On Monday, May 17, 2021 webinar attendees heard from:
Andrew Maxey, CEO, Vartega – Sustainable carbon fiber for the masses
Vartega is making carbon fiber more accessible to more industries by solving the world’s toughest advanced materials recycling challenges. By focusing on low energy recycling processes, novel material formats, and simplifying complex supply chain dynamics, Vartega is able to connect a captive supply in the waste stream to an unmet demand for low-cost carbon fiber downstream. In this presentation, Vartega will highlight some recent applications and success stories in sporting goods and additive manufacturing.
Dr. Ramki Subramanian, Managing Director, DowAksa USA – Introducing XForge™ from DowAksa
DowAksa has been working on a series of compelling materials based on their cost-advantaged carbon fiber. Their new range of offerings – Xforge™ – will comprise of both thermoset and thermoplastic materials. This presentation will give a brief introduction to some select XForge™ offerings and their value proposition to the target industries.
Dr. Doug Adams, Daniel F. Flowers Professor, Distinguished Professor & Chair, Civil & Environmental Eng. Professor of Mechanical Eng. at Vanderbilt University – Novel uses for thermal imaging in large part fabrication: Seeing the unseen
Composites advance quickly, so Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) must innovate to keep up. NDE is a critical technology for encouraging the widespread adoption of composites by informing decisions that ensure the safe and cost-effective use of composite materials. Usually, NDE is applied after flaws are already present in the material resulting in NDE being thought of as a “test” that needs to be passed instead of a “tool” for ensuring that composites are safe and cost-effective. In this presentation, we ask if it is possible to look for flaws as they form in the composite manufacturing process so we can eliminate flaws in the first place. This is demonstrated by using thermal imaging cameras to monitor a resin transfer molding process as a composite spar cap is fabricated for a wind turbine blade. By combining thermal imaging with advanced data analysis, problems with the manufacturing process are detected.
