Carbon Fiber Technology Center - Oak Ridge National Laboratory

In order for the full utilization of carbon fiber in automotive applications. (Which is necessary to lower weight.) The cost of raw carbon fiber needs to decrease. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is taking on this challenge using $34.7 million in DOE ARPA funding; they are establishing a Carbon Fiber Technology Center. According to their website:

The center will be capable of producing up to 80 tons per year of low-cost carbon fiber for evaluation and use by industry and government partners. Primary equipment will include a thermal (conventional) carbon fiber conversion line and a melt-spun precursor fiber production line. Space and utility provisions are planned to add an advanced technology conversion line.

The overall goal of this technology center is to lower the cost of carbon fiber 50%. This could be a major breakthrough not only to the automotive industry in gaining better fuel efficiency, but many other applications of carbon fiber where high-strength and lightweight is crucial.

Photo Credit: ORNL

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Cutting Kevlar with a Waterjet

Cutting Kevlar or any aramid fiber is no easy task. It's tenacity wears our tools and blades, while cuts are often frayed. Probably the best method for cutting laminated aramid fiber, is using a waterjet (as seen above). Although not cheap, these cuts are CNC controlled, so very accurate, and the cut edges are clean and burr free...

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Strongwell Looking at Green Composite Materials

The demand for environmentally friendly materials is growing and will continue to grow. Strongwell, perhaps the world's largest pultruder, recently announced their Green Initiative. This is a fantastic move in the correct direction. Products made with composite materials are in fact environmentally friendly. Composites are inherently lightweight and non-corrosive, which is why they are used in wind blades, automotive, and aerospace.

The life cycle of composites needs to be closely analysed. For example, although a steel structure can be recycled at the end of life, the life span may be shorter, and thus, the overall environmental impact could be greater over time. This all needs to be measured on a analytical and straight forward level.

This being said, FRP composites must figure out a recycling solution. Yes composites are "recyclable", but no company is doing it on a large practical scale... Yet...

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Defense Armor Funding - 2011 Requests

2010 was a fantastic year for defense appropriations for composite companies, in particular, composite armor received substantial funding. Even though it is only April, Senators are beginning to announce their 2011 requests. Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky announced some of his requests, and looks like 2011 will be another stellar year for composite armor funding. Below are Bunning's related requests:

Project: De-Weighting Military Vehicles through Advanced Composites Manufacturing Technology

Amount Requested: $3,200,000

Recipient: MAG Industrial Automation Systems

Location: Boone County, KY

Description:  This is a research and development project for manufacturing of a machine to produce lighter-weight parts for military vehicles.  The project is a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it advances technology that delivers light-weight materials that improve fuel efficiency, cost savings, and enhanced combat readiness.

Project: Enabling Optimization of Reactive Armor 

Amount Requested: $5,000,000

Recipient: Ensign-Bickford Aerospace and Dynamics

Location: Muhlenberg County, KY

Description: These funds will be used to develop a replacement for current reactive armor used by the Army which will be reduced in weight, meet new threats, and increase overall safety. 

Project:  New Specialty Resins for Advanced Composite Armor

Amount Requested: $2,000,000

Recipient: Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc.

Location: Jefferson County, KY

Description: Funds will help develop a new range of matrix resins that address shortcomings in existing composite ballistic armor systems.  Achieving a better balance of properties will advance composite toughness, enhance fire, smoke, and toxicity performance to help our servicemen and women. 

Project: Tactical Mobility Consortium (TMC)

Amount Requested: $8,000,000

Recipient: University of Kentucky Research Foundation and M2 Technologies

Location: Fayette County, KY

Description:  The requested funding will advance years of aggressive research and development with the Marine Corps to deliver a critical force protection capability to the warfighter, allowing our military to provide the technical expertise required to assess the intended and unintended impacts of emerging technologies within the context of expeditionary warfare.  

Hopefully the military is actually requesting this research...

Source and Photo Credit: Senator Jim Bunning

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JEC Composites 2010

Today is the last day of the JEC composites show in Paris. This is probably the largest composites show in the world, and has become the annual meeting place for composite material companies from all corners of the globe.

