Joining the show this week is Francesco De Stefano, co-founder and CEO of Caracol, a company using robotics and large-format additive manufacturing to help manufacturers rethink how they build large, complex parts.

Founded in Milan in 2017, Caracol is a leading industrial 3D printer manufacturer and large-format additive manufacturing technology provider. Since 2015, their founders have pursued the idea of overcoming the limits of existing manufacturing technologies, combining technological innovation with an industrial vision to respond to their clients’ production needs.

On this episode, we’ll explore where this technology is delivering practical value, what’s holding back broader adoption, and how more localized manufacturing could reshape composite production.

You can learn more about Caracol by visiting https://www.caracol-am.com. 

The post Beyond Prototypes: How Caracol Is Scaling Robotic Composite 3D Printing for Complex Parts first appeared on Composites Weekly.

On this episode, Mike Gromacki revisits the show to discuss some of the latest news at Norplex-Micarta. Now 10 months into his role as CEO there, Mike is helping shape the company’s next chapter around a clear focus: “Life Critical. Mission Critical. Composites.”

We’ll discuss what that means for their capabilities, the markets they serve, and growth opportunities and projects that help point the way forward.

For more than a century, Norplex-Micarta has engineered thermoset composite solutions that protect people, enable critical systems, and withstand demanding environments across infrastructure, transportation, defense, and industry.

We’ll also look ahead to CAMX, discussing the CEO Forum, featured programming on the show floor, and the General Session. 

You can learn more about Norplex-Micarta at https://www.norplex-micarta.com. They’ll be exhibiting at CAMX at Booth M18.

The post Life Critical. Mission Critical. Composites: The Future of Norplex-Micarta with CEO Mike Gromacki first appeared on Composites Weekly.

On this episode, Rhona Togher, CEO and co-founder of Lios, joins the show. Lios is an Irish company developing advanced materials to tackle unwanted noise and vibration.

Its flagship technology, SoundBounce, takes a different approach to acoustic insulation—combining a responsive material with a cellular structure to address difficult low-frequency noise without the weight and bulk of conventional solutions.

On this episode, we’ll explore the science behind SoundBounce, its potential applications in automotive, aerospace, and construction, and Lios’ work with the European Space Agency. 
You can learn more at https://lios-group.com/soundbounce. 

The post SoundBounce and The Future of Acoustic Materials: Interview with Rhona Togher of Lios first appeared on Composites Weekly.

On this episode, Nathan Silvernail joins the show. He is the co-founder and CEO of Plantd—a company reimagining how structural building materials are manufactured. Before launching Plantd, Nathan spent nearly a decade at SpaceX, where he helped develop advanced manufacturing systems for the Crew Dragon spacecraft. He is now applying that same engineering mindset to one of the world’s oldest and most resource-intensive industries: construction.

Plantd has developed a process that transforms fast-growing perennial grass into high-performance structural panels designed to compete directly with conventional wood-based products such as OSB. Using an automated, modular, all-electric manufacturing system, the company aims to produce building materials that are stronger, more moisture-resistant, and better for the environment.

We’ll talk with Nathan about the technology behind these grass-based panels and Plantd’s vision for creating a new generation of sustainable composite materials. You can learn more by visiting https://www.plantdmaterials.com. 

The post How Former SpaceX Engineers Are Turning Grass into Carbon-Negative Structural Panels first appeared on Composites Weekly.

With CAMX just a few weeks away, it’s a perfect time to revisit one of our previous conversations with Daniel Murphy of Alcove Media on a topic that every exhibitor should be thinking about: how do you actually generate business from a trade show?

Many companies invest tens of thousands of dollars exhibiting at events, but simply showing up with a great-looking booth doesn’t guarantee a return. On this episode, we’ll discuss how companies can be much more strategic about their trade show investment. 

The post CAMX Is Coming: Here’s A Smarter Strategy for Trade Show ROI first appeared on Composites Weekly.

Joining the podcast this week is Yannick Willemin. Yannick is the founder of Catalysium, a deep-tech consultancy supporting startups, SMEs, and investors across the composites and advanced materials ecosystem.

He brings nearly two decades of experience spanning materials engineering, manufacturing, business development, corporate strategy, startups, and investment. His work touches nearly every part of the composites value chain—from materials and manufacturing technologies to recycling and end-use markets including aerospace, automotive, sports, luxury, and energy.

Through Catalysium, Yannick helps technology companies identify markets, build strategic partnerships, acquire customers, and turn promising innovations into sustainable businesses. On the investment side, he works with business angels, venture capital, private equity, and other investors, conducting due diligence, helping them better understand the opportunities—and risks—behind deep-tech companies.

