Resources and facilities

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.
  
• Flow Mach2 water and abrasive jet cutting system (1.3 x 1.3 m work envelope).
  
• 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 4301 screw-driven 50 kN universal test machine
  
• Instron 3345 screw-driven 500 N universal test machine
  
• Instron 8501 servohydraulic 100 kN dynamic
  
• 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).

Rapid Prototyping

The Faculty has:

• a 100 watt laser cutter/engraver with a 1 metre square bed.

• Creality Ender 3 Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) printers:  - 220 x 220 x 250 mm print bed, ±0.1 mm tolerance using PLA, non-soluble support material (4 machines).

• Markforged Mark 2 professional Continuous Carbon Fiber 3D polyamide printer: - 320 x 132 x 154 mm print bed, 100-200 μm print resolution, non-soluble support material 

• Stratasys Dimension 1200es: advanced industrial-standard FDM machine compatible with STL for ABSplus with a build area of 254 x 254 x 305 mm and 1200es BST (breakable support) or 1200es SST (soluble support).

• NextEngine laser 3D desktop scanner.