Innovate UK has funded the Breakthrough Aerospace Materials (BAM) project, a three year ATI project aimed at advancing the manufacturing techniques and simulation of 3D textiles in the UK for the aerospace industry.
Currently, the use of 3D textile composites is held back by a lack of analysis techniques that are able to accurately predict weave architectures and the resulting processing and structural performance, the organization claims. BAM, led by Sigmatex also includes UK based aerospace companies BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce along with ESI, MSC Software, Antich & Sons, M Wright & Sons, Teledyne CML Composites and three UK 3D woven technology leading Universities – Nottingham, Manchester and Bristol.
The project will focus on structural lightweighting, reduced manufacturing and inherent assembly costs, identifying the barriers that limit the scope of use and market penetration of 3D textiles. Suitable components and features will be investigated and used to develop and validate predictive software for the simulation of 3D textiles. Manufacturing processes will be assessed to make the various elements of a typical test pyramid to compare simulation predictions with component performance.
For more information go here.
This story is reprinted from material from Innovate UK, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.