In my yonger days I sailed Hoby 16 catamarans. Lots of fun and very exciting if we happened to flip it over.
I saw some pics once of a catamaran hydrofoil sailboat. I understand this is the fastest possible racing sailboat. The minimal configuration would appear to be a wing, a hull that barely floats and foils to lift and control the hull attitude. When foil borne the hull, what there is of it, is lifted just out of the water and presents the lowest possible drag. I would think with a little more engineering active foils could adjust to maintain the optimum hull attitude. A carbon composite wing would provide the best lift or thrust in this case.
With ultra low drag from the hull while on foils it should beat anything in the water powered by wind.
It was great fun watching the AC40s last week at Plymouth. Every one of them capsized at one time over the week. Following a capsize a crew dropped through the wing sail as if it was paper!
Where composites is really needed is in the car industry. I have a composite body/chassis that is stronger by a fair amount yet weighs just 235lbs, less than 50% of what it would in weaker steel. Sadly only Ferrari, McLaren and a few other high end build them that way.
Saving that 250 lbs tough saved me weight in brakes, wheels, motor, controller, battery pack by 40% or so thus easily make composites worth it to make cost effective EV's as it cuts the EV's cost 30-40% to build for the same performance.
Besides EV's I do windgenerators and boats where I learned composites and how you mix up some stuff, make it into the desired shape, wait a while and you have 2 lb part that can take a 10 ton load.
Sailboats, yachts, major aircraft, and wind turbine blades--all areas where we are seeing huge advances in terms of applying composite materials and development practices to power leading edge designs. Leave it Larry Ellison to back a team that is building what looks to be the biggest and fasting wing-sail on record and to challenge the traditional Ameria's Cup set. Is that really a surprise?
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Inspired by the hooks a parasitic worm uses to penetrate its host's intestines, the Karp Lab has invented a flexible adhesive patch covered with microneedles that adheres well to wet, soft tissues, but doesn't cause damage when removed.
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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