03/03/2020
If you hear mention of carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRPs), you – like many designers and engineers – will likely think immediately of Formula 1 cars, racing bikes and fighter jets.
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02/03/2020
Aluminium Matrix Composites (AMCs) first appeared around 40 years ago, for use in automotive components and far from being a short-lived comeback trend, it looks as though they are here to stay, thanks to a raft of applications showcasing their capabilities across multiple sectors.
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29/01/2020
Carbon composites are in high demand across the globe, particularly in the aerospace, automotive, mechanical engineering and rail sectors. However, as many of these materials were developed decades ago, modern analytical and synthetic techniques have the potential to improve these materials, whilst also lowering production costs and producing greener more energy efficient products.
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05/09/2019
MakerBot has announced the launch of Method X, a manufacturing workstation engineered to challenge traditional manufacturing with real ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) material, a 100°C chamber, and Stratasys SR-30 soluble supports to deliver exceptional dimensional accuracy and precision for complex, durable parts. Method X is capable of printing real ABS that can withstand up to 15°C higher temperatures, is up to 26% more rigid, and up to 12% stronger than modified ABS formulations used on desktop 3D printer competitors. Real ABS parts printed on Method X have no warping or cracking that typically occurs when printing modified ABS on desktop platforms without heated chambers.
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04/09/2019
In a comprehensive joint study, Henkel and RLE International have examined and validated the potential of high-performance structural foam for lightweighting in automotive body and closure parts. The study has revealed that fibre reinforced polymer components with structural foam ribbing and reinforcements can save more than 40 kg of weight per car compared to conventional all-metal designs.
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03/09/2019
Featuring top-level suppliers providing cutting-edge design and engineering solutions, Engineering Materials Live promises to make a visit more than worthwhile.
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03/06/2019
Aerospace applications are seeing a considerable rise in the innovative use of thermoplastics, as their strength and lightness makes them ideal for replacing metal parts.
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31/05/2019
Intermittent energy sources such as solar and wind power are an increasingly viable option for small and large-scale power applications thanks to improvements in energy storage.
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30/05/2019
The co-located FAST and Engineering Materials Live exhibitions gave visitors a range of valuable insights.
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01/03/2019
The use and availability of new materials sometimes not merely enhances an existing design or process, it revolutionises it entirely. As a global leader in materials manufacturing, Morgan Advanced Materials has more experience than most of this phenomenon and has developed a proprietary leachable material which significantly cuts investment casting times in turbine engine blades by up to 20%.
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27/02/2019
One of the more significant applications in the aerospace sector is the new wind tunnel model of the Leonardo tiltrotor AW609 manufactured by CRP Technology for Leonardo Helicopter Division (Leonardo HD, formerly known as Agusta Westland).
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26/02/2019
The National Composites Centre (NCC) and Composite Integration have successfully completed a year-long project to design and deliver a state-of-the-art, first of its kind, Large Scale Resin Infusion (LSRI) technology. This innovative system has been designed to meet the R&D demands of both aerospace and wind industry manufacturing where components can range from 17m up to 120m in length.
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02/11/2018
Aircraft landing gear has historically been manufactured with the same kinds of materials due to high safety records. Now, a UK project will use composites to reduce their weight by nearly a third, whilst also retaining their strength.
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31/10/2018
With additive manufacturing (AM) techniques being widely adopted in industries worldwide, design engineering and manufacturing are undoubtedly being ushered into a new era of development. But, how environmentally sustainable are AM materials?
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05/09/2018
In Modena, homeland of supercars and motor valley of Italy, Energica Motor Company has utilised F1 and Le Mans technologies and engineering to produce ‘Energica EGO’, the first high-performance full-electric motorcycle.
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03/09/2018
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PEEK polymer pioneer Victrex is preparing newly developed materials for Additive Manufacturing (AM). The first of these is a high strength material for laser sintering (LS) which attains lower refresh rates, resulting in improved recycling for unsintered powder. The second is a filament with better Z-strength than existing PolyArylEtherKetone (PAEK) materials and better printability for filament fusion (FF). The detailed technical results are expected to be presented at the bi-annual Additive Manufacturing conference of the University of Exeter Centre for Additive Layer Manufacturing (CALM), in September 2018.
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11/06/2018
Ford C-segment cars, such as the Focus, could become more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly thanks to a lightweight rear suspension component designed by the CLASS (composite lightweight automotive suspension system) research project team.
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11/06/2018
Another successful Engineering Materials Live event was held in May, with visitors able to access some hugely valuable information to aid them in their materials selection.
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12/03/2018
The automotive industry is on the cusp of some drastic changes. According to a recent report by analyst IHS Markit, changes in personal transportation over the next 20 years will be more profound than anything experienced over the past century. The signs are clear as electric vehicle (EV) production increases, ‘mobility-as-a-service’ – such as ride-hailing app Uber – continue to disrupt and autonomous vehicles (AVs) begin to emerge.
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08/03/2018
The buzz around metal replacement and lightweighting has become synonymous with automotive developments, with carmakers now spending millions to strip out excess kilos. The ultimate driver is, of course, efficiency and the push to meet impending EU tailpipe emission limits of 95g of CO2 per km across a manufacturer’s fleet. It is, and continues to be, a mammoth challenge.
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06/11/2017
For every engineer, specifying a new material for a product – especially if the product’s already in production – can be a daunting task. There is a worry of the unknown, that phone call to tell you about unforeseen production problems, or even worse, of a potential product recall. For that reason, material selection can be, somewhat, of a conservative process that’s slow going and largely driven by pragmatism. This is no truer than in the medical sector where a justifiably stringent amount of regulation restricts many materials and outlines all kinds of tests and requirements beyond simply strength or density, for example.
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05/09/2017
When it comes to electric vehicles, keeping weight down is paramount in ensuring long range. In addition to the bodywork, drive components such as the housings, typically used in double reduction gearboxes, are of interest in terms of materials substitution and metal replacement.
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05/09/2017
The recycling of carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRPs) not only makes sense from environmental and economic perspectives, it could also be key in increasing the penetration of these lightweight but expensive materials in high-volume markets such as automotive.
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05/09/2017
If you dig a little deeper into composite material application, you’ll soon uncover a hugely diverse range of less obvious uses in equipment for patient treatment and diagnosis, sometimes even beneath the skin of the patients themselves.
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06/06/2017
Carbon fibre is making a slow but seemingly inevitable move into the automotive industry. But can engineers crack the throughput difficulties that have dogged uptake? James Bakewell reports.
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