COMPOSITES
SECTION TITLE
BELOW: Teesside University students working on simulation tasks in computer labs
BELOW RIGHT: Teesside University students working on carbon fi bre
“Material waste can commonly range between 5% and 60% depending on the material, part design and process. Material waste percentages are a particular barrier to adoption of mass-produced composite parts,” he states. “A number of key drivers exist for composite waste reduction: currently largely non-renewable material sources; similar embodied energy to metals; diffi culty in recycling; barriers to disposal (EU Directive on Landfi ll of Waste (Directive 99/31/EC)); comparatively high material production costs (carbon fi bre reinforced plastic estimated at up to 60% higher than production costs of steel and about 25% higher than aluminium); and material cost often the single largest component in total product cost.”
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT What can be done to improve the waste situation, then? “As with most industries, digitalisation is playing a signifi cant part in the development of composite design and manufacturing. Lay-up waste is linked to ineffi cient planning and orientation of composite materials during manufacture,” says Hughes. “To directly address this, manufacture planning must be integrated into the design process. A key design factor
is not just function and manufacturability but when considering waste, is the ability to nest (fi t the cut-out shapes onto a sheet) effi ciently. T rough our work at Teesside University we have shown 50% improvements in material use through redesign to optimise sheet use through nesting but we are changing the cut-out shape to achieve that.”
INDUSTRY TRENDS Discussing the current industry trends, Hughes says that one hot topic is that of recycling and reuse. “T e fi bres used in the manufacture of composites contain most of the value and so lots of work is going on not only to divert high value material from landfi ll but also to recover the fi bres in a way they can be reused. Automation in composite manufacture is also growing and displacing more traditional hand lay-up in many sectors. T e capital costs have come down on the equipment and the material performance/production effi ciency benefi ts are very high. “Eff ective simulation is also a growing
fi eld in composites. T is is at every scale: molecular to understand bonding, micro to understand fracture mechanics, and macro to understand multi-part, multi- material systems.
trend towards all-things composites. “T e application of composite materials into all areas of engineering has grown rapidly since 2008,” Hughes refl ects. “T e initial focus was on high-value applications such as aerospace and motorsport, due to high material and processing costs. More recently, the opportunity that composite materials present, namely enhanced mechanical properties and fl exibility in design compared to other materials, has seen use and interest grow across all sectors.” Hughes says that a key limiting factor
to further growth and adoption has been the high material waste percentages associated with composite manufacturing.
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