Plastics

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Carbon fiber reinforced plastics, or CFRPs, are found throughout the aerospace and automotive industries, as well as in high-performance sporting goods, due to their light-weight, high-strength properties.

The importance of plastics was on full display in Orlando this week.

Pick up a material analysis data sheet and you’ll always find tensile testing, and probably flexural testing as well. But depending on the application, don’t hold your breath looking for compressive testing.

Regular tensile testing is important for checking rigid plastics through the entire manufacturing cycle, from the raw material to the forming process and ultimately the production part.

Flexural strength testing has become increasingly important for plastics—especially composite and carbon fiber-reinforced plastics—as structural parts in the aerospace industry are made from these newer materials.

High-energy, large-format industrial CT scanning allows for feasible inspection of larger parts.

How does the surface texture affect the friction between two dry parallel sliding surfaces? It turns out that this problem has challenged some of the greatest minds in science and engineering.