Public Funding for Composites Evolution Limited

To meet the UK's 2050 net-zero emissions target, sales of diesel lorries will need to be phased out from 2030\. Manufacturers and operators are therefore developing electric and hybrid powertrains, initially on existing vehicle architectures. However, building a module-based battery pack to fit an existing vehicle structure is space-inefficient, heavy and expensive, and these limitations are holding back truck and powertrain development. Work to date has shown that arrays of cylindrical cells (rather than larger modules) significantly improves the use of available space in conversions of diesel vehicles, optimising weight distribution, reducing cost and potentially doubling the battery capacity. The objective of this project is therefore to assess the feasibility of a new battery design, using cylindrical cells (rather than larger modules) to directly create a low-cost 3-dimensional battery pack that maximises the available space in existing vehicle envelopes. To test the feasibility of the concept, the key project output will be a prototype 3-dimensional battery pack, representing a section of a typical 250-450kWh battery pack likely to be used in a freight vehicle.

Freight accounts for 20% of road vehicle emissions (EFTE, 2018) so there is substantial interest in switching to zero-emission trucks to help meet the UK's target of net zero carbon by 2050\. However, these trucks need large, heavy batteries and their range is limited. Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) present a substantial fire risk in the event of a thermal runaway (caused, for example, by overcharging, overheating, short-circuits, impacts or collisions). Therefore, electric trucks with large LIBs present a potential risk of severe fire and injury, particularly when in urban areas, and/or carrying hazardous cargo. Current solutions, such as aluminium and carbon fibre reinforced plastic, are unable to withstand the high temperature of such fires, which can be 800-1000°C. This project will develop a new high-temperature composite material suitable for large battery enclosures. It will also prototype a battery module for an electric/hybrid truck therefrom. The resulting battery pack will be lighter and safer than current solutions, addressing road freight sector concerns regarding range/payload and LIB safety. The primary project output will be a prototype high-temperature battery pack designed for electric/hybrid trucks that has been robustly tested. The partners will also develop a detailed exploitation plan, including scale-up and route to market. This project will generate additional sales revenues for the 3 SME partners and create new highly skilled jobs. It will generate value stream revenues throughout the wider UK supply chain with a high potential for exports.

The COATECT project will explore the feasibility of combining antimicrobial coatings with bio resin-based prepregs, to deliver a new class of sustainable composite materials for use in mass transport interiors, which combine antimicrobial properties with exceptional fire, smoke and toxicity performance. COATECT we will help the UKs badly-hit rail and air travel industries recover following the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting their efforts to provide safe, COVID-secure services to their customers. COATECT will also bring significant environmental sustainability and climate change benefits by providing a solution which can: 1) provide significant weight - and therefore fuel - savings when used to replace metal components, and 2) accelerate the phase-out of harmful, fossil fuel-derived phenolic composites and replace them with a non-hazardous, bio-derived alternative.

The objective of this project is to develop a composite prepreg that has an exceptionally long shelf-life at room temperature while retaining the ability to cure at low temperature. This will leverage major competitive and environmental advantages over incumbent materials which require frozen storage, expensive transport and careful production management. Prepreg materials typically consist of fibres (either textile or unidirectional) pre-impregnated with a resin. The resin system contains a hardener that, upon heating, crosslinks and forms a solid cured composite. However, most prepregs cure slowly at ambient temperature - typical 'outlife' 3-30 days depending on the specific formulation - so must be stored in freezers. This creates significant costs, production challenges and inefficiencies for manufacturers. Materials stored or used improperly inevitably become scrap or, worse, non-conforming/unsafe products. The ambitious aim of this project is to break the link between outlife and cure temperature, specifically to produce tacky, reactive prepregs that cure at low temperatures without necessitating frozen storage. This will be achieved through key innovations in formulation chemistry and prepreg processing to produce novel materials with completely different behaviour. The novel prepregs would represent a significant breakthrough in composite manufacturing, and provide major cost savings and productivity improvements for moulding companies. This technology will also reduce the amount of waste prepreg going to landfill and eliminate the need for frozen storage, which have significant economic and environmental consequences. In addition, the materials will be able to be shipped further afield, opening up opportunities for UK exports, creating new revenue and jobs.

Low-speed (20 mph) accidents saw year-on-year increase of 31% (2016-2017, Department of Transport); injury increase was broken down as fatal (+79%), serious (+47%), and slight (+42%). A crash box is a thin-walled structure attached between the vehicle bumper structure and the side rail to improve crash performance in low-speed accidents. The determination of the crash box geometry is important to absorb the impact energy, since the installation space of the crash box is not very large. Conventional crash boxes (i.e. those manufactured from steel or aluminium) exhibit high-peak force and have no way of controlling the rate of deceleration following a crash. Composite alternatives are limited in use due to unpredictable failure. PROTECT is an innovative new crash-box with better impact energy-absorption capabilities; enabling minimal damage to the vehicle itself, its occupants, and other road users. In the event of a low-speed collision, PROTECT will help reduce damage to the vehicle, its occupants and the wider public. This will result in safer roads and vehicles, along with minimised repair costs. As a result of this innovative solution, the consortium partners expect to create 227 jobs and generate cumulative revenues of £51.6 million by 2029\.

