@Ann: Thanks for this article. It would be interesting to know more about the composition of the hybrid metallic blade, although I'm sure that since it's a proprietary design, Pratt and Whitney may not be forthcoming with the details. From what I've read on some other websites, the blade is made from a composite, but has a titanium leading edge, along with metallic cross-ply reinforcement. (This is why it's called a "hybrid"). Interestingly enough, this is something that Pratt and Whitney has been working on since the 1970s.
Dave, I also wish we could have gotten more detail about the nature of the hybrid metallic material. Like those other sources, we do mention here that the blade has a titanium leading edge. It's possible that "hybrid metallic" means including plastic composites, but from what I've seen, that term can also mean metal-plus-ceramic, or multiple metals, or some combination of the above.
I'd also like to see how much more efficient this new engine is. It would be interesting to understand how much more fuel this new design would save over the older design it is replacing.
It's still just a guess that the composites are woven or even that they include fiber; that's not been verified. It's worth considering, though, that composites have been used for wind turbine blades, although the stresses involved are obviously quite different.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
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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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