JEC World, the largest composites industry trade show, usually sets off an avalanche of news and product releases. This year’s big event was no different in that regard.  One big announcement at made at the show was the name change of TenCate (Morgan Hill, Calif., U.S.) to Tora

AeroLas GmbH (Munich, Germany) has developed a spinning process by which discontinuous filaments of carbon fiber can be combined with a thermoplastic fiber to create a yarn material that has potential application in additive manufacturing, 3D printing and other composites manufacturing processes. &

SWM International (Alpharetta, Ga., U.S.) announces the introduction of Naltex flow media for resin infusion processes. This flow media is engineered to retain up to 15% less wasted epoxy resin that is commonly trapped in media grid apertures after processing, while maintaining high flow rates

Total Composite Solutions (TCS) Ltd (Havant, U.K.) introduces its epoxy prepreg solution to the aerospace interiors sector. The material range developed and manufactured by Microtex Composites Srl (Prato, Italy), TCS’s prepreg partner, are said to enable substitution of tra

SAMPE Europe (Oerlingen, Switzerland), the European chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE, Diamond Bar, Calif., U.S.), hosted its annual summit at Pullman Hotel Paris Tour Eiffel (Paris, France) on March 11, prior to JEC World 2019. Around 160 att

Mikrosam (Prilep, Macedonia) introduces an automated process for fabrication of thermoplastic composites without the use of molds or tools. A research project between Mikrosam, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI, San Diego, Calif., U.S.) and Composite Automation LL

Markforged, a leading manufacturer of industrial 3D printers, has announced that it has closed an $82 million Series D round of funding led by Summit Partners with participation from existing strategic and financial partners, including Matrix Partners; M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund; Next47; an

Arkema (King of Prussia, Pa., U.S.) has announced the construction of a Kepstan polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) plant near its Mobile, Alabama site. This investment is meant to strengthen the company’s offerings of advanced materials for a variety of industries as we

Curing agents and cores specialist Evonik introduced two new products at JEC. VESTALITE S is a styrene-free curing agent for high-performance epoxy sheet molding compound (SMC), based on Evonik’s diamine chemistry. It offers low initial viscosity for high fiber mass fraction and good fiber wet

Wichita State University (Wichita, Kan, U.S.) has announced that it received a $2 million grant contract from the U.S. Economic Development Association (EDA) to develop and demonstrate advanced composite material manufacturing technology. The grant, secured by WSU Strategic Initiatives, w

Hexion (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.) emphasized several technologies, starting in automotive where the company is still seeing resistance to composites use, driven primarily by cost concerns. To address this, Hexion counsels use of existing automotive manufacturing equipment (presses) as much as possible.

Hexcel (Stamford, Conn., U.S.) held its annual press conference at JEC World 2019 and reported promising numbers. The company had 2018 sales of $2.2 billion, with 48 percent of that coming from the U.S., 48 percent from Europe and 4 percent from other regions. The company enjoyed 10 percent growth i

Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) has developed a new polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) resin that reportedly has the world’s highest flexibility level — 1,200 MPa or less in elastic modulus — while maintaining its superior heat resistance and chemical resistance. Mechanical str

The Composites Branch Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.) has partnered with the University of Arkansas, the University of Miami, Louisiana Tech University and the University of Texas at El Paso to develop additively manufactured epoxy/carbon fiber composites for use in structur

Bindatex Tape-slitting specialist Bindatex (Bolton, U.K.) showed at its stand a 1-millimeter-wide carbon fiber/PEEK tow it had slit for a 3D printing application. The company has recently moved into a new 8,000-square-foot plant north of Manchester, U.K., and is working on slitting technologies for

While it’s not the first transportation segment most people think about as a growing market for composites, perhaps agricultural equipment should be and, in time, will. After all, as human populations increase across the planet, more resources will be needed to grow the plants and livestock to

SABIC (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) announced that Saudi Aramco has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a 70-percent majority stake in SABIC from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia in a private transaction. The agreed purchase price for the shares is SAR 123.40 per share, to

Cevotec displayed a demonstrator section of a major engine nacelle component, made in cooperation with and for SAFRAN Nacelles. This part illustrates how Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) can drastically reduce multi-material lay-up of a 3D-shaped aerospace sandwich component. “These

Herone GmbH (Sachsen, Germany) was awarded the JEC Innovation Award 2019 in the category of “Aerospace-Application” for automated and efficient production of customized thermoplastic hollow profiles for series application. The company develops and manufactures fiber-

As manufacturers seek to reduce the cost of composite components, designers strive to use constituent materials as efficiently as possible while enabling automated production and integration of multiple functions. For automotive applications, this challenge is exacerbated by the need for cycle times