Axion will present a case study on the installation of recycled plastic railroad bridges at the Army Transportation Corps’ Ft. Eustis training facility in Virginia.

The EU plans to impose higher tariffs on Chinese fiberglass.

To attract waning customers, Automobili Lamborghini is considering adding a four-door sedan to its portfolio of two-seater models.

CRP Technology set to resell Zircotec composite coatings for race and road applications including F1 and NASCAR.

Beijing-based Sinovel Wind Co. unveiled plans to build a turbine factory in Shanghai. Worth $441 million, the plant will help meet domestic and overseas demand.

The French government will launch a tender for contracts worth 10 billion Euros to build 3,000 megawatts of offshore energy across France.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of the Cape Wind offshore wind farm.

Global Technologies acquired Hybrid Wind Turbine Designs and CLE (Creative Laboratory Enterprises), increasing its small and medium wind development portfolio.

GKN Aerospace delivered the first major assembly CH-53K heavy lift helicopter to Sikorsky Aircraft.

Albany Engineered Composites was contracted to Boeing’s CLEEN Engine Nozzle program to supply ceramic matrix composite acoustic engine nozzle.

Cri-Cri, an all electric aircraft jointly developed by EADS Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintonge and the Green Cri-Cri Association, took its maiden flight on Thursday outside of Paris.

Composiflex hosted a plant tour for Pa. Representative and NIST Director.

PPG’s Kentucky plant rebounds on strong demand for fiberglass yarn.

Wausaukee Composites plans to invest $1.9 million to expand and renovate a Michigan plant.

Under Secretary of the Army met with the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) to discuss technology developments of lighter, efficient protection for combat vehicles.

A $65 million, five-year composite research program by the Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures (CRC-ACS) began.

Skeeter Products wins awards in “Fiberglass Bass Boats” and “Fiberglass Outboard Boats” categories from NMMA.

Interplastic announces the recipients of its 2010 Scholars Award.

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Scottish Adventurer Jock Wishart plans a rowing expedition, using composite boats, to the North Pole.

According to the latest reports, aerospace manufacturer TenCate sales doubled in the first half of 2010.

Boeing Tianjin Composites Co Ltd. plans to double the number of its employees. The company is a joint venture between Boeing and China Aviation Industry Corp.

Bicycle manufacturer Edge Composites has changed its name to Enve Composites to avoid trademark infringement in international markets.

A former employee of Fiber Glass Systems, who filed a lawsuit claiming harassment and discrimination, was awarded a substantial judgment.

Wausaukee composites received Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credit, effectively helping the company hire more than 100 people over the next five years.

Clipper joins Minnesota wind turbine research at the University of Minnesota.

Denmark will soon get a new wind test center, located in north-western Jutland, and will soon house seven mega wind turbines for testing purposes.

TPI Composites will open a wind blade innovation center in Massachusetts and will be the center for development of advanced blade manufacturing technology.

The new Kestrel, a compact electric vehicle, is made with a composite material made from cannabis-composite material.

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Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology have developed a new thermoplastic fiber composite for safer cars.

An SPE conference keynote speaker from McLaren Automotive will discuss the company’s carbon fiber-reinforced-plastic safety cell or MonoCell.

Wausaukee Composites received tax credits from Michigan to help hire 100 workers during the next five years.

Fiberglass boat sales dropped sharply in July.

A study conducted by the Global Wind Energy Council and the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association found wind energy can generate up to 24 percent of the country’s total power by 2030.

Renewable energy is seen as the new cash crop for British Farmers.

Dow Venture Capital group made a minority equity investment in Blade Dynamics, a designer and manufacturer of advanced wind turbine blades.

Norwegian-based turbine manufacturer Statoil is considering sites off Scotland and the eastern U.S. to test its floating wind farm.

Aerospace-parts manufacturer Royal Plastics changed its name to Royal Engineered Composites, which the company says more accurately reflects its name.

The landing gear on the Virgin Galactic space tourism jet collapsed during a test flight on Thursday. However, manufacturer Scaled Composites called it a “minor incident.”

Ocean Renewable Power Company successfully generated grid-compatible energy with its 60-kilowatt tidal power generator installed off the coast of Maine.

Former Vestas employees formed a new company, Sureblades, and re-opened a closed turbine plant in Isle of Wight.

Duke Energy dropped plans to install demonstration wind turbines off the coast of North Carolina, citing the project was too small to be worth the cost.

