The Composite Centre team. Picture Ed Swinden.
The new centre is funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency through the Northwest Science Fund, which funds university/industry partnerships to speed the translation of research into commercial products.
Researchers at the centre will develop new processes of rapidly and economically manufacturing composite materials, such as plastics and carbon fibres fused together, to aerospace standards. These materials are expected to be as strong as steel, but half the weight of aluminium.
Philip Wither, director of the centre, said current methods for producing composites were relatively inefficient. “This makes using these materials to construct aircraft and expensive option.”
“If we can speed up the production process, and create these materials more cost effectively, and through lower energy usage create a lower impact on the environment, then we have the potential to economically produce planes which are lighter, stronger and more fuel efficient.”
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