CompositesWorld
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JANUARY 2016 40 CompositesWorld CAMX 2015 New Products Showcase » AUTOMATED MACHINING TECHNOLOGY Machining with abrasive grit IKONICS Advanced Material Solutions (Duluth, MN, US) show- cased at CAMX 2015 (Oct. 26-29, Dallas, TX, US) its Precision Abrasive Machining (PAM) process, which employs an updated form of traditional sandblasting (using aluminum oxide grit) and a proprietary, patented masking system that protects the substrate from damage, to create complex perforations in or remove material from any composite, with high repeatability (within 50µm) and without the chipping and other defects associated with grinding, drilling and cutting. The resulting perforations have clean edges (no burns or fber ends to remove). The process is reportedly less damaging than waterjet or laser, causes no delamination and is a dry process that imparts no heat or stress to the part. A secondary beneft is the elimination of assembly steps. In the accompanying photo, the decoratively vented opening at left was cut, via PAM, directly from the molded composite part. That part replaced the one on the right, which was molded, then had the opening machined out, then had a metal grillwork riveted into place in the opening. The grillwork required a ground wire, another step not required at left. Any shaped hole, slot or pattern is possible, and acoustic patterns in jet engine nacelles is a typical application. The company also announced that it is expanding its facility in Duluth and reports it now has robotic capabilities for highly curved parts. www.ikonicsams.com NEW PRODUCTS » ENGINEERED MATERIAL SYSTEMS Wax-filled carbon fiber strand for hollow parts Ofcially launched just days before the show opened, Carbon Flight (Sacramento, CA, US) has developed a unique way to manufacture hollow carbon fber parts, using a wax strand overwrapped with dry carbon fabric in a helical manner. The wax-flled carbon is used to flament wind a tubular part on a mandrel, then is infused and cured at room temperature. After part cure, the part is heated, which melts the wax; the part's helical winding design enables the wax to fow out, leaving engineered cavities within strong walls. Company president Lauren Abarca says that the helical design of the tubular carbon walls around the cavities provides greater lateral compression strength than a standard tube of the same weight and size, and the company is exploring applications where the cavities will ofer light weight plus added functionality that includes vibration damping and insulation. www.carbon-fight.com » PIGMENTS, COLORANTS & COLORMATCHING CNTs for custom color retention OCSiAl (Columbus, OH, US and Sunnyvale, CA, US) introduced its Conductive Color Composite Technology. Normally, when carbon black is added to a composite for conductive applications that require anti- static or electrostatic dissipation qualities or for electrostatic painting, the customer is stuck with one color: black. OCSiAl's TUBALL single- wall carbon nanotubes allow for custom color retention at loading concentrations as low as 0.02-0.05%, says the company. Conductivity is enabled with uniform surface resistivity, without hot spots, and without impacting part mechanical strength, while retaining vivid masterbatch color. www.ocsial.com » CELLULAR CORE MATERIALS 3D-capable aramid honeycomb core Euro-Composites Corp. (Elkwood, VA, US) has introduced a new 3D-capable aramid honeycomb core that it calls ECA-3D. Instead of hexagonal cells, the cell shape is more teardrop-like, which reportedly enables high formability with multi-directional curvature without collapsing the cell walls, while maintaining high shear strength, says the company. Applications include any type of cored part where acute or compound curvature is required, such as wings, stabilizers, radomes and more. Euro-Composites adds that the product can greatly reduce manufacturing costs, because the heat forming necessary with conven- tional hexagonal core can be eliminated. www.euro-composites.com