#composites, #sustainability, #recycling, #reuse, #recycledfiber, #recycledresin This post is the fourth in the series that introduces the ideas spelled out in my second book, just released – “Sustainable Composite Materials: A Roadmap to a Circular Economy”.  In the first three posts I talked about sustainability and circularity in the raw materials supply chain, reducing the carbon footprint in the making of both fiber and resin, and reducing the carbon footprint in the pro

#composites, #sustainability, #energyefficiency, #renewableenergy, #fabrication, #processequipment This week’s newsletter is the third in my series laying out the roadmap to sustainability in composites.  But before I get started, I need to let everyone know that my second book, “Sustainable Composite Materials, A Roadmap to a Circular Economy” is officially released as of April 6 (Monday).  The book covers the watershed of the issue of sustainability for these wonderful mate

#composites, #sustainability, #carbonfootprint, #renewableenergy, #fibers, #resins Last week I wrote about the raw materials for composites and how high their carbon footprint is, primarily because at present most if not all raw materials for advanced composites are based in petroleum – big oil.  This week I want to follow the roadmap outlined in my new book to the next step.  That step is the production process for the fibers and resins that make up modern composites, that i

#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

#composites, #sustainability, #naturalfibers, #autoindustry, #circularity This week I thought I would highlight one of the things I touched on in my second book and also expand a bit on a theme I brought up a few months ago.  The idea is that there is a growing trend in the auto industry to make their products more environmentally friendly as well as easier to recycle when the auto is used up.  This theme is a recurring one in many industries, but since the auto industry uses

#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

#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

#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

#composites, #carbonfiber, #sportsequipment, #winterolympics, #carboncomposites I have been watching the Olympic Games going on in Italy like most of the rest of us.  Sunday a week ago was the men’s Luge competition and thankfully there weren’t any horrible accidents.  That sport is not only exciting it is also nerve racking to watch.  Eighty miles an hour on a little sled barely long enough to hold the slider, going around high banked turns where the smallest mistake could b

#composites, #sustainability, #flaxfiber, #biocomposites, #fibers There appears to be quite a bit of movement in the natural, plant-based fiber business this past week or two.  Two announcements came out in Composites World about companies that are scaling up their flax fiber composite reinforcements business, and another one that I will talk about a bit later about a basalt fiber production facility being built in the Middle East.  New Circular Structures USA Inc. Facility i

#composites, #sustainability, #greenhousegasreduction, #fireproofcomposites, #fibers I saw a couple of interesting tidbits in Composites World this week that piqued my curiosity, so I thought I would dig in a little deeper and write about them and their potential impact on not only sustainability but also the composites business in general.  DEECOM Recycled Fireproof Carbon Composite I’m going to start off with one that intrigued me because of a couple of things.  First, what

#composites, #sustainability, #energyefficiency, #renewableenergy, #fibers, #resins Yes, in fact, a company in Houston called Mars Materials, Inc. which is a public benefit corporation incorporated in Texas, teamed up with the Textile Innovation Engine of North Carolina and NC State University to take CO 2  captured from the atmosphere and ammonia/bio-based feedstocks and turn it into acrylonitrile.  The Textile Innovation Center at NC State tested the Mars material and found

#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

#composites, #sustainability, #rotorsails, #environmentalproductdeclaration, #recycling There has been a bit going on since my last post in 2025, so I thought this week I would catch everyone up with the sustainability initiatives across not only the composites industry itself, but in industries and sectors of the economy that are making heavy use and initial use of composites. Anemoi Rotor Sails on Union Maritime Chemical Tankers – CW 12/26/2025 First I want to talk a bit ab

#composites, #fiberglass, #structural_shapes, #construction, #composites_in_construction In this last post of 2025, I wanted to complete what I started last week and talk about fiberglass being used for structure in the construction industry.  Specifically I want to chat a bit about the evolution of what we have today as standard structural shapes as well as where these products are beginning to replace steel in construction. Fiberglass Roof Truss System Made Using Strongwell

#composites, #sustainability, #rebar, #fiberglass, #frp_rebar, #concrete_reinforcement I thought for this week I would change course a little bit and talk about the construction industry and the application of composites to that industry.  The thing that prompted this is an article in Composites World (12/1/2025) announcing that ACMA – The American Composites Manufacturers Association – has put out what they call a product category rule or PCR for fiberglass rebar.  And for t

#composites, #sustainability, #recycling, #end_of_life_composites, #thermolysis This week I’m going to make my newsletter just a bit shorter than what I did last week with all of the pictures of sailboats that use recycled or natural fibers for primary structure.  There are a couple of fairly newsworthy things that have happened just in the last few weeks that I want to focus on this week.  And I want to also let everyone know that I am going to take a couple of weeks off wri

#racingsailboats, #sustainability, #naturalfiber, #flaxfiber, #bamboofiber, #bioresins I saw an article in Composites World this week about a flax fiber boat manufacturer I wrote about two and a half years ago – Greenboats – that has been building recreational sailboat hulls since about 2020 using flax fiber.  They source their flax of course from France which grows more of this stuff than any other country in Europe.  Anyway, the article is about a strategic partnership betw

#composites, #sustainability, #basaltfiber, #basalt, #fibers I have been seeing some interesting posts lately about the application of basalt fibers to all manner of composite material products and parts.  I had not thought much about it until a recent post in Composites World (11/10/2025) talked about a new replacement for steel rebar made from basalt fibers.  For those of you that aren’t rock people or that did not grow up in a part of the country where there were volcanoes

#composites, #sustainability, #energyefficiency, #renewableenergy, #fibers, #resins I received my November Issue of the Composites World magazine (electronically of course) this week and as usual it had a couple of interesting developments in the world of composite materials sustainability, one of which is sort of fun – if you like water sports.  So, I thought I would write about these and a couple of other things that I came across in my information feed about composites.  A