You can learn more about Catalysium by visiting https://catalysium.ch and check out their videos at https://www.youtube.com/@CompositesCatalyst. 

The post Catalyzing the Future of Composites: From Innovation to Investment- Interview with Yannick Willemin first appeared on Composites Weekly.

Graphene has been called one of the most extraordinary materials ever discovered. It’s exceptionally strong, lightweight, electrically conductive, and thermally conductive. But more than a decade after capturing the world’s attention, one major question remains: why hasn’t it transformed manufacturing the way so many people predicted?

On this episode, Brad Larschan and Kevin Wyss of Avadain join the show to discuss the past bottlenecks with graphene production and what their company is doing to change this. Avadain is an advanced-materials company commercializing patented technology for producing what it calls Large, Thin, Defect-Free, or LTDF, graphene flakes.

Avadain’s process is designed to produce flakes that preserve the properties that make graphene so remarkable while also being scalable enough for industrial applications. The company has received a $3.77 million NIST-supported federal grant for scale-up, and recently announced that its full-scale graphene reactor is operational.

On this episode, we’ll talk about why all graphene isn’t created equal, what Avadain believes it has solved on the manufacturing side, and, especially for our audience, what large-scale availability of high-quality graphene could mean for composites and advanced materials.

You can learn more about their company by visiting avadaingraphene.com.

The post LTDF Graphene at Scale: How Avadain is Turning This Wonder Material Into Industrial Reality first appeared on Composites Weekly.

On this episode, Dr. Yasmeen S. Alfaraj discusses the next generation of thermoset composites. She is the founder and CEO of NextSet Materials, a company developing a new generation of reprocessable thermoset materials.

Yasmeen earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, before completing her Ph.D. in chemistry at MIT, specializing in polymers and soft matter. She is also an Activate and Department of Energy Cyclotron Road Fellow and was named to the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Manufacturing and Industry category.

Through NextSet Materials, Yasmeen is addressing one of the composites industry’s most persistent challenges: how to recover valuable fibers and other materials from durable thermoset structures that were never designed to be taken apart. The company’s technology incorporates cleavable additives into existing resin formulations, creating a controlled pathway for deconstructing the cured polymer and recovering materials for reuse—without requiring manufacturers to completely replace their established processes.

We’ll be discussing the chemistry behind this technology, its potential applications in aerospace, wind energy, automotive manufacturing and electronics, and what it could mean for the future of truly circular composite materials.

You can learn more about the company at https://nextset.net. 

The post The Chemistry That Could Transform Thermoset Composites – Interview with Yasmeen S. Alfaraj, PhD first appeared on Composites Weekly.

On this episode, Martin McLaughlin joins the show to discuss his 39-year career at Northrop Grumman during the development of the B-2 bomber, the F-20 and F/A-18 fighters, and the YF-23 fighter. Martin also managed the DARPA experimental spaceplane XS-1 program and numerous internal Northrop Grumman studies for air-launched to orbit rocketplanes.

He continues his work in the growing space economy at McLaughlin Aerospace LLC. 

The post From Stealth Aircraft to Space Transportation: The Evolution of Aerospace Composites first appeared on Composites Weekly.

On this episode, Lucas Dillingham of Brighton Science joins the podcast to discuss the science behind surface readiness. Brighton Science helps manufacturers understand and control one of the most important, and often overlooked parts of composite production: the surface.

Lucas works at the intersection of surface science, manufacturing, and quality control, helping companies replace subjective tests and operator guesswork with measurable data that can improve bonding, coating, cleaning, and mold-release performance.

In our conversation, Lucas will explain how technologies such as water contact-angle measurement allow manufacturers to evaluate surface conditions at the molecular level. We’ll also discuss how surface intelligence can help reduce scrap, prevent adhesion and mold-release failures, and turn surface preparation from what has traditionally been considered an art into a repeatable and controlled science. 

You can learn more about Brighton Science at https://www.brighton-science.com. 

The post The Hidden Science Behind Surface Readiness: Interview with Lucas Dillingham first appeared on Composites Weekly.

On this episode, Phillip Hover-Smoot, CEO of Atlas Cup, joins the show to discuss satellite racing. Atlas Cup introduces orbital sport by leveraging the heritage of classic racing competitions like America’s Cup and Formula One to delight sports fans and bring competitive sport firmly into the 21st century.

The post Orbital Racing: The Ultimate Proving Ground for Next-Generation Composites? first appeared on Composites Weekly.