New generation materials RSS

This article is a short description of the new technologies we are using at Ultimate Jets and Enata Aerospace for 3D printing. I have worked extensively with SLA laser 3D printers for several years. As such I have developed a good knowledge of the material available on the market for UAV and RC jets use. We have been laser printing most of our scale accessories for quite a while now, like instrument panels, antennas and probes, pitot tubes and ejection seat. However, I have also selected resins that are close to the properties of ABS for more structural components like...

This is an article about an incredible material that we are starting to distribute. It represents a huge chemical engineering breakthrough: the chemists of Henkel have managed to create a glue that is a mix of CA and structural epoxy. The name of the product is Loctite 4090. This is an impressive product for the following reason: it provides the advantages of both CA glue and epoxy: It sets to a medium hard compound within about 3 minutes and provides decent fixture in that frame of time.. It can be accelerated with CA kicker for instant fixture and sets to...

This is an article about the latest ( although not new ) generation of fabrics used in the aerospace industry.   These are called non crimp fabrics and are available in uni directional or multi axial combinations. These fabrics are not woven in a conventional way. They are made of several layers of uni-directional fibers ( glass, carbon, kevlar and other ) stitched together in several directions. The process used is to take flat ribbons of uni directional fibers that are enzymed together and carefully stitch/ glue them in flat panels. These panels are then laid up on top of...

This is a short post to talk about a product that I am about to place on our web site.It is a series of plates in different thickness and density made from a 3D honeycomb fabric.   I have used that fabric for about 3 years now with great success on quite a few projects.The 3D fabric is woven in honeycomb pattern. The 2 mm thickness is given by a glass micro sphere structure embedded in the waving and enzymed in position.The fabric has got some specific advantages compared to Aramid honeycomb and Airex.1. It is respectively 2 time and...

I have been developing a new material I called NEFCAR ( Novolac Epoxy Filament with CARbon ) that has been specifically designed to my requirements. Tests have been successfully ongoing for several weeks now. The filament is a blend of Epoxy Phenol Novolac ( EPN ) and poly-DL-lactide resin developed in Japan. http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/polylactic+resin The resin acts as a latent hardener and combines to EPN at high temperature. The biggest challenge was to find the right printing bed and nozzle temperature that would allow the material to cool down slowly enough to allow the nano carbon fibers to align along each...