A Brooklyn, NY, researcher has created a plastic made from plants such as corn or soybeans that can be used as a biodiesel fuel. The finding may have particularly significance to the US Army which has been researching new field ration packaging that is lighter, more efficient and contributes less to waste in the field. The new bioplastic is described as stronger than polyethylene and could be used as a vehicle fuel source after rations are consumed. Dr. Richard Gross, director of Polytechnic University’s National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing of Macromolecules (CBBM), made the discovery, and is receiving a $2.34 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Next: Efforts will be made to make the process less costly.
A new process for laser-welding large-scale, steel-aluminum foam sandwich structures for lightweighting ships, which eliminates intermetallic phase, has been demonstrated.
A major advance in repairing composite structures combining robots and lasers bodes well for commercial aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350XWB, which contain composites in large proportions of their structures.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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