"Biocomposites'' are plastics that have been reinforced (i.e. stiffened and strengthened) by natural materials such as plant fibres. Some typical plant fibres used in biocomposites are flax and hemp. The plastic part of a biocomposite may also be plant-based, at least partially. The aim of this project is to use biocomposites to develop the next generation of lightweight automotive components such as body panels and interior parts. The UK has a target to meet "Net Zero" by 2050\. This means that any greenhouse gas emissions must be offset by corresponding schemes that remove them from the atmosphere. So, for example, trees might be planted to offset the emissions generated by transport. However, Composites Evolution believes that biocomposites offer a complementary and more responsible approach to greenhouse gas mitigation. Rather than relying on entirely separate schemes such as tree planting to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, the life cycle of a biocomposite material has an inherent greenhouse gas absorbing phase whilst it is growing as a crop prior to harvesting. Like all plants, flax and hemp absorb carbon dioxide as part of their natural photosynthesis process. They, therefore, start their lives as engineering materials having already removed significant quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is in contrast to most other materials that generate carbon dioxide during their extraction and processing. Within this three-month feasibility study we will: * Consult with key players across the UK automotive supply chain to establish the industry's requirements and expectations with respect to biocomposites. * Review and evaluate the biocomposites that are currently available. * Produce representative demonstrator elements as "building blocks" that will form the basis of a more in-depth prototyping phase in a follow-on project. The automotive sector has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The forced closure of car showrooms led to a dramatic 97% drop in sales in April 2020, the lowest level of sales since 1946\. Furthermore, the industry was already facing considerable technical challenges and financial pressures as it transitions away from petrol- and diesel-engined cars towards electric vehicles. This project will help the automotive industry to "build back better" in the post-pandemic era by providing them with greener materials for the more sustainable vehicles that will be required in the future.

no public description

This project will develop the materials, design and processing technologies required for the next generation of lightweight, low cost, sustainable aircraft seats. The aircraft seating market is growing rapidly (forecast value $12 billion by 2027, Markets and Markets, 2019) and manufacturers are under severe pressure to increase production rates and reduce costs, whilst reducing weight, adding value and differentiating through design and materials. Current aluminium seats are relatively heavy and limited in design, whilst composite seat manufacturing is relatively expensive, inefficient and impactful to the environment. This project will develop a novel, low cost, sustainable composite material, along with compression moulding and in-mould decoration techniques. This will enable seats to be designed with complex geometry and optimal weight, and components to be moulded and finished rapidly and to net-shape. The outcome will be a novel technology package, incorporating material, design and manufacturing, for the production of the next generation of aircraft seats and other parts. This will generate significant revenue and highly skilled jobs for the UK industry.

This project will create new fire-resistant composites for aircraft interiors that provide high-quality surface finishes, thereby eliminating the need for costly post-moulding remedial work.

This project will develop low cost thermoplastic prepreg (pre-impregnated) tapes based on 'textile' carbon fibres. These novel materials will significantly reduce the cost of lightweight, high performance composite parts, opening up new opportunities in markets including automotive, energy, sports and aerospace. This will generate significant growth for the UK and US economies, including revenue from sales of tape and creation of skilled jobs. The Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in US has developed a method for producing low cost carbon fibres by using acrylic fibres, normally used for textiles, as the precursor. These 'textile' carbon fibres are up to 50% cheaper than conventional carbon fibres, with similar modulus and approximately 30% lower strength, making them suitable for a wide range of industrial applications. So far, these fibres have been tested in thermoset (epoxy) prepreg and pultrusion applications, but little is known about how to use them to make thermoplastic prepreg tapes, where challenges include impregnating with very high viscosity resins and achieving good compatibility with thermoplastic resins. The tow count (number of fibres in a bundle) and linear density (grams per metre) of the 'textile' carbon fibres are typically much higher than conventional carbon fibres. This provides potential advantages in the manufacture of thermoplastic prepreg tape in terms of production cost and output rate. However it also presents major challenges including the ability to spread the fibres to make a tape of high quality and consistency, and achieving good impregnation of a relatively bulky fibre bundle with high viscosity thermoplastic resins. This project will address these challenges by manufacturing and testing 'textile' carbon fibres specifically for thermoplastic processing, and by developing and optimizing high quality, low cost carbon fibre thermoplastic tapes using novel technology developed by Composites Evolution in UK. The application process for the tapes will be proven on industrial-scale automated tape laying (ATL) and automated fibre placement (AFP) machines at the National Composites Centre in UK, and a demonstrator part will be produced, in association with an automotive end-user, to showcase the benefits of the new materials.

