Composites

50th SPE Auto Innovation Awards highlight the indelible impact of plastics on component development

Winning parts in annual thermoforming competition highlight advances in process capabilities and materials  Ten parts representing a range of applications won awards at the SPE Thermoforming Division’s annual conference in Grand Rapids, Mich., last fall.   The event lived up to…

AVK, the Frankfurt, Germany-based Federation of Reinforced Plastics, named sensXPERT winner of its 2022 Innovation award for the Digital Mold process sensor system it developed. The company is part of Netzsch Process Intelligence GmbH, of Selb, Germany. (U.S. office is…

Toray Industries of Tokyo has developed a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) for advanced aerospace applications. The company leveraged materials informatics technology to swiftly achieve exceptional flame retardance and mechanical performance for the material.   Materials informatics is a technique to streamline…

Arris Composites’ Additive Molding process uses 3D printing and compression molding to mass produce advanced composite parts  Ethan Escowitz likes operating on a different axis than most. The rock-climbing enthusiast and former geology graduate founded Arris Composites Inc. in Berkeley,…

Raising the bar of extrusion quality and efficiency requires controlling the variables  Maximizing the precision of process operations is a growing issue in many production operations. The digital age, and especially Industry 4.0, is generating an array of advanced capabilities…

Air taxis and delivery vehicles—whether piloted or autonomous—could be ready for daily use as soon as 2023, according to some forecasts. If so, this urban air mobility (UAM) market will create growing business opportunities for suppliers and processors of specialty…