Best Composite Material Salesman: Your Senator

Senator Bob Bennett from Utah (pictured above) came up on my radar as he apparently is a big proponent of composite materials. Let's take a look at some of his 2010 Defense Appropriations Requests.

$5 million to Alliant Techsystems (ATK) "This project will fund a world-class center of excellence for fiber placement and tape-laying composite aircraft manufacturing technologies will be created, augmenting Hill Air Force Base's repair depot capabilities."

$3.6 million to Radius Engineering for "Composite Tail Rotor Blade" design and engineering.

$3.5 million to Conductive Composites Company for "Conductive Composites Nano-Materials Scale-Up Initiative"

$4 million to Hexcel Corporation for "Transitioning Stretch Broken Carbon Fiber to Production Programs"

Nice work Senator Bennett.

Researching a little further, I found an interesting Seattle Times site, where you can search earmarks with the corresponding lobbying and campaign donations for 2008. Here is the search for Hexcel. In 2008 Hexcel had $2.4 million in defense earmarks, but spent $40,500 on lobbying and $56,535 on campaign contributions. With a total investment (lobbying & contributions) of $97,035, and a return of $2.4 million, that's a pretty good ROI.

The 2008 $2.4 million earmark for "M65 Bismaleimide Carbon Fiber Prepreg" was sponsored by 8 congressman. Ironically $10,500 was contributed by Hexcel to half of those supporting congressman.

Photo Credit: Bertelmanns via flicker

Composite Bats Not Allowed in NCAA

If you happen to be on a rec. softball league such as I am, you will know that the best bats are made from composite materials. Our team's best composite bat claims "carbon nanotubes." These bats have incredible pop, and balls bouce off them extremly hot.

Such composite bats are banned by the NCAA and have recently been outlawed by the National Junior College Athletic Association. So what type of composite bat is outlawed?

"Stronger and lighter than high-grade aluminum, non-wood composite baseball bats are either made of a graphite-fiber composite material or have an aluminum core with graphite lining."

Looks like the fiberglass bats are still ok...

Hat tip: anokaramseybaseball.com

Photo Credit: monstershaq2000 via flicker

Composite Carabiner - Destructive Testing

I written before about composite carabiners, but here is a funny video of destructive testing of a metal carabiner. Why is it funny you ask? Skip to about 3:30 and watch the reaction of the tough-guy on the left...

Spider Silk is the Next Reinforceing Fiber

I've discussed recently the study of biomimicry, and where the composites industry can look at nature to further advance technology.

Here is a fascinating Wired magazine article, discussing how 70 researchers spent 4 years manually collecting spider silk from Golden Orb spiders (as seen above) in Madagascar. They wove the silk into a beautiful textile... Truly amazing.

Spider silk is one of the strongest materials known to man, with properties far exceeding high-grade steel and aramid fibers. The fiber is also extremely elastic. Researchers across the world have tried to copy the the production method of spider silk, but are not yet successful. Spiders are able to take a liquid solution of chemicals and compounds, and under extremely high pressure, extrude their silk. Scientists are able to duplicate the liquid, but not the spiders manufacturing process.

Could you imagine composite armor made from spider silk?

Photo Credit: aussiegall via flicker

Keep an eye on Schweiter Technologies

As you have probably heard by now, Rio Tinto has sold off Alcan Composites for $349 million to Swiss textile and coating machinery manufacturer Schweiter Technologies.

It looks as if Schweiter received a pretty good deal as Alcan Composites had 2008 sales of $859 million.

As the largest supplier of balsa and other core products, it will be interesting to see what Schweiter's plans will be...

More Info:
Rio Tinto Announcement
Schweiter Announcement

Photo Credit: jfrancis via flicker