Feb 23 2006
A new £2.1 million centre for aerospace composite design and manufacture is to be opened at The University of Manchester.
The Northwest Composites Centre (NWCC) will carry out research into new low cost, low energy routes for making polymer composite materials, which will be used to construct lighter, more fuel efficient aircraft.
Composites are now established as the lightweight material of choice for many high-technology structural applications. Airbus and Boeing have bold composite designs that are set to replace predominantly metallic aircraft. Composites are heavily used on the new Airbus A400M and the Boeing 7E7 Dreamliner.
Researchers at the Centre will look at new ways of rapidly and economically manufacturing composite materials which are as strong as steel, yet half the weight of aluminium.
The Centre’s research will concentrate on perfecting the process of composite manufacture - the fusing of complementary materials like plastics and carbon fibre to produce hybrid materials to a desired weight, strength and flexibility.
The NWCC, which is a joint venture between the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Lancaster and Bolton, will be one of only four Centres in the world using a revolutionary new technology known as ‘Quickstep’, which enables large composite parts to be rapidly manufactured to aerospace standards. The centre will also pioneer other new methods which will allow them to fuse composite materials together more quickly.
Research at the NWCC will focus largely on polymer-composites which offer many advantages over conventional materials including lightness and resilience to corrosion. The NWCC will also have access to a wide range of techniques for producing technical textile structures, rapidly manufacturing composites and evaluating their structure and performance.
Funding has been awarded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency following a successful application to the Northwest Science Fund (NWSF).
Dr Richard Day, Director of the NWCC, said: “Current methods for producing composites are relatively inefficient which makes using these materials to construct aircraft an expensive option. If we can speed up the production process, and create these materials more cost effectively, and through lower energy usage create alower impact on the environment, then we have the potential to economically produce planes which are lighter, stronger and more fuel efficient.”
Mark Hughes, NWDA Executive Director of Enterprise, Innovation and Skills, said:
“The NWDA is pleased to fund the creation of the Northwest Composites Centre, which aims to become a regional centre ofexcellence in composite materials. Composites are now established as the lightweight material of choice for many high-technology structural applications and it is critical the Northwest is at the forefront of this movement. With strong linkages between research and industrial exploitation, the Northwest has what it takes to pioneer world-class composite processing.”