- 29 January 2007 -
Quickstep and VCAMM develop R&D programme

AUSTRALIAN-BASED Quickstep Holdings Ltd and the Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing (VCAMM) are teaming up for a research and development (R&D) programme worth AUS$940 000. The programme will focus on the development and analysis of composite components for aerospace and automotive applications. It comprises three projects and adds to an existing research collaboration agreement signed by the two organisations in July 2004.

The first project will examine how improved thermal and adhesion performance are produced by manufacturing composite components using the Quickstep Process, a fluid-based composites curing technique. Research has already established that the rapid heating of composite materials during the process can give improvements in resin toughness, impact strength or mechanical properties but it is not yet fully understood why.

In the second project, the effectiveness of thermoset and thermoplastic composite tubes produced using the Quickstep Process in automotive crash energy management will be investigated. The project is a continuation of previous testing by VCAMM, which determined that tubes fabricated using Quickstep have a high specific crush energy. VCAMM researchers at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia, and the US-based Oak Ridge National Laboratory will build on the research to measure the performance of different fibreglass/thermoplastic structures under high speed crush testing.

Enhancing Quickstep’s patented melding process will be the focus of the third project. The melding process allows one composite part to be welded to another without the use of bolts or adhesives. A research team at VCAMM will assess the melding process, with specific attention being given to aerospace applications. The project aims to develop design guidelines for obtaining the full potential of carbon fibre composites.

Quickstep Holdings Ltd; www.quickstep.com.au
Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing (VCAMM); www.vcamm.com.au

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