided R&D services across Italy,” says Lecce who is now Nov

It was reported in December that, in order to help thermoplastic component manufacturers capitalize on increased demand for their products —particularly with the shift toward e-mobility and a circular economy— Dieffenbacher GmbH (Eppingen, Germany) has increase

The automotive industry converted accelerator pedals from metals to injection molded short-glass thermoplastics in the 1990s. However, brake pedals — being safety-critical components with challenging stiffness, strength and torsional loading requirements — took much longer to co

Tier 1 Boge Rubber & Plastics Group (Damme, Germany) produces what it says are the lightest, least costly and strongest all-composite brake pedals in the world, and the first in commercial production. As detailed in the January FOD (see “Thermoplastic composite structure replaces met

Carbon fiber midsole plates, shanks and other components have been enhancing the performance and reducing the weight of top-tier athletic shoes for years. However, explains Junus Khan, founder and chairman of Carbitex Inc. (Kennewick, Wash., U.S.), even with composites, shoe developers must ty

Worldwide, concrete structures are under attack like never before. Not only has traffic increased on roads, bridges and overpasses, but climate change has increased extreme weather events, including violent storms and torrential rains that result in flash floods and other destructive events. U

Appointed by Subsea 7 (Sutton, U.K.) for the design, manufacture and delivery of two thermoplastic composite pipe (TCP) jumper spools — which reduces installation, transportation and fabrication costs of well jumpers and pipeline spools — Airborne Oil &

Photo Credit: Lingrove After nearly a decade of research and testing, the award-winning Ekoa Surface veneer is available to consumers directly from developer and manufacturer Lingrove (San Francisco, Calif., U.S.). Ekoa is made from flax fiber, a fast-growing crop (100 days) that is CO2-negativ