Composites Manufacture
Our laboratories are equipped with a range of manufacturing and test equipment:
- Aeroform autoclave (400°C, 14 bar).
- Bipel/Bytec 40 tonne hydraulic press with hot platens up to 400°C.
- Composite Integration Ciject® One resin injection machine for polyester or epoxy.
- Composite Integration one-metre square glass fronted heated/cooled mould tool.
- Vacuum and conventional ovens.
- PhoCheck Tiger PID Datalogging Monitor Standard.
- SNOL 9/1100 vented muffle furnace for burn-off.
- Brookfield R/S-CPS rheometer with Peltier temperature controller.
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Flow Mach2 water and abrasive jet cutting system (1.3 x 1.3 m work envelope).
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UltrapierceTM assembly for composites.
The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business has a
Formech 686 vacuum forming machine.
Mechanical testing
We can test materials and components on a range of accredited laboratory machines.
Test programmes can be either quick stand-alone evaluations, composites 'forensic' work, or form part of a wider programme of work involving design or optimisation.
Our Structural Integrity Laboratory has a range of machines for tension/compression, torsion, fatigue and creep including:
- Avery/Instron 1000 kN universal testing rig*
- Instron 5582 screw-driven 100 kN universal test machine
- Instron 3345 screw-driven 5 kN universal test machine
- Instron ElectroPuls 3000 3 kN dynamic electromagnetic fatigue machine
- Instron MDS 666C high temperature chamber
- Instron high temperature 4-point bend rig
- Dantec Q-400 digital image correlation system
* The Avery/Instron 1000 kN universal (tension/compression/bending) testing machine has ~1.1 m daylight and 120 mm long wedge-action grips (for round bars up to 25 mm diameter, or 100x18 mm plate) for tension specimens; bending beam test spans can be up to 4.5m (load restricted to 500 kN at full span).