Composite Fabrics of America is now AS9100 Rev D certified

CFA meets composite fabrics aerospace standardsWe’re excited to announce that we are certified to AS9100 Rev D.

AS9100 is the international management system standard for the Aircraft, Space and Defense (AS&D) industry. The standard provides suppliers with a comprehensive quality system for providing safe and reliable products to the aerospace industry. AS 9100 also addresses civil & military aviation requirements.

It contains the actual requirements an organization must be in compliance with to become AS9100 registered. If the organization creates a Quality Management Systemwhich meets these requirements they can seek AS9100 Registration, resulting in their “AS9100 Certificate”. Specifically, AS9100 is an SAE document (managed by the IAQG) that defines requirements for the AS9100 Quality Management System Standard. It is based upon ISO 9001.
Source: AS9100Store.com

Our carbon fiber and composite materials continue to provide innovative solutions for aerospace.

If you’re looking for a design and development partner for any aerospace project, contact mailto:dshippee@cfamills.com?subject=Inquiring about composite fabrics for aerospace, contact David Shippee.

Navy Licenses New Resin for Commercial Use

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has announced that it will be licensing a new NRL developed PEEK-like phthalonitrile (PN) resin system. Key points of the new PN resin include:

  • Superior flame resistance
  • High temperature – remains strong up to 500 deg. C
  • Low water absorption
  • indefinite shelf life without refrigeration
  • easily used out of autoclave

This resin is suitable for the construction of composite components for aerospace, marine, structural, wind energy, robotic, and numerous other applications by established manufacturing techniques including RTM, RIM, filament winding, and prepreg.

Click HERE for full article

 

Time to Modernize Infrastructure Thinking in NC?

The North Carolina Chamber is addressing the cost of continuing to rely on old fashioned thinking when it comes to infrastructure.

“Can infrastructure be built the old-fashioned way? And if new infrastructure isn’t built, do we all pay in some other way?” asks NC State University Economist Dr. Mike Walden. Which is an interesting question considering each car owner incurs about $1,700/year loss in wasted time and money according to the article. Walden notes that current gas tax funding isn’t sufficient to sustain the old way of thinking about infrastructure investment….perhaps it is time for North Carolina to embrace a modern perspective on infrastructure repair using advanced composite materials including carbon fiber and high performance resins?

Read the full article HERE

Interest in Biobased Fibers Growing

Composites Manufacturing Magazine, November 2014

Plant based fibers used in composite reinforcing are expected to increase 11.2% in the next five years according to a study by market research firm Lucintel. There are a few key factors driving this growth- Lucintel notes that, “the automotive industry is among the largest users of all natural fiber composite applications”. Additionally, the USDA is keeping tabs on developments through the BioPreferred program, which is a federally mandated federal procurement program that requires government entities to purchase biobased products.
Read Full Story Here

Architects Warm to Composites

Composites World, October 2014:

Changes made by the ICC to the International Building Code(IBC) in 2009 are starting to yield some impressive design innovations by allowing more use of FRP in new construction.

Most notably, architects for the recent expansion at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art were able to eliminate 1 million pounds of structural steel by incorporating FRP.

Click here to read more.

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA APPLIES CARBON FIBER TO TUNNEL

tunnel
Photo: University of Arizona

Carbon fiber fabric is like flexible, versatile steel when used to help protect a pedestrian tunnel on the University of Arizona campus. Explorer News reports:

Ten feet beneath the pavement where students walk and bike on their way to class, workers clad in yellow protection suits, goggles and disposable gloves crowd inside a tunnel, attaching what appears to be wallpaper to the inside. But the sheets they’re tacking up are not paper and the adhesive they’re using is not glue. They are affixing woven carbon fiber mats soaked in epoxy resin, which drips from the ceiling as they work. When it’s dry, the layer they have applied will fortify the tunnel with a strength greater than steel.

Developed at the UA as a way of retrofitting buildings and structures against earthquakes, the carbon fiber lining is being used in a pilot project to restore and reinforce a utility tunnel that runs between the Student Union Memorial Center to the Chemical Sciences building, 850 feet across the Mall.

READ FULL STORY HERE.