MDS will bring new composites expertise to Altair’s HyperWorks suite, including multiscale analysis, stochastic design, fatigue analysis, and multiphysics simulation. A member of the Altair Partner Alliance since last year, MDS is already available to HyperWorks users, along with a number of other technologies related to composite materials analysis and simulation.

Uwe Schramm, Chief Technical Officer at Altair said;

We will continue to develop, enhance, and invest in MDS as part of HyperWorks while retaining an open architecture approach with respect to other 3rd party solvers. Altair is committed to creating good interfaces and continuing to build partnerships to excel in the domain of composite materials.

The company which was founded in 2008 by Prof. Jacob Fish and associates has won a number of Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I and Phase II awards for its work in a wide range of composites testing including environmental degradation of high-temperature polymer and ceramic matrix composites subjected to thermal oxidation, thermal fatigue and 3D nondestructive imaging techniques for mesoscale damage analysis of composite materials.

Dr. Jacob Fish, commenting on the deal said;

We have partnered with a number of significant original equipment manufacturers to analyse state-of-the-art materials for automotive, aerospace, and defence. Altair’s deep expertise in CAE, coupled with its significant footprint across a variety of industries, will help to extend the reach of our technology and increase its application.

The post Altair Acquires Multiscale Design Systems appeared first on Composites Today.

The Automotive Business Development Group launched on the 1st of April as a new entity directly under the Carbon Fibres & Composites Business Unit. It’s responsible for marketing thermoplastic CFRP formerly handled by Toho Tenax and the Teijin Composites Innovation Centre, which will now focus on developing technologies for individual projects.

Integrating and reorganising these functions will enable the Teijin to accelerate its CFRP business, especially in the highly promising automotive field. Teijin wants to become Japan’s leading provider of CFRP composites for automotive applications.

Current efforts are focused on developing automotive CFRP products for global automakers in Japan and other countries. Toho Tenax, which spearheads Teijin’s carbon fibres and composites business, is developing automotive-use products such as high-efficiency thermoset CFRP and rapid-curing carbon fibre sheet pre-impregnated with matrix resin.

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The new larger blades will help capture more power from wind resources and increase the efficiency of wind energy systems. This new funding will support the research and developments of new innovations to improve overall manufacture, transportation and assembly of wind turbine blades longer than 60 metres. Larger blades that can be installed on wind turbines with taller hub heights will help facilitate the deployment of the next generation of multi-megawatt wind turbines.

In December 2014, the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory released maps that show the potential for new wind energy resources that developers could unlock using next-generation wind turbine technologies. The DoE’s finding showed that these taller turbines accompanied by longer blades have the potential to harness wind power resources from more than one million additional square miles of the United States, roughly triple the amount of developable land that was accessible with turbine technology in 2008.

This funding opportunity will help mitigate the transportation and logistical constraints associated with larger turbine blades, helping spur wind energy development in areas of the country where wind resources can be accessed at greater heights, especially in the Southeast.

The effort to develop larger blades complements the Energy Department’s recent award to two companies that are using innovative construction and installation processes to cost-effectively manufacture taller wind turbine towers. Continued innovation in wind energy technologies and manufacturing will help push the boundaries of renewable energy deployment further than ever before.

The post U.S. DoE Announces New Wind Blade Funding Opportunities appeared first on Composites Today.

The company has bought out shares held by Tom Hedger and announced that he will be stepping down from his role as CEO, but will remain involved with MVP in a consultative role.

MVP President & CFO, Pete Hedger said on the restructure;

The leadership, expertise and incredible knowledge that Tom has brought to MVP has been highly instrumental in shaping and guiding MVP into the company that it is today. We have seen our company grow significantly in size and have continued over the years to remain on the forefront of product and technological innovations in large part due to Tom’s commitment to not only our organisation, but the industry as well.

With its recent partnership with the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) the company also announced it will be donating financial, manufacturing, equipment and human resources to support IACMI’s mission to reduce technical risk and develop a robust supply chain for advanced composite materials.

The post Magnum Venus Buys out CEO and Plans to Expand Business appeared first on Composites Today.

The customised oven supplied by Lewco will allow NASA researchers to lay-up various composite materials on custom tooling, and then place a vacuum bag over the layup to seal it to the tool. The tools are then placed on a cart to be loaded into the oven. Once in the oven, vacuum hoses are connected to the sealed bags and a vacuum pump removes air. Vacuum transducers continuously monitor the vacuum level to confirm compliance with the part recipe. Then the heating cycle begins.

