(Vistex Composites LLC) Vistex Composites and Ducted Turbines International, in collaboration, developed an innovative carbon fiber composite residential wind turbine blade. Three innovative features have improved performance and reduced costs as compared to aluminum blades: 1) The blade has a unique geometry customized for composites that captures more low-wind speeds, 2) The lightweighting reduces the blade weight by roughly 29 …
Large Area 3D Printer for Thermoset Materials
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Magnum Venus Products (MVP) in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed and demonstrated a large scale 3D printing system for additive manufacturing of composite structures using thermoset polymer materials. This first of its kind product has a build volume large enough to accommodate mid-scale applications at a deposition rate of 10 lb/hr …
Tailored Reinforcements for Light, Impact Resistant Canoe, Efficiently Manufactured
(The Composites Development Center of Quebec) This innovation is a proof of concept showing a part made with only 3 SmartHybrid™ fabric by Texonic that include and replace all the local reinforcements (about 15) that are usually positioned one after the other to manufacture the same part, allowing to save time, get better improved repeatability, simplify manufacturing and improve a …
Torsional Welding of PDC Sensors on Thin Wall Fascia
(Magna Exteriors) Magna has put a new twist on joining thermoplastic materials in order to help automakers cut weight and costs: torsional welding. The torsional welding process, developed by Magna for automotive applications at its exteriors plant in Liberec, Czech Republic, presents a new way to join plastics. It features a high-speed twisting motion that creates enough friction-based heat to …
Nanofibre Interleaving Veils for Composite Performance Enhancement
(Revolution Fibres Ltd.) Xantu.Layr® is a thin and lightweight polyamide nanofibre fabric (veil) that is placed in-between the layers of carbon fibre in composite laminates to improve the mechanical performance of the material. Xantu.Layr® has been shown to improve fracture toughness (delamination resistance) of composite laminates by up to 173%, compression after impact strength (impact resistance) by 21%, interlaminar shear …
Arevo’s 3D Printed Bike
(AREVO, Inc.) The 3D printed all terrain city bike is the first application of AREVO’S unique 3D printing technology. Leveraging a unique combination of software, robotics, and carbon fiber material, Arevo printed a complete bike frame that is 5 times the strength and one-third the weight of titanium.
Material Simulation Software to Reduce Development Time of New Composites
(MultiMechanics) MultiMechanics’ TRUE Multiscale Technology has a proprietary data compression algorithm that speeds up the analysis time of FE2 by 1,000x. It is embedded within our flagship product, MultiMech, and is used by leading organizations in the material manufacturing and aerospace industries. Using TRUE Multiscale Technology, engineers are empowered to create accurate, detailed material microstructures, run virtual tests, and zoom …
Smart Manufacturing Helper Using Internet-of-Things and Industry 4.0
(Ruiz Aerospace Manufacturing) This product is a smart electronic device that helps composites manufacturers to find leaks in vacuum bagged tools in just few seconds by measuring vacuum level, temperature and humidity. It also runs standard “leak rate tests” storing the results in the cloud and generating automatic test reports. It measures moisture and temperature stored in a cloud database …
Holistic Simulation Software for Additive Manufacturing
(e-Xstream engineering) Digimat for Additive Manufacturing is a completely innovative solution that opens new technological horizons and fully takes advantage of the potential for light-weighting and complex design. It addresses the industry need to “print right the first time” and constitutes the corner stone of the first simulation chain of additive manufacturing that benefits the whole ecosystem: Process simulation gives …
Composite Material Roll and Kit Life Tracking Software
(JETCAM International S.A.R.L.) CrossTrack provides traceability of location and life from delivery of composite rolls or tapes, in and out of the freezer, the cutting room, layup and the autoclave. Due to tight integration with JETCAM Expert nesting software it can also track life to individual ply level. If a ply needs to be scrapped it can be re-nested on …