Spread-tow technology takes off : CompositesWorld | Chinese Non-Woven Scrims

Advanced StudiesIs there a more curious entry in Coppola’s filmography than 1968’s Finian’s Rainbow? Here was a future iconoclast at 29, firmly embedded in the counterculture, dusting off a 1947 musical featuring a pot of gold and a leprechaun during a tumultuous time for the country. He even dragged the 69-year-old bones of Fred Astaire out of semi-retirement to play a cheery Irish rogue who travels to the whimsical state of Missitucky to bury his gold in Rainbow Valley near Fort Knox, where he expects it to multiply. Yet it would be wrong to dismiss Finian’s Rainbow as a naive piece of Hollywood revivalism, aimed at those seeking to escape to a more innocent time in American culture and movies. Insisting on investing the genre with a more realism—an approach that doesn’t entirely mesh with the airy material—Coppola turns Rainbow Valley into something like a color-free hippie commune, full of bright, singing, dancing denizens whose bliss is threatened by harassing cops, a bigoted senator, and other such materializations of The Man. It doesn’t work as more than a footnote in Coppola’s career—the lone early evidence that he could even handle a production of The Godfather’s scale—but Astaire proves he’s still got it.

After Jack and The Rainmaker drove him deep down the studio well, Coppola didn’t return to filmmaking for a full decade, during which time he labored over (and eventually abandoned) an ambitious project called Megalopolis, produced a few movies for MGM (and his gifted progeny), and explored other ventures in the wine and literary business. When he came back with 2007’s Youth Without Youth, it was entirely on his terms: No longer beholden to Hollywood, Coppola financed the movie himself and enjoyed total creative control, which for an impulsive artist like him can be a mixed blessing. Adapting a novella by Mircea Eliade, a Romanian philosopher and religious historian who occasionally channeled his ideas into fiction, Youth Without Youth follows a 70-year-old linguist (Tim Roth) in 1938 Romania who tries to commit suicide, but gets hit by a lightning bolt that transforms him into a man 30 years younger. His efforts to further his study of the origins of language while pursuing romance make for labored, clunky drama, dogged by Europudding accents and concepts that never take flight. Still, in contrast to something like The Rainmaker, it’s at least a failure of ambition and proof that Coppola had recommitted to finding new forms of cinematic expression.

Adds Matthews, “I think people tend to think of bicycles as simple, nonaerospace parts, but in reality the components and the load paths are very complex and difficult to analyze.” Indeed, the modeling process ultimately identified approximately 350 unique prepreg plies in the entire frame structure.

Sandvik Coromant (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Fair Lawn, N.J.) introduced a new production compression router for carbon fiber composites and other composites where splintering is a common problem. The design of its CoroMill Plura compression end mill combines positive and negative helix angles and offers six effective cutting edges. The unit’s microgeometry is said to allow for close tolerances (less than 4 µm) and high material removal rates. The router is suitable for the automotive market sector and is recommended for use with a minimum material thickness of 6 mm/0.236 inch. Sandvik suggests conventional up milling because it results in less vibration. The company also recommends that users keep the split line in the middle of the material, and users should remember that when the tool cuts across the fibers on the top or bottom surface, there is more splintering than when the tool cuts along the fiber direction.(See Fig. 5.)

4. Apocalypse NowSometimes the circumstances behind the creation of a work of art leave an indelible stain: In order to adapt Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness into a statement on the Vietnam War, Coppola needed to go down that river with his protagonist and allow some of his madness to seep into the movie. Had Apocalypse Now been made on time and on budget with no production hassles, that would have been the true boondoggle.

Schlumberger has introduced Concert well testing live performance technology at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference.

Not that he spends any time on the lake, anyway. Whenever he can break away from the manufacturing of millions of dollars of high-tech sails in the neighboring town of Minden, he’s either crewing on custom raceboats in San Francisco, hitting the slopes of nearby Heavenly Mountain Resort or grinding through two-hour hilly bike rides.

Tippett and Johnston said there were a few small changes from the original blueprints so they could function as puppets — the legs became chunkier for one — but Johnston’s design remained mostly unchanged. The ILM workers said Lucas was supportive throughout production of the "Star Wars" movies, giving them time to experiment, and encouraged innovation.

With no seams or patches anywhere, these sails should furl and unfurl easily and smooth the airflow Credit: Amory Ross/North Sails

Airtech International (Huntington Beach, Calif.) brought several new products: Securlon V-45 is an economical vacuum bagging film suitable for phenolic resins; it is used for commercial autoclave processing, and has a maximum use temperature of 171°C/340°F. Thermalimide E is a high-performance bagging film for cure temperatures up to 426°C/799°F. Thermalimide E RBCS, a film that is treated on both sides with a release coating, can be used for cure cycles up to 405°C/761°F. Flashbreaker PS1 is a high-temperature/high-tensile strength polyester film that is coated with a high-tack, pressure-sensitive silicone adhesive for oven cures up to 204°C/399°F. Wrightlease 2 is a new extruded fluoropolymer pressure-sensitive tape with a silicone adhesive. Toolwright 5 is a thicker version of the same extruded fluoropolymer film, and it is also coated with silicone pressure-sensitive adhesive. Finally, the Airtech Vacuum Test Unit is used to test the vacuum integrity of all Airtech vacuum hoses and valves and the quick disconnect couplings that are attached to them.

Updating an icon: Classic Reflections Coachworks (CRC) operates two shops in Tacoma, WA, US, and a CNC machine shop in Sandy, OR, US. In business since 2001, CRC is capable of 3-D scanning, design, surfacing, cutting master plugs, making tools, fabricating parts, and molding parts with tight tolerances. Source: Classic Reflections Coachworks

Much has changed since then. So when CW accepts an invitation to tour CRC’s main facility and its composite shop, several eye-catching Corvettes parked out front make it easy to spot CRC in the unassuming Tacoma industrial park that houses both facilities. In total, CRC encompasses approximately 2,880m2: the main shop covers about 1,395m2 and 930m2 house the composites shop. Twenty people are employed on a one-shift cycle.