I am writing having just returned from our Annual Prestigious event which was held at the Museum of Welsh Life, St. Fagans. The theme was Sustainable Architectural Materials, which was extremely relevant in view of the fact that we experienced a major electrical failure just prior to the meeting. As a consequence all of the speakers had to present their lectures without the support of their Powerpoint presentations.They all responded magnificently and in fading light throughout the afternoon we experienced an enjoyable, informative and certainly memorable event. I cannot thank the speakers too highly for the effort they put in and the audience for the way in which they responded and participated in the ensuing discussions. It was a unique experience! Those who attended may be interested to learn that the Powerpoint material will now be made available on our website.

Elegant and Ethical – Sustainable Architectural Materials

Speakers outside the 'House for the Future' from left to right: Michael Benfield; Graham Phillips; Gerallt Nash, John Evans and Nick Lavery.

Speaking at the MTFW event Graham Phillips, Chief Executive of the Foster Group discussed how environment issues have an increasing influence on the design of our houses and buildings of the future. Here are some of the main issues he raised:

• Sustainability is not fashion – it’s survival
  
  
• Climate change, rising sea level, pollutants, energy use, materials resources and biodiversity are issues that demand a proactive architectural response
  
  
• Sustainability has to be considered in terms of total life cycle, not on limited parameters
  
  
• The benefits of a dynamic strategy are clear:
  Environment quality, value for money and increased productivity are just some of the immediate results.
  
  
• Sustainable solutions should be based on imaginative, innovative and high quality design

Comeld™ - An Innovation in Composite to Metal Joining

An innovative joining process is opening up new options in engineering.

Historically, composite to metal joints have presented significant design challenges to achieve high levels of mechanical performance. Designers have been reluctant to design structures incorporating joints or have adopted highly conservative designs that increase weight and thus negate some the benefit of using composite materials.

TWI has developed a proprietary material surface treatment technique and joining process called Comeld, that offers the potential to make joints with enhanced performance between fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) composite materials and metals. Comeld is the application of a proprietary material surface treatment technique (1) called Surfi-Sculpt™.This uses a power beam (e.g. an electron beam) to create protrusions (known as ‘proggles’) and cavities in the metal on to which the composite is laid and cured, forming the Comeld joint.

The first step in creating the double step joint between stainless steel and glass fibre reinforced vinylester shown in the photograph was machining of the metal into the double step profile required.The Surfi-Sculpt treatment was then applied to the stepped region, the glass fabric was laid up on to the treated region and the resin was infused into the fabric under vacuum and cured. Manufacture of Comeld joints has been successfully demonstrated with different combinations of metal, composite and processing technique.

Contact Richard Smith
at TWI Wales to find out more
richard.smith@twi.co.uk
Tel: 01639 864700