While environmental protection isn’t likely the first thing that comes to mind when talking about composite tooling, they are indeed deeply intertwined within one another. Attempts to reduce the impact on the environment will rely upon good materials and precision tooling. This makes composites a huge part of the solution to many environmental issues that are on the table today.
Now that environmental research is repaying the favor via knowledge that is developed at the polar ice caps which feed back into composite design, improvements are only a step away.
The Future Of Composites
As composite materials are made and used, they have become more and more sophisticated and now feature many kinds of technology that is aimed at helping the environment. Between wind turbines to the latest hybrid cars, composites are changing the world for the better and it’s always changing and improving.
In order to accommodate the ever changing world of automobiles, and keep up with fuel economy regulations, many are turning to hybrid cars as a way to economize on fuel and follow regulatory changes to are intended to improve the environment. Improving the environment is the goal and fuel efficiency is always a plus to commuters. Providing corporate fleets is a huge part of the auto industry today and the government use this bit of detail to hand manufacturers more and more business.
Regulations require more economical cars and composite materials are going to have to be utilized in order to play out this response. Walking hand in hand, we can change the environment by how we drive and what we drive.
Perhaps the easiest way for manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency is to reduce the weight. Simply shrinking cars or simply removing features may not be enough. Drivers want sleek cars that fit medium sized families while still retaining fuel economy. Thanks to advances in composite use, more manufacturers are building lighter and more fuel economical cars without having to sacrifice style or size.
Composites Have A Good Future
Simultaneously, research has been designed that helps to protect the environmental concerns as scientists develop more composites.
A professor of Mathematics from the University of Utah, Ken Golden, has utilized math to better understand polar ice caps and how global warming acts on them. Not your normal math equation, Golden has taken time to drill cores from the Arctic ice and then to see how they are structured.
Salt transforms sea ice which makes it very different from rivers and ponds or even a drink. It’s porous which lets sea water move through it. Understanding how this functions has helped Golden to understand more about our changing environment.
His research isn’t just helpful to understand the world we’re living in, it’s also helpful for shaping it as well. Sea Ice is structured very similarly to many composite materials and the mathmatical formula has helepd to develop a model proving that it has many other applications. By monitoring osteoporosis in the human fighter jets were better designed. Golden’s mathematic research has reached far and wide and includes many potential developments within composites.
Environmentalism and Manufacturing Indeed Go Hand In Hand
Skeptics often dismiss environmental research as wasting money which could be invested more successfully in many other areas. The relationship between researchers and composite materials has shown that skeptics are really the ones who are wasting their breath. By improving knowledge of materials no one is really wasting their time.
Professor Golden is learning more and more from the arcic ice and that in turn will help to improve composites. These materials will be used to improve environmental technology for tomorrow.
The journey from icecaps to hybrid cars is one that has taken composites to new levels.
Citations:
- More information on composite materials.
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Amy Rice writes about composite materials, when not writing she enjoys horse riding and swimming.