The global cast polymer market will grow by 9 percent, according to a new report.

TPI Composites adds a supply chain expert from GE to its board of directors.

Construction has begun on the National Composites Centre in Bristol.

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The Seattle Boat Show took place last week, giving attendees a chance to shop around with 90-minute sailboat rides, free stand up paddleboard lessons and other demos.

Seawind Catamarans was named the Australian Marine Exporter of the Year during the Sydney International Boat Show.

Florida-based Catalina Yachts launched its new Catalina 355.

California candidate for senate Carly Fiorna visited SnugTop Custom Fiberglass Manufacturing last week.

North Fork Composites’s owner was named a defendant in a lawsuit filed by his former company over trademark use for fishing products.

ASA Manufacturing Inc. caught fire last week. The plant, which makes fiberglass structures for theme parks, was almost destroyed.

Miles Fiberglass received a $50,000 grant from the Oregon Business Development Dept. to help create jobs that support wind energy.

Matrix Composites & Engineering recorded more than $18 million profit last year.

Now one of the biggest cultured marble companies in the southeast, Atlanta Marble Manufacturing is celebrating 40 years in business.

Continental Structural Plastics is closing an Ohio plant and moving its production to India.

Turkish Aerospace Industries delivered its first composite prototype for the new F-35 Lightning II.

ATK and NASA will begin the second ground test of the Ares five-segment solid rocket motor at the end of August.

Renovalia Energy invests 220 million in Canadian wind farm, scheduled to begin in early 2011.

The British government plans to install solar panels and wind turbines to every public building and hospital car park, giving local authorities a way to earn up to 100 million pounds a year from electricity generation.

Siemens Canada will build new turbine blade factory in Ontario, employing 300 people.

Beacon Power began construction on a flywheel energy plant in New York, made of carbon-fiber composite material, which will reduce emissions by 82 percent and provide 10 percent of the state’s energy.

Struggling solar panel maker Energy Conversion Devices will eliminate 140 U.S. jobs as it shifts production from Michigan to Mexico to save money.

Australia-based AGL Energy announced a joint venture wind farm with New Zealand-based Meridian Energy. Construction of the Victoria farm will begin by early 2013.

Former GE executive joined wind turbine manufacturer TPI Composites.

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Gordon Brown, President, Flexi-StiX LLC, on how his company is finding new niche markets for composites.

Gordon Brown is a veteran of the composites industry, having worked at Strongwell, Owens Corning and Hexcel. Now a consultant, he developed the process behind Flexi-StiX, an idea to take extruded PVC tubing and give it structural purposes. Though the product could be used in many potential markets, it is initially being targeted in the exercise sector as a workout tool.

Why did you focus on the exercise market?

When I was marketing director for Strongwell in the 1980s, we were approached by Universal Gym Equipment, a major manufacturer of athletic equipment. Through our discussions with them on composites, they became aware that bending a composite could stretch the fibers and resulted in resistance. They suggested that if we can make something with these properties safely, there’s a huge market for it. We came up with a product that was developed and marketed, but we took a pultruded shape, and ran it through an extruder and put a tight covering of thermoset rubber over it. That gave it a round shape, but there were concerns the fiberglass would splinter in people’s hands. They wanted something over the outside of the fiberglass to prevent that. The product and process was too expensive at the time, and only bent in two directions. So that project was abandoned.

How and why did you come back to that idea later on?

Even though I moved on to other opportunities, that idea never really left my mind. Five years ago, I saw a hollow piece of flexible PVC in a store one day, and I wondered what would happen if I put a pultruded piece of fiberglass down the center of that tube. In all of our thinking, no one ever thought to take an extruded thermoplastic tube and put fiberglass inside it. It was one of those a-ha moments. It ended up being an economical way to make a variable-resistant exercise device. It’s light weight, economical, and safer, and uses standard extruded thermoplastic which reins in any splintered material.

What questions do customers ask about the product?

I’ve had many discussions with people in the thermoplastic extrusion business. Most of them have a vague idea, but then when I say it’s a pultruded round shape, I have to explain what pultrusion is. There is no extruded thermoplastic with any continuous strands fiber such that you can make a reinforced extruded thermoplastic. All they know is thermoplastic resins. You have to explain the composite, and then you have to tell them that the modulus is such that under the same amount of force, carbon and glass will elongate less than thermoplastics, which also results in increased strength and rigidity.

How do you help them more fully understand composites?

