A unique carbon fiber structure that achieves the strength and durability of steel tower alternatives at 90% less weight and a lower total installed cost, providing affordable carbon fiber telecommunication towers that are engineered for peak strength to weight performance wherein the carbon fiber structure is a vertical elongated tower body of decreasing area with an internal installation shaft provided therein to house one or more radio base stations wherein the tower may be made of multiple cylindrical or cone shaped hollow segments with a shaved upper portion whereby the segments are created with carbon fiber and fiberglass hoop windings.

A composite laminate such as a hat-type stringer is formed on a contoured mandrel using a combination of mechanical sweeping and vacuum forming.

The present disclosure relates to the development of high performance light weight carbon fiber fabric-electrospun carbon nanofibers hybrid polymer composites and a process thereof. In this process continuous carbon nanofiber sheets of diameter in the range of few hundred nanometers are developed from electrospun PAN nanofibers and sandwich between the carbon fiber fabric epoxy resin prepregs to develop hybrid polymer composites by compression molding technique with low content of carbon fibers.

A method for fabricating vacuum tooling is disclosed using porous granular media. A sheet of steel webbing is affixed to a frame. A plurality of layers of fiberglass is affixed to the webbing. A vacuum port is installed through the webbing and plurality of layers of fiberglass. A granular media is mixed with epoxy to form a granular mixture. The granular mixture is layered over the plurality of layers of fiberglass to form a flat surface and machined for uniformity before sealing.

Provided is a method of manufacturing a carbon fiber sheet molding compound, the method including: performing sizing treatment on a carbon fiber using a sizing agent; cutting the sizing-treated carbon fiber into pieces; spraying the pieces of carbon fiber onto a first resin coated on a surface of a first carrier sheet; and uniting together a second resin coated on a second carrier sheet and a surface of the first resin, wherein the sizing agent, the first resin, and the second resin include the same compounds.

A steering knuckle comprising a bearing connection interface (formed by a sleeve element) for connecting a wheel bearing to the steering knuckle and further connection interfaces (formed by a bracket for connection of a ball joint) for connecting the steering knuckle to an upper and lower vehicle suspension control arm. A sleeve element bore is adapted to one of receive a wheel bearing outer ring or serve as the outer ring. The sleeve element and the bracket are joined by a composite body comprising a fiber-reinforced material. The fiber-reinforced material comprises a long fiber molding compound is overmolded to a first (sleeve element) joining surface and to a second (bracket) joining surface. The first joining surface is a radially outer surface thereof. The long-fiber molding compound flows into a recessed portion of the first joining surface for mechanically locking the sleeve element to the composite body in an axial direction.

The present invention relates to the use of a thermosetting polymeric powder composition in a Selective Laser Sintering process to produce a 3D duroplast, wherein the composition comprises at least one curable polymeric binder material and wherein during each pass of the SLS process said polymeric binder material is at least partially cured within the layer thus formed and also at least partially crosslinked with the previous layer. The invention furthermore relates to a SLS process using such a thermosetting polymeric powder composition and a 3D-printing product obtained when using such a thermosetting polymeric powder composition.

A method for fabricating vacuum tooling is disclosed using porous granular media. A sheet of steel webbing is affixed to a frame. A plurality of layers of fiberglass is affixed to the webbing. A vacuum port is installed through the webbing and plurality of layers of fiberglass. A granular media is mixed with epoxy to form a granular mixture. The granular mixture is layered over the plurality of layers of fiberglass to form a flat surface and machined for uniformity before sealing.

A method for fabricating vacuum tooling is disclosed using porous granular media. A sheet of steel webbing is affixed to a frame. A plurality of layers of fiberglass is affixed to the webbing. A vacuum port is installed through the webbing and plurality of layers of fiberglass. A granular media is mixed with epoxy to form a granular mixture. The granular mixture is layered over the plurality of layers of fiberglass to form a flat surface and machined for uniformity before sealing.

Transportation matting for traversing soft ground surfaces, such as beaches and muddy roads, is provided. The matting is thin, rollable, and lightweight (in some embodiments, about 1 lb/ft.sup.2) and has a convoluted configuration with alternating peaks and valleys formed from mats of a fiber reinforced polymer composite material. The matting is coilable with a preload by which the matting tends to unroll and lay flat, while retaining relatively high compliance or ease of roll-up when recovered.