However, this years show may be lasting a little longer; volcanic ash from Iceland is about to shut down all the airports in Paris. The ash can damage airplane engines and could even cause failure. Hopefully this will clear soon, as the global composites industry will be on hold until it does...

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Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

The clip above demonstrates why the new Joint Strike Fighter needs to be as lightweight as possible. Carbon fiber is undoubtedly playing a role in reducing the weight. I caught a fascinating NOVA episode on the competition between Lockheed and Boeing in designing the F-35. It goes into a surprising amount of detail of the composite construction and even discusses how Boeing attempted to use a thermoplastic matrix. If you have Netflix, you can watch it instantly for free, or you can get the episode from Amazon below:


I highly recommended anyone interested in aerospace composites or this military program to check it out.

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Biomimicry Adhesives

Composites, which are often structurally bonded with adhesives, are always looking for a better product. So when adhesive researchers need inspiration, what better place to look then nature (Biomimicry). Some researchers have looked at shellfish, such as how mussels are able to adhere so well to wet rocks in a turbulent environment.

However, recent research is looking into the sandcastle worm. This little guy builds his home on the ocean floor by gluing grains of sand together. Not only is this adhesive extremely strong, but it is cured underwater, a feat humans are yet to accomplish. Most adhesives cure requiring a drying process, and if scientists can better understand how the sandcastle worm works, a whole new generation of sythetic adhesive products could be developed.

Beyond creating a better adhesive for composites, a structural adhesive able to cure underwater has numerous uses in marine applications and medical uses...

Photo Credit: Philippe Guilluime via flicker

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Composite Prosthetic Limbs

Here is an interesting article about a company called GENER8. They have developed a composite prosthetic leg out of what appears to be carbon fiber. Unlike similar composite prosthetic legs which can cost between $700 - $5,000 each, GENER8 is shooting to provide their design at a price below $500. Their current target market is developing countries where affordable options are not currently available.

Although, in countries like India, where the average income is 38,084 Rupee's a year, or $2.34 a day, even a non-subsidized composite limb at a couple hundred dollars is probably still unaffordable for the average person. But, it is a move in the right direct...

Photo Credit: GENER8

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Wind Turbine Blade Failure

I once heard a leading wind turbine expert say, "The most important advancement in wind energy was advanced breaking, and in particular, the air-brake." Breaking allows a turbine to operate in higher wind speeds; it also makes a wind turbine safer.

Here is recent news of a wind blade breaking at Europe's largest onshore wind farm. I would be interested to see what the culprit was...

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This came up on a web search, some good information...

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Aluminum Bats vs Composite Bats

Composite baseball bats are gaining popularity in softball and little leagues world wide. Using carbon fiber and epoxy, these composite bats are said to have such good performance, that they are now banned for use in NCAA play. Much like other composite products, the big draw to the bats is their lightweight yet powerful capabilities.

What is interesting though, is that while most composite products dread delamination and fiber-breakage, composite bats desire it. It is said that composite bats get better with use. The theory goes, as fiber breaks and delaminates in the bat barrel, the bat becomes more flexible producing more power when you hit the ball.

In 2008, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell put this to the test. Although their sample size was relatively small, they concluded:

"A set of six “high-performance” composite baseball bats and one aluminium baseball bat were tested to see how their respective batted-ball performances would evolve with use. None of the bats showed a significant change in the resulting batted-ball-speed performance using the NCAA BESR performance testing protocol. Three of the six baseball bats failed with less than 100 hits—implying that some of the composite bat designs are not durable."

A high-end composite bat, weighing less the 30oz, can retail for over $300... Not too shabby.

Photo Credit: ertemplin via flicker

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Wind Turbine Interference on Radar

Wind farm development has seen resistance from a variety of people/groups. Some environmentalists fear the safety of bats and birds caught in the path of the blades. Local residents of potential developments fear blocked views, noise, and even flickering of shadows.

Another concern, is the disruption wind turbines can have on radar. Here is a recent ABC News article discussing the Pentagon's concern that wind farms may disrupt radar systems, and could be a homeland security threat.

