G8-2012 Material Efficiency - A first step toward sustainable manufacture

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Transport)
Not Energy Related
Energy Efficiency(Industry)

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Chemical Engineering)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Dr K Potter
Aerospace Engineering
University of Bristol

Standard

EPSRC

01 January 2013

31 December 2015

36 months

£218,533

Manufacturing

South West

Manufacturing: Engineering

Dr K Potter, Aerospace Engineering, University of Bristol

This research will focus on out-of-autoclave processing as a sustainable means of composite manufacturing. The large-scale introduction of composite materials into the aerospace industry will result in lighter planes with greater fuel efficiency. By moving composite manufacturing out of the autoclave, energy consumption during processing will be reduced and production rates will increase. Our proposal will highlight the sustainable aspects of out-of-autoclave composite manufacturing, specifically with regard to vacuum bag only (VBO) prepregs. For our purposes, "sustainability" will refer to preservation and expansion of access to affordable energy, and minimization of environmental impact.The environmental benefits to replacing metal structures with composite materials are clear. Composite parts are light-weight, providing greater fuel efficiency, and also display higher fatigue and corrosion resistance. The composite manufacturing process, however, contains inefficiencies. While moving composite processing out of the autoclave will reduce energy consumption, there are still environmental concerns associated with thermoset composite manufacturing. Waste management and energy savings are of high priority. We will address these issues through three main subject areas; waste reduction, defect control, and manufacturing efficiency

09/10/12