At the AT-AT’s birth: the improvising of a ‘Star Wars’ icon | Carbon Laminated Scrims Fabric For Building

Toward the back of the building is another mold, and beyond that, two more housed in an expansion built a few years ago. There’s a carbon-rich medium headsail for a Swan 50 squeezed in a vacuum bag and a massive downwind reaching sail for a 60-footer.

And startlingly low-tech shortcuts were common. At one point, the animators added two more walkers to a scene with photo cutouts.

The focus on reducing weight and cost is one of the drivers for the adoption of the new material, but in some cases a vehicle may have a sound problem that has to be solved.  In these cases, the company says, a properly selected AFR facing can significantly improve that acoustic absorption of the part. The physics based solution offers the acoustic engineer some flexibility to tailor the part to focus the acoustic absorption on mid to high frequency ranges. 

At first, Lockwood’s customers wanted a way to increase marginally the structural capacity of galvanized steel monopole towers, which are located, for the most part, in urban locations. The monopoles, hollow steel tubes up to 200 ft/61.5m tall, range from 3 to 5 ft (0.9m to 1.5m) in diameter. Comptek’s solution was to bond to the tower a precured pultruded carbon fiber laminate, using structural adhesive. Laminate locations were identified by modeling (described below). This eliminated the risk of igniting the heavy coaxial cables inside the pole and increased tower load capacity, which allowed tower operators to install additional cell phone transmission equipment. But as the work evolved over several years, and as customers demanded much greater structural capacities on their towers — an additional 50 to as much as 100 percent — the laminates had to be thicker, which added considerable cost due to the high volume of carbon needed to achieve the necessary stiffness. Today, Aero Solutions deploys carbon fiber solutions teamed with bolted-on steel plate, he relates, when the higher capacity is required.

“With the global textiles industry set for continued growth, this complementary acquisition brings together two of the most well-regarded names in the reinforcement textiles industry and continues to demonstrate the resilience of the UK industrials sector post the Brexit vote,” commented Philip Barker, partner and Head of Industrials at Cavendish Corporate Finance, which advised James Dewhurst Group on the sale.

The Farr 400 offers Grand Prix racing performance, including high-end carbon composite construction and equipment, reduced drag, increased speed and improved handling. It benefits from the most advanced computer-aided design. Source: Premier Composite Technologies

The company’s main focuses are on customised products, high end, specialised products, recyclable/recycled products, integrated features, and intelligent textiles.

Graf estimates that approximately 31.75 kg of weight is initially removed from the car by replacing the body panels with CFRP body panels. “Of course, we add back weight with our bumper and support system.” 

Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. (Columbus, Ohio) displayed new products for the automotive composites market, including EPIKOTE Binder System 620, a one-component, crosslinkable powder binder that can be applied to carbon or glass fibers and fabrics in a hot-melt coating process. At a softening temperature that ranges from 80°C to 90°C (175°F to 194°F), the binder exhibits excellent workability and drapability, allowing easy preforming. During cure, the binder crosslinks to ensure good stiffness for subsequent molding in automotive mass production lines. Also on display were previously announced products for fast mass production: EPIKURE 05500 fast-cure epoxy and EPIKOTE binder 04695-1/EPIKURE 05490A curing agent for Class A composite parts that are made with gap impregnation RTM.

Practical Concerns The mesh-like upholstery is the least refined of the bunch. Like the Kai and Oasis, no assembly or inflating is required. Simply toss in the pool and kick back. $100, brookstone.com

“You can tell the wind direction when you step outside the office,” says Andersson. “If it’s from the east, it’s coffee. If it’s horse shit, that’s the westerly.”

DemeritsCoppola’s largely forgotten 1987 drama Gardens Of Stone could be called a companion piece to Apocalypse Now: Where the earlier film was about madness on the ground in Vietnam, this one is about the bodies that come back to Arlington Cemetery, where members of the Old Guard lay them to rest. Where the earlier film turned the war into a surreal odyssey into the heart of darkness, this one is as straightforward as a three-volley salute. And where the earlier film was urgent, vital, fucked-up, and alive in every frame, this one is austere and inert, obsessed with military rituals that Coppola clearly finds moving but exert no dramatic charge whatsoever. (Imagine the wedding sequence in The Godfather if it were only the wedding and about one-quarter as compelling.) The only signs of life come from the easy camaraderie between James Caan and James Earl Jones as longtime friends who met on the Korean front, share the same love/cynicism about the military, and like to relieve tension with pranks and gallows humor. Contrast that with a brutal turn by D.B. Sweeney as a restless young go-getter who’s determined to fight in Vietnam, no matter how pointless the sacrifice. There’s something touching about Coppola trying to simply, earnestly, and respectfully address the human cost of our misadventures in Vietnam, but Gardens Of Stone plays against his strengths.