If wind turbines stood still, there would be no problem. Modern radar is programed to ignore stationary objects. However, with tip speeds over 200 mph, large wind turbines create a signature that can be reported on radar. Above is an image from the NOAA, the star represents a Doppler radar tower, and the circled area is the disruption from a local wind farm. Looks like a thunder storm is moving in right? According to the NOAA:

"The rotating turbines also impact the velocity base data as you can see from the below image.  This velocity data is used by radar operators and by a variety of algorithms in the radar's data processors to detect certain storm characteristics such as mesocyclones, tornado vortex signatures, and relative storm motion."

With the National Weather Service, there is a concern as a severe weather event such as a flash flood could roll through undetected as it is passed off as wind turbine interference. Here are a couple more interesting images.

Photo Credits: NOAA National Weather Forecast Office Buffalo, NY

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Composites vs Metal

Above is a helpful material property comparison of composites and metals. Below is an interesting graph comparing the fatigue strength of composites vs metal. Enjoy...

Source: Advanced Composite Materials Technology Research Centre at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.


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Life Cycle Assessment

We have talked before about life cycle assessment (LCA) of products manufactured with composite materials. Here is a paper discussing the life cycle of a surfboard. A surfboard is more or less a composite sandwich structure. The core is either a polyurethane foam core or eps foam core. A wood stringer is added down the center for stiffness. The skins are generally woven 4oz fiberglass, often 2 layers on top and one on the bottom. Resin is epoxy or more commonly polyester.

In the life cycle analysis paper, the author cites more carbon emissions are created driving to and from the beach then the life of the surfboard will ever produce. Recently, companies have been experimenting with greener surfboard materials. In particular, bio-based resins, fabric, and foam. However, at least from a greenhouse emissions point of view, the composite construction of the board is a moot point in comparison to the emissions surfers generate driving to the beach.

I imagine similar studies for other products manufactured with composite materials will find similar statistics. It also exemplifies that we need greener transportation, and composites will play a role in reducing automotive weight and increasing fuel efficiency.

Photo Credit: Hot Tamale Surfboards

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DARPA Composite Armor Development

Some great warfighter technologies come out of the DARPA. Here is a synopsis for the development of composite armor with private company Hardwire.

"In collaboration with the U.S. Army, the Hardwire® DARPA Armor program exploited unique hybrid composite materials in innovative geometries and systems to provide improved military vehicle armor protection at a significantly reduced weight compared to other technologies. This approach to armor design has provided a suite of armor solutions that can be tailored to meet mission and vehicle-specific weight and performance requirements in response to specific and emerging threats. New insights and infrastructure for armor manufacturing has changed hybrid, composite armor production from a labor-intensive, small-quantity process to a quality-controlled, high-throughput operation. The program applied automated high-precision production fabrication technologies to adaptively and rapidly produce panels to specification and at a cost comparable to that of traditional armor. These changes in the composite armor design and production paradigm have made life-saving armor systems available for warfighter vehicles"

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Recycled Plastic as a Building Material

There are a few building materials already using recycled plastic; some composite decking products use recycled polyethylene grocery bags. The video above describes a whole new building product. Here, it appears the variety of ground up plastics are held together by a thermoset. If this is the case, the plastic will act as the reinforcement in the new composite material...

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Bio Medical Composite Materials

 

Composites will continue to gain acceptance in the biomedical field. When compared to metals (titanium, nickle, stainless, etc) used in bio medical, composite materials have some distinct advantages. Composites are x-ray transparent allowing doctors to take less x-rays to better see injuries and how they are healing. Many patients have allergies to nickle and other alloys, which limit the bio medical components that can be used. Above is a paper going into further detail on the subject, and is worth the read.

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Shape Memory Composite

Photo Credit: Technology Review

Imagine an airplane wing that could change shape when it hits a certain speed and become more aerodynamic. Perhaps one day this will become a reality. Technology Review reports on some polymers that have multiple shape memories. Meaning, when the polymer reachers a certain temperature, it will change into a preset shape...

Pretty awesome if you ask me.

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Airplane Bomb Protection: Composite Materials

Photo Credit: Dave Sizer via flicker

The recent Christmas day "Underwear Bomber" failed, but what if he was successful? The folks at the Discovery Channel and the BBC put this to the test, setting off a similar explosive in a retired airframe. (You can watch the preview here.)