The oven has a maximum operating temperature of 500°F. and has a minimum temperature uniformity of +/- 5°F. at this temperature. It’s controlled via a state-of-the-art Eurotherm Nanodac system that gives NASA the ability to create and store specific ramp/soak recipes for different composite curing processes.

Along with full data logging capability to record and analyse different batch results. Per specification, the system can continuously monitor up to six type “J” thermocouples located inside the oven, that will automatically adjust oven temperatures based on lagging thermocouple data.

The investment in this oven is relatively minor for NASA, and will provides them with the technology to help develop new composite parts and materials.

The post NASA Buys New Oven to Research Out-Of-Autoclave Materials appeared first on Composites Today.

CPI is a producer of direct long-fibre thermoplastics for the marine, automotive, packaging and other industries. CPI was previously a wholly owned subsidiary of Binani Industries Limited, based in Mumbai, India. The transaction is an all-cash deal of $15 million, which Core will finance through a new senior secured five-year term loan. The acquisition includes a staff of approximately 100 individuals and a manufacturing facility of 83,000 square feet.

CPI had annual sales in 2014 of approximately $20 million. The Company expects the transaction to be approximately $.01 to $.02 accretive to earnings per share for the remainder of 2015 and does not expect any significant restructuring, shut-down or employee severance costs during 2015.

Long-Fibre reinforced thermoplastics systems are resistance to chemicals, recyclable and feature fast processing times in many complex product configurations. Widely popular in Europe and Asia, direct long-fibre thermoplastics technology is still growing in North America, where applications are concentrated in the automotive industry, but include many non-automotive applications as well.

The post Core Molding Technologies Acquires CPI Binani appeared first on Composites Today.

The plant, which is already the largest carbon fibre factory in the world manufactures a wide range of materials for use in the wind energy, aerospace and automotive industries. This expansion would create 100 new jobs straight away with another 200–300 over the next few years.

In addition to signing the cooperation agreement, Zoltek has also signed an agreement with the Budapest University of Technology and Economics to help educate the next generation of carbon fibre professionals.

The post Zoltek to Expand Production at Worlds Largest Carbon Fibre Facility appeared first on Composites Today.

With the support of its private equity backer, the south coast based company has invested a total of £14 million on new facilities and equipment over the last five years. Over the same time frame the company’s turnover has increased from £9.4 million to £38.7 million with employee number going up from 51 to 300.

Currently operating from three facilities in Hampshire which collectively span over 140,000 sq.ft, Formaplex offers a fully integrated composite services. The new facility will allow Formaplex to further increase manufacturing capacity as well as its range of services.

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The first line will produce 1,700 metric tonnes of the company’s Alabuga-Fiber and will eventually be increased to 2,000 metric tonnes. According to the company the new site located in the Republic of Tatarstan could eventually grow up to over 10,000 metric tonnes, making it the largest facility of its kind in the world.

The manufacturing line has been built using the latest technology and is suitable for large-scale carbon fibre applications. The line feeds the precursor from bobbins up to 300kgs and features the latest thermal stabilisation technology along with energy-efficient oxidation ovens and carbonisation furnaces.

CEO of Holding Company Composite Leonid Melamed said

The launching of our new large-scale Alabuga-Fibre Plant, which complements our long history in special high-performance carbon fibre products, fits well into the global trend of growing demand for composite materials in many industries including aerospace, automotive, energy, marine, and construction. Now, with high quality, affordable carbon fibre for the international market available from Russia, we expect that potential users for industrial grade carbon fibre will look positively at us as they broaden their choice of suppliers.

The Alabuga carbon fibre production line is designed to manufacture various types of carbon fibre. The company’s AF42 12К is available to sample and buy now with the AF42 24К coming in late 2015

The post New Carbon Fibre Facility Opens in Russia appeared first on Composites Today.

By acquiring Axson Technologies, Sika is increasing its product offering and expertise in the Tooling and Composites business. The main technologies used are polyurethane and epoxy, which will further complement and advance the future product offerings.

Jan Jenisch, CEO of Sika said;

We are delighted to welcome all Axson Technologies employees into the Sika family. The acquisition will make Sika a strong player in the global Tooling and Composites business and will expand and complement our product range for a broad customer base.

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