Awaiting Public Project Summary

"This project will develop a new generation of low cost, lightweight, environmentally friendly sandwich panels for aircraft interior applications. The panels will be based on novel low cost, low environmental impact materials and will be manufactured using rapid, highly efficient moulding and finishing processes. This will lead to simultaneous step changes in productivity and sustainability in sandwich panel manufacturing, whilst meeting the performance requirements for aircraft interiors, including fire, smoke and toxicity (FST). Aircraft interior panels must pass very stringent FST tests which limits the choice of materials that can be used in their construction. Most aircraft interior sandwich panels are made from phenolic composite skins, which contain hazardous chemicals (phenol and formaldehyde), and Nomex honeycomb core which is expensive and also contains phenolic. The panel manufacturing process can be slow, especially if it is necessary to bond the skins and core together using a separate adhesive. Also phenolics give a poor surface finish, which requires costly preparation before applying a decorative finish. Therefore, aircraft interior manufacturers are keen to identify alternative materials and processes, which are safer, faster and cheaper, in order to future-proof their business. In this project, the composite skins will be made from polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA), a resin derived from biomass waste, which is safer than phenolic and has excellent FST characteristics. The project will identify the most suitable lightweight fibre reinforcement and will develop low cost, sustainable alternatives to Nomex core. The project will develop a rapid, highly efficient process for manufacturing the sandwich panels in high volumes and a novel method for finishing and decorating the panels. If successful, the project will lead to a significant improvement in productivity, reduced costs and a breakthrough in the use of sustainable materials in aircraft. This is expected to generate significant additional revenue for the UK supply chain and many high-value jobs."

"Lightweight ""composite"" materials, such as carbon- and glass-reinforced plastics, are widely used to improve the performance or efficiency of transport structures. However, when composites are used in confined public spaces, such as aircraft and train interiors, they are required to meet stringent fire requirements. As most composites are inherently combustible, satisfying these fire requirements is generally challenging. In practice it means that the material selection and design options for composites in fire critical applications are currently limited. This project aims to develop and validate lightweight composite materials that provide a step change improvement in fire performance. This will be achieved through novel combinations of materials, including so-called ""nanomaterials"" such as graphene. The project builds upon recent breakthrough results in which a novel prototype composite material demonstrated an order of magnitude improvement in fire performance. Whilst narrow in their focus, these results were significantly better than those observed previously. The objective of this project is to extend the development of this breakthrough concept to a broader range of materials with wider market applicability. If successful, this will be to the benefit of both passengers and designers who will be able to enjoy safer, more appealing and more flexible interiors."

Duct tape is used as a quick and easy way to reinforce and repair countless items in households and light industry, and the European market alone is worth £145 million per year. However, being made from cotton or glass fibre cloth with a low performance polymer coating and simple contact adhesive, it has limited performance so cannot be used for a host of more demanding, structural repairs such as automotive parts, sports equipment, marine and military applications. There is a clear gap in the market for a high-performance tape which can provide temporary or permanent reinforcement/repair in these more demanding applications. To meet this market demand, we will develop a highly innovative and potentially disruptive product, in the priority area of Manufacturing and Materials, with major opportunity for growth, especially in export markets. Our approach is to develop a structural self-adhesive tape, similar in concept to duct tape, based on high strength carbon fibre and a structural adhesive. We will use a novel method to produce ultra-thin, flexible carbon fibre tapes, pre-bonded with an engineering grade thermoplastic resin and coated on one side with an adhesive. This high-performance tape will be 20 times stiffer and 7 times stronger than cotton-based duct tape, whilst being much quicker, easier and safer to use than current carbon fibre-epoxy repair materials. The project will significantly enhance the growth and global competitiveness of Composites Evolution, leading to increased to increased turnover and job creation.

Mould tools used to produce carbon fibre parts must generally be made from carbon fibre or Invar due to the need to match the very low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of carbon. These materials are expensive and have high embodied CO2, especially when considering that the moulds are often only used a few times to produce limited runs or even one-off parts before being scrapped. This limits the use of carbon fibre to high-end applications, restricts profitability and has a high impact on the environment. Flax natural fibre has a low CTE, similar to carbon, but has significantly lower cost and environmental impact, and it has been shown to work well with carbon in a hybrid lay-up. Therefore flax could potentially be used to replace some (or all) of the carbon fibre in composite moulds, thereby reducing costs and environmental impact. However, significant work is required to develop the materials and prove their suitability for use in composite moulds. The HyTool project will develop flax and hybrid flax-carbon tooling materials to reduce the cost and environmental impact of carbon fibre composite moulds. Reducing the cost of tooling will increase the profitability and competitiveness of the project partners and the wider UK composites supply chain, and will open up new applications for carbon fibre parts, generating additional revenue and jobs.