Not only would the airframe survive, but it is thought that a next-generation aircraft built with composite materials such as the 787 Dreamliner would do better:

"The BBC also used a decommissioned Boeing 747 and not a newer Airbus A330 for the test. An actual test would be necessary to prove this, but Wyatt and Joseph think that the newer plane, which was made with lighter and stronger composite materials instead of aluminum, would have performed even better.

The newest commercial passenger jet, the Boeing 747 or Dreamliner, which has even more composite materials, would likely perform even better, said Wyatt, although he doesn't know for sure."

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Recycling Composite Materials

For many reasons, composite material products need to have a better solution for their end of life. Thermoset composites have difficulties in reprocessing, however thermoplastic composites are showing some promise. Technology Review discusses some breakthroughs in recycling PET, which may provide some foundation for recycling fiber reinforced PET in the future. Essentially, researchers at IBM have figured out how to chemically break down PET to their original parts, which then can be used again. Traditional recycling of PET uses heat and pressure to melt down the plastic.

Although recycling composite materials is necessary, composites still provide valuable environmental savings during their life. In composite transportation products such as marine, rail, aerospace, and automotive, the fuel saving and carbon reduction benefits can outweigh the downside of not being able to recycle. Here is a Swedish study of a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA for short, and likely an acronym we hear often) of fiber reinforced composites.

In the study, the researched compared the LCA of a steel ship with composite sandwich structures. Even though steel is recycled in the end, the emission reductions and corrosion benefits of using composite materials outweigh the recycling benefit.

Now, imagine the LCA comparison when fully recyclable composites are used...

Photo Credit: jsbarrie via flicker

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International Defense Use of Composite Material

Obviously the US Department of Defense is one of the largest customers and users of composite materials, however, as technology advancements and military budgets expand in countries such as China and India, so will the demand for composite materials.

Above is a video describing how the large multi-national company ThyssenKrupp is integrating advanced composite materials into the Indian Navy.

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End of Life Solution for Plastics and Polymers

Above is a short documentary about a trip to the great pacific garbage patch, a three part series following a voyage to a collection of plastic larger then the state of Texas. The film should create serious questions for anyone involved in the composites, plastics, or polymer industries.

If one thinks about it, we come into contact with plastics constantly on a daily basis, from our toothbrush in the morning, to the synthetic bed we sleep on at night. This dependence is only going to continue. Even our electricity will be created from FRP wind blades and our cars will be manufactured from lightweight polymer composites.

Yet, the composites industry has no end solution for our products. Currently, traditional FRP products goto landfills or incinerators at the end of life. This is unacceptable, and more importantly, unsustainable. The composite industry as a whole needs to continue the search for better materials and further develop a realistic and functional solution for end of life solutions.

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner - Composite Materials

The composite industry as a whole is interested in the success of Boeing's new 787; it is one more step towards mass acceptance of composite materials. Despite all the problems and the current 28 month delay in production, in the end, the weight savings on the 787 will help contribute to a 20% fuel efficiency.

Here is a great post by MIT's Technology Review on the problems and the future of the Dreamliner. A worthwhile quick read for anyone following the 787 saga.

Photo Credit: Dave Sizer via flicker

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Fire Laws and Composite Materials

In Kansas, they are trying to pass a law that requires the installation of fire sprinklers in small residential complexes. This would add additional and unwanted costs to builders. According to this article:

"Ron Ewing of the Firefighters Association said the trend is to require sprinklers in new construction because of increased use of lightweight and composite materials.

Older wood-built homes could burn for about 20 minutes before they began to collapse. With new homes, that "burn time" shortens to five minutes because of the different materials used, he said."

Now what he means by "composite materials" is probably different then what we commonly think of composite materials, i.e. FRP.

Photo Credit: dvs via flicker

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Acceptance of Composite Material

Not everyone is thrilled with composite materials. Watch the video above; a small town complains about a new composite poll installed. Apparently, they would rather have a tilted old wooden pole, treated with harsh heavy metals, and fixated with a steel guy wire; over a clean tapered composite pole that is self supporting and could last over 50 years.

Acceptance of composite materials is slow and steady process...

