Photo credit: Composite Braiding Ltd.
Composite Braiding Ltd. (Derby, UK) presented this year’s ‘Sustainability Award | was announced as winner. The company has developed a low-carbon manufacturing process for structural composites. This also allows for increased production and reduced costs. This initiative was partially funded by an Innovate UK loan.
Composite Braiding Managing Director Steve Barbour said: The company said he won the 2021 award in the “Innovation in Composites” category.
The innovative manufacturing process “includes induction, but also takes other proven techniques from outside the world of composites and combines them in new ways,” explains Barbour. While he can’t elaborate on the exact technology, he highlights the end result as “a very energy-efficient process that can produce a large number of parts.” This is because parts can be manufactured in minutes instead of hours. The process has also been reported to reduce energy consumption by up to 99% compared to conventional processes, allows the use of 50% lighter tools and reduces consumable waste.
Most fiber reinforcements (the company uses carbon, glass and basalt fibers) and matrices (polypropylene (PP), nylon (including bio-nylon PA11), PET, PPS, etc.) are process proven. Additionally, the process is so controllable that it should be able to cure thermosets, says Barbour, although it hasn’t been tested yet.
While the versatile manufacturing process can produce structural tubes, poles and beams for a wide range of applications up to hundreds of millimeters in diameter and up to six meters in length, Barbour expects more in the near future. I believe that it will be possible to do great things. Transportation, infrastructure and sports applications are the company’s initial focus, but “with the permanent antimicrobial material we developed last year, we’re also seeing broader applications in the medical field,” says Barber.
“This is a game-changing feature,” he continues. “If this process, our goal, is adopted by multiple users, it will help us achieve decarbonization at scale. We are already in talks with a third party about expanding our sexuality.”