The FR-TRAIN project will develop a lightweight, fire-retardant, environmentally friendly composite material for rail interiors. The shift towards high speed, nimble, electric & hybrid trains is driving the adoption of lightweight materials, including fibre-reinforced composites. Currently, most composite rail interior panels & mouldings use phenolic resin due to the stringent fire requirements. However, phenolics emit large amounts of CO during combustion and their use is expected to be restricted as they contain toxic and carcinogenic compounds. FR-TRAIN will develop a revolutionary composite material based on polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA), a resin derived from biomass waste, which has low flammability and smoke emission, is non-toxic, renewable and offers benefits including faster curing and improved surface finish. The PFA resin will be used with a fibre reinforcement and a lightweight core to produce a composite panel system, which will be tested against the stringent rail interior standards. Initial applications are likely to be walls, floors, bulkheads and lavatory modules, as part of the £180m/yr in European market for these materials.

The objective of the BioAir project is to develop bioresin based composites for application in aircraft interior components. Currently, these industries use phenolic resin that are known to be toxic and have severe health hazards to operators. The new composites with bioresin will provide social and environmental benefits.

The CARBIO project will develop automotive structures with reduced weight, cost, environmental impact and improved noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) by the incorporation of novel flax-bioepoxy composites into carbon fibre components. The need to reduce vehicle weight is leading to the adoption of carbon fibre, which is expensive, energy/CO2 intensive, difficult to recycle and can lead to poor NVH. Flax fibres are low cost, renewable, CO2 neutral and have excellent vibration damping properties, whilst bio-based epoxy resins offer enhanced toughness and sustainability over synthetic epoxies. This project will develop and optimise flax/carbon hybrid biocomposite materials and test them according to automotive OEM specifications. A number of case study parts, such as a door, wheel arch panel and seat structure, will be designed and validation parts will be produced and tested.

The objective of the BioJUSTICE project is to develop low cost, lightweight, high performance natural fibre biocomposites by using inexpensive natural fibres and novel direct processing methods. Currently semi-structural biocomposites are almost exclusively based on flax which is relatively expensive, and woven yarn textiles which require several processing steps. This makes the materials expensive and difficult to justify for many industrial applications. BioJUSTICE will use low cost jute fibres and a direct, tape-based manufacturing method with minimum process steps. The new jute tapes will have similar cost and performance to glass fibres, along with lower weight and lower environmental impact. This will enable sustainable natural fibres to truly compete with glass fibres for the first time, significantly increasing their uptake in a range sectors including construction, automotive and sports.

The Viscocomp project will develop a new generation of high performance, renewable reinforcements for biocomposites, based on regenerated cellulose fibres such as high tenacity viscose. These fibres, whilst 100% derived from renewable cellulose (e.g. wood), have the appearance, quality and consistency of synthetic fibres and higher impact resistance and potentially lower cost than natural bast fibres such as flax. Therefore Viscocomp will significantly increase the uptake of sustainable natural fibres as replacements to synthetic fibres such as glass and carbon which are heavier, non-renewable and have high embodied energy. This will reduce the environmental impact of a range of products in the automotive, marine, mass transport and construction sector, during manufacture, use and at end-of-life.

There is strong potential for the application of natural fibre composites in engineering components. However, natural fibre composites are not currently used for structural and semistructural components due to concerns over strength and long term durability associated with water absorption and resin compatibility. The aim of this project is to significantly improve the moisture resistance and compatibility of natural fibres for their use in composite applications. This will lead to greatly improved and verified long term performance properties of natural fibre composites, which in turn will improve market confidence in this product and ultimately promote the increased take up of natural fibres in composites applications. Previous investigations to address moisture absorption and compatibility issues have been demonstrated on a laboratory scale, but not on an industrial scale and hence the commercial viability of these methods remains unproven. These investigations have focused on the use of coupling agents to address the issue of compatibility and chemical modifications of the natural fibres to improve the moisture resistance of composites; however absorption is still a major concern especially for outdoor applications. This project will evaluate a number of natural fibres, select those with suitable strength properties and lowest intrinsic absorption, and then develop treatments to ensure water absorption does not occur. Tests of individual fibres will be undertaken first, then leading to larger scale tests on composite panels utilised in typical applications (e.g. marine, automotive), to enable comparison with current market solutions. The main outcome of the project will be a pilot scale process system for the production of treated, moisture resistant natural fibre reinforcements, demonstrated in scaled down composite components. The project will therefore prove the commercial and technical viability of natural fibre usage in composites.