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New Composite Building System for Haiti

Below is a guest post by James Bancroft discussing a new building technology:

Rexwall/Aqua Homes (Germany) has developed and is producing a lightweight composite honeycomb-core panels used in both houseboats and land based homes. These are large insulated wall panels, glued into place.

I am not a fan of prefabricated panelized housing systems. Each house needs to be individually engineered, offering limited styles and require special assembly skills. Panelization might offer certain benefits for large housing tracts where the houses are all identical but have limited value for custom construction.

The concept for the lightweight composite building blocks allows for a variety, different sizes and architectural styles of structures without detailed architectural plans. Using only three or four standard, off-the-shelf blocks almost any type of structure can be built--local unskilled labor can easily visualize how they "fit together" and can adapt structures to the local topography.

Key to the success of any high tech building material is its adaptability to incorporate local building finishes--creating structures which fit into the historical context, customs and local design traditions--the use of materials which people have grown accustomed to--houses people want and feel comfortable living in.

Below and above are several illustrations demonstrating how this can be achieved using the composite blocks, rough exterior finishes allowing them to be stuccoed with local cementitious materials (Haiti-colorful Caribbean colors), roof panels reflecting local materials and natural flooring coverings.

For building green issues, the central insulating core could use recycled EPS, the buildings can be easily adapted to changing needs (unstacking and rebuilding) or be completely "disassembled" and recycled into new structures.

The next step in exploring and testing potential of the blocks would be to have a composite manufacture produce a number of prototype blocks, assemble them into a model small garden type house--take it apart and reassemble it several times to work out the details.

For more information contact Jim Bancroft at agatha43@comcast.net.

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Spider Web Composite Armor - Biomimicry

I love biomimicry, and in particular, natures' ability to manufacture superior composite materials. Spider silk, known to be one of the strongest materials per unit of weight has made news yet again. A start-up called EntoGenetics has recently received a grant to produce spider silk from a silkworm:

"EntoGenetics has developed a method for transferring a spider's silk production gene into the common silkworm, creating for the first time a commercially viable method of spider silk production. This fiber will provide soldiers with life-saving vests that are tougher, lighter and more comfortable to wear than current vests made of Kevlar and other similar fibers. It will also be used in promising medical, aerospace and composite applications."

More Info:  NC IDEA

Photo Credit: photofarmer via flicker


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Recycled Glass Bottle Composite Table

The annual ACMA Composites show was last week. All and all, it was a good show, and as always, some of the newest and best products go on display. This year, the "Best in Show" award went to Robal Glass – Monroe Industries, as seen above. They have a method of mixing resin with crushed post-consumer glass bottles. The coffee table on display was beautiful, and I could picture the material used in counter tops and bathrooms.

Being green was absolutely a theme at the show this year. The demand is originating from the end users of composite products, and this will likely only grow.

Marine Industry and Composite Materials

Yesterday President Obama said it best in a speech given at a high school in New Hampshire: "You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage."

Once a primary use of composite materials, the marine industry has since been hit hard by the economic downturn. What the President describes, is exactly what boat builders are experiencing right now. Boats are no doubt a luxury good, and right now, people are not buying luxury goods.

With this being said, European luxury yacht builder Emocean just announced plans for a 200m super yacht as seen above. They still need someone to buy the $500-$900 million dollar yacht before they will start building. This thing is a serious haus. 100ft pool, room for two 98ft "day boats", helipad, nightclub, and casino. Yet it will still maintain 28 knots, which is pretty good for a boat that size.

Photo Credit: Emocean

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Green Composite Material Gets Funding

According to earth2tech.com, New York based company e2e materials has raised $3 million in funding. The company, a spin-out from Cornell University, "is a clean technology company in Ithaca, New York that produces petroleum-free, biodegradable composites that are stronger, lighter and cheaper than composites filling landfills today." This is according to their website.

Now the claim of cheaper and lighter may have some merit, but saying their products are stronger then "composites filling landfills today" might be a stretch. Granted, there are many composite materials this product is stronger then, but the composites people think of most often, FRP composites, fiberglass and carbon fiber in particular, it is doubtful a bio-based composite has near the structural properties.

