The future Composites Manufacturing Research Hub will be submitting an outline bid for a new Hub, in the current EPSRC call for Manufacturing research hubs for a sustainable future. Its bid will focus on next generation composites manufacturing, to cover sustainability, economic viability and durability in challenging physical environments. The proposal will set out to meet the following industry-led research challenges: Environmental challenges of recycling, re-use of materials, reduction in embodied energy and emissions, reduction in use of non-renewables and materials that support manufacture; Economic challenges of manufacture at competitive costs to meet rate of customer demand; Engineering and scientific challenges in the design space for sustainable manufacture of high-quality, complex geometries over a range of length scales and requirements to meet extreme environments of high stress, high endurance, high to low (cryogenic) temperature, high pressure, and high erosion resistance requirements, for current and emerging applications; Educational challenge of meeting training requirements of future composites manufacturing engineers.
There are a multitude of industrial benefits to join the Composites Manufacturing Hub network, both in the final year of the current Hub and to raise your future industrial challenges to shape the new bid. There are several ways to engage, depending on your business needs:
- Opportunity to co-develop and sponsor/co-sponsor a Hub project (feasibility study or core project)
- Receive cutting-edge input into your R&D from a Hub academic, and develop collaborative research ideas
- Sponsor a doctoral student (PhD/EngD) to work on your R&D
- Engage with an academic partner on a collaborative research proposal/project (EPSRC, Innovate UK project, Horizon Europe etc.)
- Access to facilities, including high performance computing and workshops/laboratories
- Participate and contribute to a scale-up trial
- Receive Hub quarterly newsletter
- Attend Hub Open Days (for an update on Hub research, exhibit and network with the community)
For more information, feel free to contact Simon.Quinn@bristol.ac.uk, James.Whyman@nottingham.ac.uk, Joanne.Eaves1@nottingham.ac.uk, or your existing Hub contact.
