CW Talks: The Composites Podcast

Infrastructure in the U.S., particularly, the deterioration of a number of bridges in the country has been in large topic of discussion in recent years, with the bipartisan infrastructure law designating nearly $400 billion in infrastructure investments, with around $40 billion of that earmarked for bridge repair. The recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland due to a shipping container accident, sparked a new round of discussion about bridge repairs. In this installment of CW Talks, CompositesWorld interviews fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites manufacturer Creative Composites Group’s business development manager Scott Reeve and sales manager of waterfront solutions Corey Sechler about the company’s use of composite materials in infrastructure rehabilitation projects, including bridges and waterfront structures.

Sustainability has become an increasingly important topic for the composites industry, with increasing demand, especially from OEMs, for sustainable business practices. Sustainability includes many areas of focus with one important area being the use of biomaterials. In this installment of CW Talks, we interview Dr Andy West, chief chemist with Sonichem, about the company’s unique process for converting biomass into lignin, as well as other biomaterials of interest for composites manufacturing.  

The recycling of composite wind blades from wind turbines is a topic of much debate in the composites community and in sustainable energy discussions. In the latest episode of CW Talks, we explore a new approach aimed at the reclaim and upcycling of some of these materials when the wind blade reaches its end of life. Professor Alan Banks, innovation and industrial engagement supervisor at Ford Motor Company’s Dunton Technical Center in the UK, discusses Ford’s involvement with the EMPHASIZING project, a UK consortium working to develop a material from recycled glass fiber with mechanical properties superior to virgin glass, but at a price point lower than carbon fiber. 

This episode of CW Talks coincides with the 30th anniversary of the CompositesWorld brand. The first issue of High-Performance Composites, one of two magazines that would eventually merge into CW magazine, debuted in September of 1993. As part of CW’s anniversary celebration, we sat down with CW publisher and brand vice president Jeff Sloan to hear about the history of the magazine, its place in the industry and some of the industry milestones of the past few decades.

In the wake of the loss of the OceanGate Titan submersible, there was much discussion and speculation about the materials used to manufacture the vehicle. Many pointed to the use of carbon-fiber as a potential source of failure, yet there has been a good deal of success in the use of the material for undersea applications including pressure vessels and unmanned submersibles.  In this episode of CW Talks, we sit down with two representatives from Composite Energy Technologies Inc., a Bristol, RI based company that manufactures a wide range of composite structures from racing sailboats to architectural designs to theme park ride vehicles to defense applications including deep-sea submersibles.  Chase Hogoboom, president and TJ Perrotti, senior Naval architect and chief design engineer discuss their experience working with the U.S. Navy on submersible designs and the rigorous testing that goes into the use of carbon fiber for undersea applications.       

In episode 40 of CW Talks: The Composites Podcast, Jeff Sloan, editor-in-chief of CompositesWorld sits down with Sarah Cox, Materials Engineer at NASA. Sarah has worked for NASA for more than 18 years and has experience applying advanced materials to space structures. Jeff talks to Sarah about her education, how she came to NASA and how she helped guide composites use there.

Consultant Joe Fox talks about the massive potential for composites use in infrastructure applications and what it will take to turn that potential into reality.

Alan Hiken, COO of Kane Robotics, talks about historic, current and future composites use in aircraft fuselage structures and the role of automation in next-gen manufacturing environments.

Ian Wilson, CEO of Develop and Supply In-Sync (DASIS), talks about his history as a CNC specialist for Formula One and his introduction to composites manufacturing.

IACMI’s Dale Brosius and Uday Vaidya talk about the first five years of the organization, how it has evolved and what the future might hold as IACMI continues its quest to help drive composite materials and process growth.

CW Talks visits with Lisa Ketelsen, head of thermoplastic composites and CEO of Maezio at Covestro. Ketelsen talks about her path to Covestro and the Maezio product line, Maezio’s attributes and applications, and how she sees thermoplastic composites evolving in the marketplace.

Carmelo Lo Faro, president of Solvay Composite Materials, talks about how he sees aerocomposites evolving in the time of COVID-19, the rise of computational power to evolve composites use, the prospects for increased composites use in the automotive market, and the increasing importance of education in the composites industry.

CW Talks checks in with Ethan Escowitz, co-founder and CEO of Arris Composites, to learn about the Additive Molding technology his company has developed.

CW Talks catches up with Gregg Balko, CEO of SAMPE since 2004, before his retirement on July 1, 2020.

Rhode Island Commerce director of business development John Riendeau discusses how the state’s legacy experience in boat building has translated into expertise in new markets within the composites industry.

Composites industry veteran and marketing advisor Gary Sharpless discusses his more than 35 years in the industry and his current advisory roles with Concordia Fibers and Boston Materials.

Prodrive Composite’s John McQuilliam discusses the company’s primary to tertiary (P2T) carbon fiber composite recycling process.

Vartega’s Andrew Maxey discusses carbon fiber waste, carbon fiber recovery, and the still-growing market for recovered fibers.

Elevated Materials’ CEO Ryan Olliges and CTO Jaysen Harris discuss the company’s mission and unique approach to keeping carbon fiber out of the landfill.

Achim Fischereder, director of sales and marketing for the automotive business segment at Hexcel, discusses the state of composites in cars and trucks today and the outlook for the future.