Composites take off in Manchester

A new £2.1 million centre for aerospace composite design and manufacture is to be opened at The University of Manchester.

The Northwest Composites Centre (NWCC) will carry out research into new low cost, low energy routes for making polymer composite materials, which will be used to construct lighter, more fuel efficient aircraft.

According to Manchester University, composites are now established as the lightweight material of choice for many high-technology structural applications. Airbus and Boeing have composite designs that are set to replace predominantly metallic aircraft. Composites are heavily used on the new Airbus A400M and the Boeing 7E7 Dreamliner.

Researchers at the Centre will look at new ways of rapidly and economically manufacturing composite materials which are as strong as steel and half the weight of aluminium.

The Centre’s research will concentrate on perfecting the process of composite manufacture - the fusing of complementary materials like plastics and carbon fibre to produce hybrid materials to a desired weight, strength and flexibility.