I have to demonstrate the product for them. Most people don’t consider PVC pipes to be flexible, so I show them the process and put it in their hands. They bend the bar and are impressed with the bending stiffness. The variable resistance nature takes effect the more you bend it. You have to go back to basics with people, but they’re excited about learning.

Where else could the product be used?

This is great for exercise, but if you put a thicker piece of fiberglass inside, you can create a structural building component. For example, in temporary shelters, if you take a 20 foot piece of PVC tubing and you put a piece of fiberglass inside that’s maybe ¾-inch wide and ¼ inch thick, and you bend it into the ground, you can hang 200 pounds in the center of it and it’ll flex. If you bend one, and move 6 feet and bend another one, and you get a tarp that’s big enough to fit over the tubes, it looks like a dome structure offering a cost-effective way for basic shelter.

What key issues keep the composites industry from growing?

Any sort of progress takes a long time to make ground, even though many of us in the industry invest time to do things. It shouldn’t take 40 years of testing, materials development, educating engineers, and flight hours for aerospace companies to incorporate a majority of composites. I’ve been a member of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) committee for composites strengthening concrete. We just now have a complete set of specifications covering a broad range of composites for internal and external reinforcement of concrete. That took 15 years to finalize.

What areas have you seen growth potential for composites?

There’s no short answer to that. The best examples of composites usage occur when we take full advantage of the resin and the fiber, take it into the realm of structural and demand performance out of the composite. I will say that aerospace still has strong growth potential. We have a corps of design engineers who believe in composites. Whether it’s for the fuselage, carbon reinforced flaps, engine components or storage bins, it’s everywhere. When you put materials in a true performance wing, you’re sitting there and they flap back and forth, it’s noticeable.

What are industries slow to adopt composites?

Composites have had to answer the questions of each and every industry. There were no fiberglass boats at one point, and now there are many of them. A company called Gibbs and Cox published the first design guide for fiberglass boats, and they spent many years to develop data and give the industry the design information it took to make operations possible. However, we have to design processes and techniques specifically answering that industry. The golf industry could care less that the Dreamliner has the same materials, for example; you just have to answer their specific questions. Looking back, the industry would have been better off if we spent three times more on development. We would have gotten the job done 15 years earlier.

What was wrong with the way things were done?

The industry would decide on something to work on, complete it and go on to the next thing. Then we would get to the point where we work on two things at once. We could have reached this point faster by bringing more resources to bear at that particular time. However, companies are only willing to commit so much time and money on development. In retrospect, that’s the only way it could have been done faster.

How can the industry improve itself?

In terms of spec development, we’ve gotten faster in processing the paperwork that goes along. The electronic aspect has streamlined that, but the downside is there are fewer people working. People say we’ve been hearing this for years, but we’re at the point with composites where we have close to a complete set of design specs across an incredibly large marketplace. I happen to believe that we haven’t tapped an ultimate potential, but with all the data we have, if people don’t believe composites will meet their needs seeing something such as the Dreamliner, they have an aversion to technology. We need visionary leaders to generate data and make industries comfortable in using the products. To make composites move faster, you need to truly commit.

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The top story in July, Composites Bend the Bar, is about consulting and marketing company Flexi-StiX, LLC process in creating and secured a patent for its process of incorporating pultrusion into a thermoplastic tube. President Gordon Brown took his knowledge of bombproof wallpaper and made a niche for himself in the sport and recreation market.

Two other popular stories are Supercar Made by Composite Hand Lay-up and Cultured Marble’s Eco Trends.

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Zvi Yaniv – President/CEO of Applied Nanotech Holdings, gives his take on the expanding composites industry.

Applied Nanotech Holdings is a research and commercialization that has developed a process involving multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) which it says could help products increase their mechanical properties even while weighing less.

How does your firm fit into the composites industry?

We learned how to handle blocks of CNTs and put them together to make a material whose properties are tailored in what we call assembling processes in three dimensions. Afterward, we worked more towards commercialization, so we developed a new material that has a specific application to large-volume applications. This is accomplished with nanocomposites using CNTs to enhance certain qualities of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) or glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRPs).

What was your first market?

We first worked in sporting goods applications to make products stronger and lighter. We discovered that you can integrate enough CNTs to make up only 1 to 2 percent of the product yet still create improvements in mechanical properties. We understood that CNTs must be dispersed and functionalized individually in order to spread well into an epoxy matrix such that when force is applied on the final product, a part of the stress is transferred to the CNT.

