The Economist-June 4, 2009

June 4, 2009

BECAUSE they are both strong and lightweight, composite materials made from carbon fibres are the darlings of engineers in the aerospace industry. Unfortunately, such materials deteriorate over time. Wind and rain attack the glue that sticks the layers of carbon fibres together. As a consequence, the layers peel away from one another. Many people have tried to solve this problem, without success. A new method aims to do so by stitching the carbon-fibre layers together...