Chairman's Corner

Professor John Evans

This Bulletin should arrive on your desk a few weeks before our annual prestigious event which will be held at the Broughton site of Airbus UK on the 11th May.

This year we are focussing on composite materials and in particular their application in high performance industries. I am pleased to report that we have several high profile speakers from industry. In particular, David Phipps, who is Composite Structures Development Manager and ALCAS Project Manager at Airbus UK, will be emphasising the role that these important materials are playing in advanced airframe structures. In addition Jason Rowe, who is Chief Materials Engineer at Lotus Engineering, will focus on composite material applications in his demanding industry. Flaw detection is a major issue for all materials and particularly so for structurally sensitive composite applications.We are fortunate, therefore, also to have a presentation from Philip Wallace, who is Manager of the TWI NDT Validation Centre at Port Talbot. Philip will be keeping us abreast of the latest developments on inspection capability.

In the Bulletin, you will find articles from the presenters at the meeting summarising important issues raised in their lectures. Inclusion of these articles on composites highlights our continued intention to focus on key material types at specific times of the year in our Bulletins, at our events and on our website. The Steering Committee strongly believes that this focussed approach will be of great benefit to our membership and supporters.

Composites are designer materials with a vast array of potential applications. The event in North Wales is addressing the high performance aspects but there is considerable opportunity for technology transfer into other industries. I am sure that you will find the day interesting, informative and potentially very useful. I look forward to meeting you on this important occasion and discussing your interests in composite technology.

Based at the Filton (north Bristol) site of Airbus, the world’s leading civil aircraft manufacturer, the new Composite Structures Development Centre is the first of a small number of specialised centres around the UK, each focusing on a specific aspect of composite technology, all drawn together through the Government, industry and academia-backed “National Composites Network”. Airbus is one of six organisations leading the national network and expects to continue investing around £1.5 million per annum in developing the centre’s capability.

In addition to Airbus’ own and South West RDA funding, the Department of Trade and Industry is also backing the Filton centre through a £1.6 million grant to part-fund the specialist equipment within the centre and for equipment evaluation and capability development.

The 4,500 square metre facility at Filton forms the ‘hub’ of a regional alliance of companies, universities and colleges in the South West, who together will be able to offer a world-class capability in the field of composites technology. It will also keep Airbus at the forefront of technologies key to successful development of future generations of aircraft, as well as providing capacity for development work for other sectors - including the automotive, marine and construction industries.

Around one hundred engineers employed at the centre are developing techniques for cost-effective production and assembly of composite components and will also be training manufacturing staff in new skills as they change to working with composites. Research and development work worth more than £100 million is expected to be undertaken there in the next five years alone. Airbus will offer use of the Centre’s expertise to other sectors on a ‘not-forprofit’ basis.

A400M has composite covers & spars...

For Airbus, work at the centre is paving the way for the increased use of ‘composite materials’ - usually resins reinforced with high strength fibres such as carbon - in producing aircraft structures and components where traditionally metal would have been used.

The weight saving made possible by the use of composites gives major benefits in aircraft design and helps reduce environmental impact by increasing efficiency, through lower fuel usage, the ability to fly further or to carry greater payload for the same amount of fuel.

Use of composite materials is predicted to grow rapidly in the coming years due to a combination of lightweight and high strength. Composites are expected to replace metal in many engineering applications across a wide variety of industries.

For further information contact:
David Phipps
E.mail: dave.phipps@airbus.com
Web: www.airbus.com