That was our first success. Since then, we’ve licensed the technology, at least territorially, to a large sporting goods company. We’ll receive royalties and now we’re assembling it for other applications from construction to defense.

Why did you target sporting goods initially?

Even if we had a good idea, we couldn’t implement it if we didn’t have an identified strategic partner with an issue we could solve. It also had to be a sector with a large market potential, which happened to be sporting goods. Now, we are approached by companies for bridge materials and aerospace.

What opportunities exist in those markets?

Within all of these industries, they want to use less weight, less gas, and they’re looking for portable and flexible applications. In the aerospace industry, the new Dreamliner is an example of a shift toward using more composites; the car industry is moving along that path as well.

What challenges have you encountered working with manufacturers?

Companies are worried about their commercial success, and as a result, sometimes don’t give us all the data we need to understand what to do for them for fear of sharing proprietary information. So if the CNTs are not functionalized properly, or the penetration of the epoxy enhanced into the fiber is not proper, the final material will have visible defects and no mechanical enhancement. Good communication is essential when working with another party.

What composite parts could incorporate CNTs that don’t currently?

One of the markets I see developing lighter and stronger composites is wind energy. Current blades are made with old technology and are very heavy. If you don’t have a very strong wind, you lose a lot of background energy. So, we are currently discussing CNT options with some companies. Cost is always a huge factor, but you have to look at overall costs. If I can obtain 20 percent more energy from my turbine, then the blade will perform better even though it costs a little more.

Is cost a common concern in other markets?

Cost is always a serious concern. Even in sporting goods, if cost is prohibitive it doesn’t matter how much lighter a product is because widespread adoption will not happen. This is one of the reasons people must carefully look at what kind of nanotube they use. In the past, the biggest players in enhanced composites used single-wall nanotubes and they achieve some great results, but the cost was too prohibitive. But now, the price for functionalized CNTs is dropping considerably, so we chose to focus on multi-wall CNTs.

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If job creation is the next phase of economic recovery, the renewable energy industry is doing its part. Vestas announced it will hire more than 1,000 people at three Colorado-based turbine manufacturing plants after receiving a surge of orders. Daewoo finalized an agreement with the government of Nova Scotia, Canada to build a wind turbine plant, creating 120 jobs within the first year and up to 500 in the next three. Meanwhile, support for ‘green’ initiatives from governments and industry continues to grow. State lawmakers in Massachusetts moved ahead with a bill that would make it easier for wind projects to receive permits and overcome opposition, while GE issued a call for entries in a 10-week contest to speed global power-grid upgrades, promising investment and marketing help for the best submissions, to the tune of $200 million. Also, the Sierra Nevada Corporation provided $1 million to the University of Nevada, Reno for research into a transportable, renewable energy generating system. The project will bring together the mechanical, thermal, electrical, chemical and advanced composites departments within the university. However, reaching renewable energy goals is still a distant future for some: With six months left to hit their target, California utilities struggle to meet mandated renewable-power requirements.

Boeing grabbed most headlines in this week’s aerospace news. The new 787 aircraft made its European debut on Monday at the UK-based Farnborough International Airshow, and the F-15 Silent Eagle demonstrator made its first flight, used to validate the initial engineering design approach. The company forecasts a $3.6 trillion market for new commercial airplanes over the next 20 years.

In marine news, U.S. Navy vessel manufacturer Northrop Grumman is considering a sale or spinoff of its shipbuilding unit; but will take several quarters to make a decision. UK-based Composite Mouldings is now manufacturing pram dinghies made entirely of surplus materials, thus preventing large amounts of waste within the yard.

Carbon fiber applications continue to find acceptance in the automotive and motor sports market. Lamborghini opened an Advanced Composites Research Center (ACRC) in the brand’s hometown of Sant’Agata Bolognese. The facility will research cutting-edge carbon fiber production and design processes. The Indy Racing League announced it will stick with current chassis-builder Dallara for the next generation of lighter-weight, all-carbon fiber chassis. Tesla Motors announced it will soon tour its pure-electric, hand-build carbon fiber Roadster. And after a fatal accident in Seattle last week, the NHRA announced that carbon fiber brake rotors and pads will be a mandatory part on Top Fuel dragsters and cars by August 11, 2010.

