Attendees to this year’s Composites Engineering 2013 will get the opportunity to learn about next-generation composites manufacturing processes courtesy during an open technical session, hosted by the UK’s EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Composites (CIMComp) on 13 November.

The back-to-back expert presentations will present some of CIMComp’s on-going work towards the development of next-generation composite manufacturing processes with lower costs, shorter cycle times, improved efficiency and higher sustainability.

Research

The presentations will represent a valuable opportunity to hear from the organisation that was formed with funding from the EPSRC to underpin the research needed to support the UK Composites Strategy.

The four main research partners, the universities of Nottingham, Cranfield, Manchester and Bristol, are collaborating on multi-institutional projects under the CIMComp hub, drawing on the significant strengths at each institution to extract the maximum value from the research activities.

This research forms part of the £322 million investment from the EPSRC Manufacturing the Future initiative and is driven by academic and industrial collaboration within the UK. CIMComp currently runs 20 research projects focused on fundamental composites manufacturing challenges, which includes major core programmes, industrial doctorate programmes, fellowships and feasibility studies.

This research is spread across nine UK academic institutions, employs over 35 researchers and is engaged with over 25 prominent UK composites manufacturing companies.

Presentations

Each presentation will lead their audiences into a key part of the composites offer in UK advanced engineering:

• Andrew Long of the Polymer Composites Research Group, University of Nottingham, will talk about ‘Multi-scale modelling to predict defect formation during resin transfer moulding’;
• Andrew Mills from Cranfield University will be covering ‘Structural joints using novel embedded inserts’;
• Prasad Potluri, from the University of Manchester, will be sharing his expertise on ‘Advanced Manufacturing of multi-functional Composites through novel fibre placement’;
• Kevin Potter, University of Bristol, will cover ‘Tactile and discrete manufacturing aids for composites layup - progress towards better understanding of the layup process’;
• David Ayre from Cranfield University will talk about ‘Manufacturing with composites – a decision support tool’;
• Anna Chatzimichali from University of Bristol will take the audience into ‘Design and manufacturing platform’.

CIMComp will also present its range of expertise and projects at Composites Engineering 2013.

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