Currently viewing the tag: "Composite material"

Podcast Ep. #46 – Tow-Steered Composite Materials with iCOMAT

On January 22, 2021 · In Composite Materials, Manufacturing, Podcast, Structural Efficiency

Dr Evangelos Zympeloudis is the CEO and co-founder of iCOMAT, a company based in the UK that is developing automated manufacturing equipment for tow-steered composites. Fibre-reinforced plastics, such as carbon-fibre or glass-fibre composites, hold great promise for high-performance and lightweight design due to their excellent stiffness and strength properties at low material density. Traditional […]

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Podcast Ep. #29 – Samson Sky is Building the First Truly Useful Flying Car

On April 16, 2019 · In Aircraft, Composites, Personal Aviation, Podcast, Startup

Sam Bousfield is the founder and CEO of Samson Sky, a company that is developing the first truly useful flying car. Sam is an architect by training, but a passion for aviation led him to work on a supersonic aircraft with Boeing. Out of this experience came the idea of building a flying car […]

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Podcast Ep. #22 – Mark Crouchen on Rockwood Composites and Manufacturing Complex Composite Components

On December 18, 2018 · In Composite Materials, General Aerospace, Manufacturing, Podcast

Mark Crouchen is the managing director of Rockwood Composites, a company in the UK that specialises in manufacturing complex composite components using compression and bladder moulding. These manufacturing processes use fibre mats of carbon fibre, glass fibre, Kevlar, or any other material, which are pre-impregnated with a resin matrix and then placed in a […]

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Podcast Ep. #2 – Prof. Paul Weaver on Shape, Stiffness and Smart Aerospace Structures

On November 6, 2017 · In Aerospace Engineering, Aircraft, Composite Materials, Composites, Helicopters

“There’s been a lot of good press from the science community on self-assembly of atoms. Well, I guess what I’m looking for is self-assembly and disassembly of large-scale structures…There is all sorts of exciting things we can do when [engineering] structures re-configure themselves.” — Prof. Paul Weaver

This episode features Prof. Paul Weaver, who […]

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Aeroelasticity, composites and the Grumman X-29

On April 16, 2017 · In Aerodynamics, Case Studies, Composite Materials, History, Novel Materials/Tailored Structures

Aeroelasticity is the study of the interactions between dynamic, inertial and aerodynamic forces that arise when a body is immersed in airflow. The unique challenge of aeroelasticity is to analyse how vibrations, static deflections and lift and drag forces combine, and to make sure that any interaction of these three forces does not lead to inferior aircraft […]

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Variable Stiffness Composites

On January 27, 2015 · In Composite Materials, Novel Materials/Tailored Structures

In previous posts I have discussed the unique characteristics and manufacturing processes of a certain type of composite material, namely continuous fibre-reinforced plastics (FRPs). Just like many other composite materials, FRPs combine two or more materials whose combined properties are superior (in a practical engineering sense) to the properties […]

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Defects and Non-Destructive Testing in Composites

On October 17, 2013 · In Composite Materials, Technology

The treatment of defects in aircraft structural design has been an important aspect in aircraft structural design during the last 50 years. Various different catastrophic events have led to key insights that now shape the design philosophy for primary aircraft structures. One of these […]

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Composite Materials and Renewables: Wind Energy

On August 21, 2013 · In Composite Materials, Manufacturing, Novel Materials/Tailored Structures, Renewables

In the aerospace industry the benefits of exploiting the excellent specific strength and stiffness properties of composites in terms of lightweight structural design are immediately apparent. Other advantages of fibre reinforced plastics, such as the relative ease to manufacture complex shapes, and their excellent fatigue and corrosion resistance, have made FRP composites increasingly attractive in […]

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Developments in Composite Materials

On August 18, 2013 · In Bio-mimicry, Case Studies, Composite Materials, General Aerospace, Technology

I have just returned from the International Conference for Composite Materials (ICCM) in Montreal, Canada and would like to share a few observations and key points about the developments in the composite world that may not be so easily accessible to a broader audience.

1) The Great Advance – Applications

ICCM is the biggest conference […]

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A Brief History of Aircraft Structures

On August 19, 2012 · In Composite Materials, History, Novel Materials/Tailored Structures

Aircraft have changed enormously over the last century from the early Wright Flyer flown at Kittyhawk to the supersonic SR-71 Blackbird flown today. Of course the developments in aeronautical engineering can be broken down into separate divisions that have developed at different rates: a) the aerodynamics, b) power plant engineering, c) control, radios and navigation […]

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