For the 18th time in as many years, the Society of Plastics Engineers’ (SPE, Bethel, CT, US) long-running Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) returns to the Diamond Banquet & Conference Center at the Suburban Collection Showplace (Novi, MI, US) in the Detroit suburbs,

AOC (Collierville, TN, US) and Aliancys (Schaffhausen, Switzerland) announced August 1 the official creation of a new combined company, which will be named AOC Aliancys. With this merger, the two companies join forces to form a global supplier of polyester and vinyl ester resins,

Solvay (Alpharetta, GA, US), Premium AEROTEC (Augsburg, Germany) and Faurecia Clean Mobility (Columbus, OH, US) announced on Aug. 2 the launch of IRG CosiMo (Industry Research Group: Composites for Sustainable Mobility), the composites industry’s first private consortium focusin

My April blog “Continuous fiber thermoplastics are smart for world’s largest appliance manufacturer” discussed the development of a high-end production air conditioner using CFRTP composite materials by supplier Covestro and the world’s largest appliance company&nbs

SABIC (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), announced on July 30 the launch of STADECK, its new heavy- duty panel for the building and construction industry. Made from glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic resin, the panel is lightweight and offers advantages across a range of construction applications and bu

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (Rapid City, SD, US) announced Aug. 14 that students took home second place in the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE, Diamond Bar, CA, US) 2018 Student Bridge Contest, by designing a bridge weighing just 12.5 ounces tha

SABIC (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) announced on Aug. 14 that it is working with Nottingham Spirk, a business innovation and product design firm based in Cleveland, OH, US. The partnership is part of a move by SABIC to invest in new applications and methods of collaboration to innovate acros

TenCate Advanced Composites (Nijverdal, The Netherlands), part of the Toray Group (Tokyo, Japan), is celebrating the assembly of the São Paulo Initiative on Research on Innovative Thermoplastic Composites Solutions (SPIRIT) consortium in São José dos Campos, Brazil. The SPIRIT consortium was for

  New polymer composites may have multiple functions and end-uses in future EVs. SOURCE:  http://xeric.eu/wp-content/uploads/4_Steiner.pdf

Injection overmolding has been much in the composites industry news lately, but primarily in the realm of creating hybrid composites. Shaped continuous fiber-reinforced prepregs or pre-cured composite shapes are positioned within the mold cavity and then encapsulated within a larger short-fiber-rein

Unlike composites made with a thermoset matrix, thermoplastic composites (TPCs) require neither complex chemical reactions nor lengthy curing processes. Thermoplastic prepregs require no refrigeration, offering practically infinite shelf life. The polymers used in aerospace TPCs — polyphenylen

As owners of industrial chemical facilities know, roughly 10% of accidents that involve storage tanks are caused by the electrostatic charge generated when dissimilar materials are in relative motion to each other. Any product movement when a tank is filled or emptied or while contents are mixed or

One of the world’s largest filament winding systems will soon begin manufacturing components for the Ariane 6 space launch vehicle, which is expected to transport satellites into Earth orbit for the European Space Agency (ESA) as early as 2020. Designed by Roth Composite Machinery (Steffenberg

This blog accompanies the Sep 2018 feature “Welding thermoplastic composites”. It’s a compilation of images and details that didn’t fit into the print article, including a timeline of induction welding developments and details on qualification for future commercial aircraft,

Magna (Troy, MI, US) has launched two thermoplastic liftgates this year – on the 2019 Jeep Cherokee and 2019 Acura RDX. The company has announced it will launch two more later this year in China. "Magna's thermoplastic liftgate modules answer the growing demand for products

Gougeon Brothers Inc. (Bay City, MI, US) recently sent an interesting press release about a 28-year old catamaran that’s still setting speed records and besting much newer craft. Incognito is a composite catamaran that was fabricated by Gougeon Manufacturing in 1990. Russell Brown of Port Town

While driving to SPE’s Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) in Novi, MI, US, I stopped in Wapakoneta, OH to visit the Armstrong Air & Space Museum, as one does. During the drive I had been contemplating heat shield composition of various crew modules

This is final installment of a seven-part series about preforming. For more on this series, click the links below:

Greene Tweed (Kulpsville, PA, US) has introduced WR 650, a new wear-resistant thermoplastic composite with a three-dimensional carbon-fiber architecture, offering enhanced performance over other PFA-based material. According to Greene Tweed the new product boasts 2.5 times higher PV limit

L&L Products (Romeo, MI, US) is presenting its room-temperature cure adhesives for applications that require fire and smoke and toxicity performance. Booth N21. Two new adhesives include L-9150 and L-9115. L-9150 is a two-component adhesive with a 1:1 mix ratio, which cures at roo