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It's Just String & Glue. This is a newsletter about composites, the strings, the glues, and the business.


Sustainability in the Composites Raw Material Supply Chain
#composites, #sustainability, #rawmaterials, #greenmaterials, #naturalfibers, #naturalresins I’m going back to what I wrote about a couple of weeks ago – the recommendations for the composites industry that I have in my upcoming book. I promised that I would deal with each part of the industry in turn until I got all the way to the recyclers, talking about where we are today and what I see as a path to sustainability that each piece of the industry can take. From https://act
Mar 2510 min read


DARPA is Looking to Convert Ag Waste into Useful Stuff
#composites, #sustainability, #agwaste, #forestproductswaste, #woodwaste, #DARPA I know I promised to talk about my upcoming book in this and the next few posts, but I saw such an interesting article on LinkedIn on March 2 (last Monday) from DARPA of all places that I had to write about it. I’ll weave the book back in a bit later in this post after I describe what I saw from DARPA. Fleetwood Project – DARPA Biological Technologies Office March 2, 2026 The article is about an
Mar 118 min read


Sustainable Composite Materials, A Roadmap to a Circular Economy
#composites, #sustainability, #circulareconomy, #roadmap, #bookwriting I got the proofs for my book last week, and over the weekend I put together the index and got it back to my publisher. That is the last task I have to do before it goes to print. I did look over the proofs, found a couple of typos (best to find those now) and suggested moving some figures around so that they line up with the text better, so now it is up to my publisher. The book is 200 pages long, so it
Mar 49 min read


A Word about Vitrimers – A Thermoset That Can Act Like a Thermoplastic
#composites, #sustainability, #vitrimer, #recyclableresin, #biocomposite, #bioresins I have been seeing articles in several different things that I read about a new class of polymers that is rather intriguing. These polymers are called “vitrimers”. Polymers that were processable by covalent bond exchange reactions (movable and reconfigurable covalent crosslinks) were developed initially in the 1990’s at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). James Economy’s gr
Feb 257 min read


Read Any Good Books Lately?
#composites, #textiles, #naturalfibers, #bioresins, #historyofcomposites I read a really good book this last week about the history of textiles. The title of the book is “The Fabric of Civilization, How Textiles Made the World” by Virginia Postrel. This book is a number one bestseller that my wife bought for all of us in the family to read. It was recommended by John and Hank Green, the Vlog Brothers who also are the creators of the Crash Course series of educational YouTu
Jan 207 min read


Is this the Answer? Fully Bio-Based Completely Recyclable Composites
#composites, #sustainability, #biocmoposites, #lactate, #plantfibers, #bioresins A really interesting article popped up in a feed that I...
Jul 29, 20258 min read


Some New and Weird (Maybe?) Plant-Based Textiles that Might End Up in Composites
#composites, #sustainability, #plantbased, #mushroomfiber, #pineapplefiber, #bananafiber, #seaweed My wife sent me a SciShow link this...
Jul 15, 20257 min read


Biocomposites on Airplanes – Coming Soon to Your Flight
#composites, #sustainability, #biocomposites, #plantbased, #fibers, #resins You heard me right, both of the major transport aircraft...
Jul 2, 20255 min read


Fully Plant-Based Epoxy Resins - Are They Going Commercial?
#composites, #sustainability, #plantbased, #rbioresin, #resins One of the things that I wrote about in the book that I have coming out is...
Jun 2, 20256 min read


Hodgepodge of Recycled and Renewable Composites Applications
#composites, #sustainability, #recycling, #recycledfiber, #plantbased, #biocomposite This week is going to be sort of a hodgepodge of...
Apr 21, 20257 min read


Cellulose as the New Plastic – Can it Help with the Microplastics Problem?
#composites, #sustainability, #cellulose, #plastic, #biodegradable, #microplastics, #ocean I came across a really interesting article in...
Apr 14, 20259 min read


Sustainability – A Look at Energy Efficiency in Composites Manufacturing
#composites, #sustainability, #energyefficiency, #renewableenergy, #fibermanufacture, #resinmanufacture This week I thought I would touch...
Apr 7, 202510 min read


Recycled Thermoplastics and Recycled Fibers – a Pretty Good Mix
#composites, #sustainability, #thermoplastics, #recycledfibers, #recycledresin I saw an article in Composites World this week that I...
Mar 31, 20257 min read


What’s Happening in Plant-Based Composites?
#composites, #sustainability, #biocomposite, #naturalfibers, #plantbasedresins, #plantbased I have written about biocomposites, plant...
Mar 26, 20257 min read


Part 2 of PFAS and Microplastics – Epoxy Resin Production
#composites, #toxicchemicals, #epoxy, #bpa, #epichlorohydrin, #bisphenol-a, #resin As promised, this week I’m going to write about the...
Feb 25, 20257 min read


How Do We Tell if Reclaimed Composite Materials are Good Enough
#composites, #sustainability, #certification, #recycledfiber, #recycledresin, #recycling, #reclaimedfiber, #reclaimedresin I’ve seen some...
Jan 13, 20255 min read


A Bit More about Recyclable, Recycled, Plant Based Composites and Boats
#composites, #sustainability, #fibers, #resins, #biobased, #naturalfiber, #plantbased First I want to wish everyone a great holiday. ...
Dec 23, 20247 min read


Connecting the Dots Between String and Glue and Precision Fermented Food
#composites, #sustainability, #precisionfermentation, #biobased, #plantbased Ever since I was introduced to this topic I have been...
Nov 25, 20248 min read


Precision Fermentation – it’s Not Just for Yogurt (or Beer?) – A Journey into Biotech for Composites
#composites, #precisionfermentation, #sustainability, #epoxy, #fibers, #resins, #biobased I was introduced to a really interesting...
Nov 12, 20246 min read


Highlighting Companies in the Sustainable, Recyclable Composites Business
#composites, #sustainability, #recycling, #fibers, #resins, #biobased, #naturalfiber, #plantbased My last few posts about sustainability...
Nov 5, 20248 min read

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