(Autodesk) Autodesk provides a comprehensive tool set creating an end-to-end solution for composite manufacturers. Highly functional capabilities provide solutions to novice and expert companies alike. Design composites layups with material catalogs, orientations, plies, and layup sequences. Add manufacturing edges, swap surfaces, and splice geometry based on material packaging. Simulate composite shear, fatigue, impact, warpage, and PFA. Analyze the manufacturability of …
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 can also track life to individual ply level. If a ply needs to be scrapped it can be re-nested on demand …
Composite Self-Driving Shuttle by Additive Manufacturing
(Local Motors) The Olli self-driving shuttle is a low speed electric vehicle transportation solution for widespread application as a people mover. The use of large scale additive manufacturing of composite materials was employed in an efficient and elegant design that produces a structure comparable in weight and at significantly reduced cost and development time compared to an existing prototype design …
Golf Swing Training (LAG) Device
(Tsunami Bar, LLC) The SwingBalance™ Laginator™is a 30” functional training device for golfers allowing them to take their hands on a direct path to the ball, when swinging the device, and at the same time train to retain the ‘LAG’. The practice of swinging this device, with its unique movable mechanism, offers vestibular feedback by combining the sensory systems of …
One-Piece Molded High Performance Carbon Fiber Triathlon Bicycle Frame
(Cervelo Cycles/Vroomen White Design) The Cervélo P5X is a new concept in design and manufacturing for a high performance carbon fiber composite triathlon bicycle. It uses a radical new shape which allows the frame to be molded as a single piece, providing improved strength and stiffness relative to bonded tubular frames. The design has been optimized for aerodynamic performance along …
Composites Lift the World’s First Electric Flying Surfboard
(Strongwell) Strongwell’s custom pultruded mast, co-developed with Lift Foils, provides the strong, lightweight backbone of the revolutionary Lift eFoil, the world’s first electric foil board. A hydrofoil (foil) board is a recreational “surfboard” with wings underneath it which lift the board and its rider out of the water as the board gains propulsion. Prototyped using metals, then resin transfer molding …
Rapid Manufacture of Ultra-High Quality Composite Mirrors
(The Aerospace Corporation) There is an increasing demand for lightweight mirrors made of composite materials, but their quality and stability have not been able to match those of glass mirrors in high precision applications. The Aerospace Corporation has developed a processing method to manufacture replicated composite mirrors with high optical quality and dimensional stability under varying hygrothermal environments. This was …
Large Scale 3D Printing Using 100% Bio-Composite Materials
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in collaboration with industrial partners, have developed and demonstrated large scale 3D printing using 100% bio-based and biodegradable composites. These materials were used to 3D print a large portion of the world’s largest green printed pavilion structure which was exhibited at the Design Miami Exposition. The Pavilion structure …
Biodegradable 3-D Printed Molds for FRP Tank Part Manufacturing
(Design Tanks LLC) The common material to build FRP molds are steel, aluminum and fiber glass. After a while (normally 10 years), these molds need to be replaced and they are not bio degradable. In a research to use biodegradable mold, several materials were investigated. Polylactic acid (PLA) was used in a 3D printer and the obtained molds were used …
Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel made with Recycled Continuous Carbon Fiber
(Vartega/Steelhead/Michelman) Carbon fiber recycled by Vartega and sized by Michelman has been provided to Steelhead Composites for incorporation into new pressure vessels and to close the loop on their manufacturing scrap. Steelhead Composites’ MicroForce diaphragm accumulators are a family of lightweight, 3,000+ psi (207 bar) accumulators currently available in 0.5 and 2.0 Liter internal volumes. These compact, lightweight composite accumulators …