Business profile
The National Composites Centre offers the rail industry innovation support as well as the space to collaborate and exploit global growth opportunities
C
omposite materials offer unrivalled opportunities for the integration and optimisation of design. Composite structural components can be made light yet stiff by use of carbon fibre, glass fibre and sandwich structures. Components and structures can be re-designed to provide structural and functional support frameworks, brackets and ducts while eliminating the need for multiple parts.
This can reduce part count, tooling, manufacturing, energy and inventory costs. Composites are also extremely durable, both in fatigue under vibratory and repetitive loads, and in resistance to weather, corrosion and chemical attack, providing real opportunities for low maintenance products.
‘Right now is the perfect time for the rail sector to develop increased understanding in the design and analysis of these materials in the context of major investment programs for new rail rolling stock and infrastructure. There are also currently strong financial incentives to seek novel approaches,’ said NCC’s Business Support engineer, Paul Gallen. NCC is already working with suppliers
of composite components to the rolling stock sector in developing the use of design and analysis tools to optimise lightweight design and crashworthiness.
Ambitious innovation In his foreword to the Network Rail Technical Strategy 2013, Network Rail chairman Richard Parry-Jones, sets out the challenge and opportunity of ambitious innovation: ‘We see a future that challenges the limits of our current technical approaches - a future in which we must increasingly rely on our ability to exploit a rich stream of innovation.’ The NCC shares and embodies that ambitious vision of knowledge transfer by collaboration and innovation.
The NCC The UK National Composites Centre (NCC) mission is to be the world-leading centre of excellence and innovation in composite technology. With more than 100 specialist composite engineers, designers and technicians working on innovative composite applications, the high-tech open-access centre provides industrial scale R&D facilities to meet
the needs of sectors seeking to capitalise on high-strength, low weight, corrosion- resistant composite materials.
‘Inventions start with bright ideas but need testing against reality. To this end, NCC has a specialist team using design simulation to model and predict their concepts,’ said Gallen.
The use of computer modelling and simulation can significantly reduce risk, prototype production time and costs. The centre’s state-of-the-art equipment can be booked by the hour and gives access to NCC’s manufacturing technique experts. Applications that can be explored at the centre include the resin infusion of large structures and high speed press forming, with an emphasis upon automated, efficient processing and established open moulding.
Both the design and manufacturing capabilities are supported by in-house validation through ultrasonic NDT and a fully-equipped materials laboratory.
Historical use of composites in rail There is considerable experience within the UK rail supply chain in the design and manufacture of high quality interior
Page 180 September 2013
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