In other news, West Virginia University Professor Barbero, of mechanical and aerospace engineering, recently completed a second edition of “Introduction to Composite Materials Design”, aimed at undergraduate students and practicing engineers. Core-composites supplier Tricel Honeycomb announced Sue Mesmer as its new customer service manager.

According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), there are key issues on the minds of marine manufactures in 2010

According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), there are key issues on the minds of marine manufactures in 2010; namely, economic stability and regulatory issues.

“We were obviously hard hit last year,” explains John McKnight, director of environmental and safety compliance and director of government relations for NMMA. “Last year, a large percentage of companies completely shut down because there were no orders at all. For our industry, it wasn’t a recession – it was a depression.” In some sectors, the marine industry was down as much as 80 percent; many people were let go and, according to NMMA statistics, that’s not including the supporting industries. “As we look at this year, companies are now running but at reduced capacity. However, they’re seeing a silver lining. It may be a bit too early to tell, but we see improvement from last year,” says McKnight. “Things seem to be getting better, but the question on everyone’s mind is: is it just a blip?”

Regulatory issues are also of grave concern to the industry, mainly because they can drastically impact the industry. “There would be no modern boat industry without composites and therefore styrene,” says McKnight. “You can build a boat out of aluminum, but it doesn’t have the same type of quality finish that these composites allow. Composites give a different look and finish that consumer are looking for. For example, I know a few companies that exist because styrene allows them to do high volume, high production composite manufacturing. If composites disappeared due to styrene or other regulatory issues, we’d go back to wood or aluminum and I’m not sure how that would turn out. On that issue, NMMA and the American Composites Manufacturers Association share the same concern and we continue to watch very closely the advocacy efforts related to the EPA’s suggestion to label styrene as a reasonably anticipated carcinogen.”

Yet despite these looming clouds, marine manufacturers are moving ahead in their developments and use of composites. “We compete for discretionary income as people try to make choices between better TV sets, an indoor game, an RV, a snowmobile etc. There are so many things they want, but they’re not necessities,” says McKnight. “Companies try to make it more affordable and accessible by reducing cost—therefore always seeking ways to reduce waste and improve output. As a result, we see the majority of the industry continuing to use fiberglass—even over carbon composites—because it offers high quality at lower cost to families and fishermen. Customers feel, except in cases like the aluminum pontoon boat, it’s the most economical solution.”

Flexi-Stix, LLC makes a pultruded thermoplastic exercise bar.

Consulting and marketing company Flexi-StiX, LLC secured a patent for its process of incorporating pultrusion into a thermoplastic tube. The immediate result of its invention is a lightweight exercise tool, but the technology could soon permeate elsewhere.

President Gordon Brown previously co-invented bombproof wallpaper, which Berry Plastics is targeting for military and construction use (you can read about it here). During the wallpaper-making process, he used an extruded thermoplastic urethane for the matrix rather than a typical liquid or epoxy resin. “It was sort of a novel approach, as we now have a way to put reinforcements into polyurethanes,” he says. “The industry needs to deliver cost-effective solutions to our customers through a combination of fibers and resins, and our way was novel in accomplishing that.”

Using that same thought process, Brown focused on another way to give extruded thermoplastics additional strength and stiffness for better performance properties. He combined an extruded thermoplastic tube such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with a rectangular pultruded composite (materials such as fiberglass, reinforced vinyl ester, epoxy, carbon, or aramid). The pultruded composite is slipped inside the tube, after which closures are placed on the end to stop the fiberglass from falling out.

It is this entire process that creates a flexible pole. “Straight extruded PVC is flexible, but too much so for most applications,” says Brown. “All pultruded round tubes are too stiff, and aluminum steel and metal are very rigid poles. This offered a way to take low-cost extruded thermoplastics and make them stronger.”

Currently, the tube is primarily used in the exercise industry, sold under the name Body Bar Flex. The product is used to improve balance, flexibility and resistance training. Brown compares his product to Bowflex bars, which are comprised of solidly-extruded Nylon. He believes that added pultruded fiberglass results in greater bending stiffness. “I also noticed that it would bend around the major axis wherever your hand is positioned, which makes it friendly for a customer to use because they can place their hands anywhere and the tube is tough,” he says.

Though workouts were the initial focus of the product, Brown is trying to diversify into a variety of markets. He believes his product could be used for such applications as flag poles, walking sticks, rake handles and fence posts. “I have opportunities to consult with companies, and I always look for somewhere to think outside the box,” he says.