High-Performance Composites

MAY 2014

High-Performance Composites is read by qualified composites industry professionals in the fields of continuous carbon fiber and other high-performance composites as well as the associated end-markets of aerospace, military, and automotive.

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5 6 | H I G H - P E R F O R M A N C E C O M P O S I T E S FEATURE / PLANT TOUR V X Aerospace is an advanced composites company near the Appalachian Mountains in Mor- ganton, N.C., close to a growing composites hub in the Carolinas that is home to several of VX Aero's key suppliers, Chomarat North America (An- derson, S.C.), Materials Innovation Tech- nologies (MIT, Fletcher, N.C.), Highland Industries (Kernersville, N.C.), Saertex USA (Huntersville, N.C.) and, soon, Toray Industries (Tokyo, Japan), which has a new carbon fber plant near Spartanburg, S.C., on the drawing board to support the booming aerocomposites manufacturing base in Charleston, S.C. Although VX Aero designs and manu- factures a wide range of tooling and parts for automotive and heavy-truck applica- tions, and even carbon fber-reinforced composite ceiling fan blades, aerospace structures are its core competency. It is certifed to AS-9100:2009, the "aerospace standard" for quality management and a prerequisite for participation in military and commercial aircraft production. VX Aero's founder and chief engineer, Bob Skillen, is a degreed aerospace en- gineer and ex-U.S. Navy F-14 aviator. His more than 25 years of experience in manufacturing includes tenures in Navy depot operations and on the MIL-Hand- book-5 and NAS standards committees. On his watch, VX Aerospace was the frst composites manufacturer to feld an out- of-autoclave (OOA) part on an active- First to fly C-PLY VX Aerospace founder Bob Skillen poses at the recent JEC Europe 2014 trade show with the quarter-scale KittyHawk. It features wings that smoothly blend into an airfoil-shaped fuselage. It will be the first aircraft to fly C-PLY laminates, and its full-scale version is intended to serve in unmanned civilian or military capacities. VX AEROSPACE: SMALL COMPANY, BIG PERFORMANCE Innovative design, OOA manufacturing and C-PLY laminate construc- tion produce "big fabricator" aerostructures in fewer steps at low cost. Source: JEC/Photographer: Laurent Becot Ruiz BY GINGER GARDINER 0514HPC IM PlantTour-OK.indd 56 4/23/2014 11:33:14 AM

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