SAMPE Journal - September/October 2012 - (Page 38)

Industry News HITCO Carbon Composites, a subsidiary of SGL Group – The Carbon Company has been awarded a contract with Boeing Commercial Airplanes for 777 Empennage Rib Chords. “HITCO is privileged to sign this contract with Boeing Commercial Airplanes for the manufacture and supply of the 777 Empennage Rib Chords directly to Boeing,” said Anthony Lawson, HITCO’s President. “We are honored that Boeing has entrusted us to supply high quality, complex parts for the 777 program.” HITCO will manufacture these composite components at its Gardena, CA facility in accordance with Boeing Process Specification 5317 utilizing a dedicated production cell. HITCO has completed the part qualification activities for the 777 Empennage Rib Chords and is beginning serial production of the parts. HITCO Carbon Composites already supplies a number of composite structural components for other Boeing Commercial airplanes, as well as Boeing’s C-17 Military Transport Programs. The company has been a supplier to The Boeing Company for over a half-century. In 2008, HITCO was one of 11 companies Boeing selected as “Supplier of the Year” in the category of Major Structures. For more information, visit: www.hitco.com. Pauger Carbon Composites designed and built the high performance 50 foot catamaran “Fifty-Fifty” just in time for the prestigious long-distance sailing regatta “Blue Ribbon” on the lake Balaton. With the twin-mast catamaran design the Pauger team went for maximum power and lightest weight. The carbon fiber and epoxy infused sandwich hulls are cored with the new AIREX® T92 SealX. This recently introduced PET-based core material features the lowest resin uptake in infusion and thus further helped to keep the boat’s weight at a minimum. The efforts of the design team and the sailing crew paid off double: not only did the team win this biggest in-shore sailing regatta; they also broke the long-standing speed record by completing the 150 km race course in just 10 hours and 13 minutes. With wind speeds of 10 knots the boat achieved speeds of 24 knots! Dénes Paulovits, founder and manager of Pauger is extremely proud of this success: “We’re very satisfied with the new AIREX® T92 SealX as its extremely low resin uptake made it the lightest core material for our application”. For more information, visit: www.corematerials.3AComposites.com. AX-lightness, the only developer and manufacturer of cycling structures that is also a key supplier into the Formula One sector, is the proud sponsor of Team Ghost Factory Racing, an all-ladies mountain bike team which competes at national and international level. Three team members will be riding high-tech’ bikes with wheels manufactured using Umeco’s MTM®49-3 woven carbon fibre reinforced epoxy prepregs. AX-lightness also uses a combination of Umeco’s unidirectional and fabric reinforced MTM®49-3 prepregs to manufacture cycle components for an Australian triathlon athlete. AX-lightness chose to autoclave cure its structures to accommodate their intricate design features. Umeco’s MTM®49-3 series prepregs are 80 to 160°C curing, toughened epoxy matrices developed specifically for the manufacture of components requiring 38 good impact resistance. These prepregs also exhibit excellent ambient and hot temperature mechanical performance after only moderate cure cycles, making them ideal for sports & leisure and motorsport applications. Umeco’s MTA®240 adhesive film and MTF246 surface improvement film are fully compatible with MTM®49-3. AX-lighness’ success is rooted in its innovative, lightweight and highly functional products, and unique processing methods. Their weight-saving carbon fibre products are used by international racing teams and have been ‘on the podium’ at the Tour de France every year since 2001, and it is highly likely that we will see them on the podium at forthcoming international events. For more information, visit: www.umeco.com. Harper International, world leader in thermal processing solutions for advanced materials, has been selected by Allomet Corporation for the design of a new continuous Rotary Furnace for the production of specialty composite metal powders. The system is engineered to drive increased throughput of Allomet’s material by many multiples over previous batch systems, significantly improving their operations via increased productivity, shorter delivery leadtimes, and reduced production costs. Allomet made their selection after several process evaluation sessions at Harper’s Technology Research Center, where Harper’s experts supported the fine tuning of their carburization process. The results yielded an optimized system design, and will provide an increase in output efficiency that supports Allomet’s continuing production volume growth while minimizing new capital investment. Allomet recognized Harper’s expertise in thermal process development across a range of material industries, and Harper’s knowledge in this area was a key factor for its selection as a partner. The new Rotary furnace is designed to accommodate Allomet’s use of argon, hydrogen and methane atmospheres, either in combination or singularly. Harper’s expertise encompasses systems up to 3000°C in a variety of high purity and specialty atmosphere environments. As a part of its Ignite™ process, Harper works with many customers to successfully scale up their thermal processes through on site testing and development, engineering studies, and tailored design solutions from research to pilot to full production scale. For more information, visit: www.harperintl.com. Matrix Composites, Inc. has announced the successful completion of its transition audit for AS9100 Revision C certification. Representatives from the independent, 3rd party registrar Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc. conducted the 4-day audit in April of Matrix Composites’ Quality Management System. At the conclusion, with only one minor finding reported, Matrix Composites’ organization was found to be in compliance with the strict requirements of this most recent version of the standard. AS9100C is the international management system standard for the aviation, space and defense (AS&D) industry. The standard provides manufacturing suppliers with a comprehensive quality system for providing safe and reliable products. AS9100 is managed by the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) and based upon ISO 9001. The latest Quality Management System, REV C, is a SAMPE Journal, Volume 48, No. 5, September/October 2012 http://www.umeco.com http://www.hitco.com http://www.harperintl.com http://www.corematerials.3AComposites.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAMPE Journal - September/October 2012

SAMPE Journal - September/October 2012
Contents
President’s Message
SAMPE Journal Editorial Calender
Technical Director’s Corner
Prepreg Non-Autoclave Manufacturing Technology: Program Overview and Co-Cure Enablers for Disruptive, Pervasive Use
Welcome SAMPE’s Newest Members
Materials & Products
SAMPE Tech 2012|Charleston, SC
Perspectives
SAMPE Proceedings
Perspectives- Taking Material Science To The Next Frontier: Models Of Past Material Innovations And How They May Impact The 21st Century
Europe News & Views
SAMPE Europe’s SETEC 2012, Lucerne, Switzerland
SAMPE Europe’s SEICO 2013, Paris, France
SAMPE 2013|Long Beach Call for Papers
Industry News
Approach to Optimizing a Combined Out-of-Autoclave (OOA) Prepreg/Liquid Composite Molding (LCM) Process for Integrated Structures
SAMPE LinkedIn Communities
Corporate Partners
The SAMPE Foundation
Tech Tidbits
SAMPE Upcoming Events
Face-Sheet Quality Analysis and Thermo- Physical Property Characterization of OOA and Autoclave Panels
Advertiser’s Index
Resource Center
SAMPE Membership Application
SAMPE Books & CD’s Order Form
Industry Events Calendar
Chapter Meetings Dates and Contacts

SAMPE Journal - September/October 2012