Date: Apr 15, 2012 Source: MDA (
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A proven MDA-funded manufacturing process is leading to lighter and cheaper components for a variety of applications—such as stanchions on ships and parts for airplanes. The process also promises to make the components faster to build.
The process, developed by KaZaK Composites, Inc. (Woburn, MA), takes an oft-used means of producing quality composite components to the next level by enabling the manufacture of larger-scale components with more complex combinations of material and geometry. Typically the process, known as pultrusion, is employed for components that are not too cumbersome and could be handled by humans. But KaZaK's innovation lies in applying pultrusion processes to the manufacture of very large composite parts, along the lines of massive cylinders and ship structures, or sophisticated materials.
KaZaK focuses on fabricating long parts, with constant cross-sections. For example, the company has developed utility poles that weigh one-fourth as much as comparable wood poles, but safely absorb the energy of an impacting vehicle to minimize occupant injury (See MDA TechUpdate, Issue 3, 2006). Kazak's pultrusion technology was originally funded by MDA through a 2004 SBIR Phase II.
Today, the company specializes in composite engineering, especially high-performance composite structures and low-cost automated composite manufacturing. Kazak's capabilities extend from design and analysis through prototyping and manufacturing.
