SWITCHING FROM METAL The previous enclosure door was fabricated using metal, resulting in an overweight door that caused a tipping issue when the machine was being restocked and required additional counterbalance for safe operation. This made moving the machine difficult so an lighter weight alternative was sought. CONVERTED COMPOSITE ENCLOSURE The customer required a composite solution that was a direct …

Watch a demonstration of how Hawthorn Composites can create a co-cured wing structure using a combination of dry carbon fiber application & overbraiding, liquid infusion, and Smart Tools. Hawthorn Composites delivers high value complex composites by deploying low cost materials with liquid infusion and novel manufacturing methods. This combination significantly lowers labor and material costs while maintaining structural integrity and …

02/01/2021 (Dayton – OH) Hawthorn Composites, the Dayton-based manufacturer of high performance, complex geometry, structural composites was awarded a structural inlet duct manufacturing contract from Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. to provide twelve inlet ducts for the XQ-58A Valkyrie platform. The twelve structural inlet ducts will be made using Smart Tooling’s shape memory polymer (SMP) tooling, combined with overbraiding …

PROBLEM –Fabricate a 52” long by 12” diameter inlet duct for a tactical UAV at a lower cost than hand applied carbon pre-preg and an autoclave cure while maintaining equal performance and quality. OPPORTUNITY – Drive down overall cost without impacting performance by delivering a composite inlet duct using dry carbon fiber and epoxy resin infusion with an oven cure. SOLUTION – The tactical …

01/19/2021 (Dayton – OH) Dayton-based Spintech Holdings, Inc. announces the opening of a new composites manufacturing business division named Hawthorn Composites. This new division extends Spintech Holdings’ composite capabilities beyond the existing Smart Tooling division that provides formable & reusable composite tooling solutions for complex geometry composites. Hawthorn Composites specializes in manufacturing complex geometry composite parts using novel dry fiber …

Find out how switching from carbon fiber prepreg to resin transfer molding (RTM) can save 67% per composite fuselage PROBLEM – Fabricate a 1/2 scale UAV fuselage at a significantly lower cost with highly similar weight, performance, and quality OPPORTUNITY – Switch to lower cost materials, out-of-autoclave cure, while deploying novel manufacturing technology SOLUTION – Dry carbon fiber socks, liquid …