TE Wire & Cable Thermocouple Solutions Blog

Whether you make composite parts for commercial aircraft, defense, automotive or sports, you know why you do what you do and how to do it. That’s why you have clients who trust your products and trust your team to make them to the highest quality every time. 

The good news is chemistry and physics are the same. They'll never change. It really doesn’t matter if you are making barrel section 41 for the Boeing 787, the Predator drone composite wing or a super lightweight Tour de France racing bike. Recipes for production might be different between manufacturers but the end goal is a constant: Make a lightweight structure that can contribute to advancement of aircraft, military and consumer lives.  

TE Wire Signs Licensing Agreement with Cambridge Enterprise for Low-Drift Mineral Insulated Thermocouple Cable Technology

Supports higher accuracy temperature measurements, longer life, improved drift characteristics 

I had the privilege of attending the latest NADCAP meetings in Montreal late in June. Because so many of our customers in both metallurgy and aerospace composites manufacturing require NADCAP certification, I want to be sure we’re on top of all the requirements. So, I regularly attend two or three meetings yearly and sit in on the Composites Task Group.

At the SAMPE Long Beach conference and exhibition this past May, our management and sales team had the chance to speak with various exhibitors and attendees on topics related to the importance and value of proper thermocouple application to aviation and aerospace autoclave manufacturing processes.

No question about it: 2015 has been a very busy year for aerospace composites manufacturers. We have every indication that we'll all be even busier in 2016. In my travels all over the globe, many of the challenges that composites manufacturers face have proven to be universal. Top of the list are improving quality and reducing waste, both of which are extremely important to building a more robust and profitable bottom line.

TE Wire will showcase autoclave thermocouple assemblies for demanding aerospace autoclave applications including a new prototype for invar tool temperature measurement. 

Ever been to a butcher shop where huge slabs of meat are hanging for the customers to see? The butcher wants everyone to think of nothing but a juicy steak cooked to perfection.  Sadly, as any composites manufacturing facilities manager knows, not all things hung from a ceiling are placed there to inspire lofty thoughts of leisurely afternoons grilling dinner for the family and taste bud-tickling enjoyment.

Sometimes, it’s a cautionary reminder of a process gone terribly wrong.

Anyone who has been through the scramble of providing the required documentation for Nadcap audits knows the related headaches.  Take my word for it, from what I've been told by several aerospace composites manufacturers, it ISN'T pretty.

Our high-performance AccuClave Thermocouple System is being used by aviation / aerospace composites manufacturers worldwide for a number of reasons. Perhaps the single biggest reason beyond their 100% tested, zero failure quality is for their ease of traceability.

No matter how many times you travel in one of those big beautiful birds flying the friendly skies, you cannot help but admire the beauty and strength of the aviation / aerospace composites that are incorporated into their sophisticated design.

Last week, during the MRO Americas Show in Miami, Regina Kenney from Aviation Week dropped by for a brief interview on how to improve composite curing quality in aviation applications.