This being said, I am all for green composite materials and bio-based composites. The composite industry and the world needs to move in this direction as a whole. There are a myriad of applications natural fiber reinforcement is ideal for, however, we are still a long ways away from natural fiber replacing fiberglass, carbon, or aramid fibers. Hopefully e2e Materials and their new funding will help lead this charge.

Photo Source: e2e Materials

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Carbon Fiber UAV

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Composite Armor at the Superbowl

I don't usually find composite material information from gossip web sites, but TMZ is reporting that celebratory Kim Kardashian, girlfriend of Saints running back Reggie Bush, will be riding to the big game in an "Armor Horse" limo as seen above. Supposedly this limo is protected with "composite ballistic panels."


Photo Credit: Armorhorse.net 

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Composite Materials in the Winter Olympics

It's no secret, technology can help win gold medals at the Olympics. During this coming winter Olympics composite materials will play a large roll. Composites will be used in skis, snowboards, bobsleds, luges, lightweight aerodynamic helmets, ski poles, hockey sticks, and perhaps even curling equipment.

In racing events where seconds can be the difference between a gold medal and not placing at all, a technology equipment advantage could be the deciding factor. Here is an article about a small composites company in Canada which has designed a snowboard for the giant slalom out of carbon fiber. By dialing in the weight, shape, flex pattern, and balance, they are hoping their snowboards will be that difference to when a medal at home.

Not only will composite materials be used during competition, but Canadian aerospace company Bombardier has manufactured the torches out of composites (I'm guessing carbon fiber). In all, they manufactured 12,000 torches, you can see it here.

Photo Credit: Webdevil666 via flicker

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Shell Armor - Biomimicry Composites

Here is a new study on a deep water sea snail who has an amazing shell. It lives by geothermal vents so it experiences extreme fluctuations in temperature and acidity. Yet in this highly corrosive environment this snail shell still provides protection from predators.

It is no surprise that researchers are looking at this type of shell to provide insights for new armor. Biomimicry is one of my favorite topics here as there is much we can learn from mother nature. She has after all been inventing and modifying for millions of years.

What other "animal armor" is out there that perhaps we should look at? Take the desert tortoise for example, much like a Humvee in Afghanistan the tortoise's armor needs to be lightweight, strong, and withstand the harsh environments.

Photo Credit: Ken Wilcox via flicker

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Fiberglass Windows Gaining Popularity

Fiberglass windows have been around for sometime now, but are only recently gaining serious momentum. Fiberglass windows, typically use pultruded profiles for the frames; and since the frames and windows are both essentially made of glass, they expand and contract at the same rate, this creates a longer life window. Less gaps are created between the glass and frame, creating a tighter seal with efficiency gains. Additionally, aluminum window frames, which are conductive, generally are not as energy efficient as fiberglass windows.

The Janurary/February 2010 issue of This Old House, reports that:

"While sales of windows sank 18 percent overall last year, the market for fiberglass models shot up 9.4 percent. Experts attribute the bump to consumers' growing familiarity with the material and that, unlike vinyl, the pricier fiberglass fiberglass is as printable as wood and lasts longer since it expands and contracts with window glass."

Fiberglass windows will likely continue to gain market share as advances in pultrusion resin systems, such as urethane, will lead to higher quality products with increased energy efficiency.

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Photo Credit: JAGwired via flicker

Selecting a Composite Decking Material

Composite decking products, such as Trex, are a different type of composite then we usually discuss here. Unlike traditional FRP composites consisting of a continuous fiber reinforcement such as fiberglass or carbon fiber and a polymer resin matrix, composite decking products, for the most part, are an extruded composite consisting of wood fiber (saw dust) and polyethylene (grocery bags). Composite decking is a replacement for traditional wood and has many advantages, including lower maintenance, no splinters, no termites, etc.

However, many of the composite decking products have downsides as well. From my experience, some composite decking products are susceptible to stains and mold. For example, if part of your deck is in the shade, this area could slowly grow mildew and require occasional power washing, not exactly zero maintenance. Also, BBQ stains and other spills can grab hold to a composite deck and be near impossible to remove.

The best thing to do before deciding on a type of composite deck material, is talk to professionals working with the various composite materials, also ask if you can talk to customers they have worked with.