INDUSTRY HISTORY


BAE Systems’ latest UAV technology demonstrator, Taranis


as a partnership-rich environment and this holds true as supply chains are teased apart by niche specialisations. As a result, the sector is emerging from an environment of a


patchwork of cottage industries. The first wave of production scale-up and large scale industrialisation of composites has, as a rule, passed the UK by but now we can look to a future where we can leapfrog this in the new context of automation, digital manufacturing, and a high quality agile or mass customisation environment. Compared to the rest of the world, the UK has been


influenced more by the work of enthusiastic amateurs than industrially-minded professionals and this has carried on to today, with the really high volume work generally carried out elsewhere in the world. Most individual sectors or application areas have seen S-curve activity profiles with exponential growth and saturation phases. The few lone enthusiasts in the early days have generally been proven correct.


Sector-specific developments


In the aerospace sector, military users have driven the development of composites harder and more deliberately than have civil. The route to the current capability has involved highlights like the carbon fibre wing demonstrators for Jaguar and Grippen which led to the Typhoon and F-35 capability, and incremental development towards the Taranis UAV airframe. When it came to creating composite parts for the Airbus A380, A400M and A350 wings it is notable that the larger components are generally being manufactured in non-UK parts of the Airbus supply chain and, apart from the spars that GKN produces, not where their metal counterparts have previously been made. In the creation of motorsport structures, most notably for F1


teams, the UK has developed a definite world lead from what was undeniably a pole position. This plays to the strengths of


14 | Composites in Manufacturing | Autumn 2010


UK manufacturing with that element of intensive engineering and high agility characterised by many of the leading manufacturers in the M4 corridor, nicknamed ‘Motorsport Valley’. In relatively recent times, when carbon fibre reinforced composites have become the material of choice for racing car bodies occupying something like 80% of the volume of these vehicles, these companies have gathered all the parts of their value chains around them.


Marine marvels


An indicator for the progression of the UK’s composites capability can be seen in the development of National 12 sailing dinghies which have evolved over roughly the same period since the plastic Spitfire fuselage, from clinker built wooden hulls when the class was launched in 1936 to foam cored carbon composite structures now. Hull weights have almost halved in that time. Another maritime landmark along the way was the production


in 2002 by VT Halmatic of the record breaking 90 metre composite mast for the 75 metre hull of Mirabella V. This company also produced the E-glass and epoxy ACAVP AFV hull. Experience in liquid infusion processes borne out of handling large (and sometimes very large) structures has provided this capability. The cluster of similar capability around the South Coast has enabled the creation of the Vestas global technology centre on the Isle of Wight, specialising in large turbine blade manufacture. It is very difficult to classify the UK university capability as this


has evolved according to specialisation and application area. Notable capability exists in Portsmouth relating to marine applications, Bristol relating to aerospace applications and Imperial College relating to polymer engineering. This is by no means an exhaustive list but it does give a flavour for this aspect of the UK composites landscape.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44