Research Laboratory

Welcome to Formtech Composites Research and Development Laboratory.  Recent work has focussed on understanding how the substitution of composite in Formula One can provide industry with a roadmap for how their own sectors might develop.  This work culminated in the paper entitled "Composite Material Substitution in Formula 1 Implications for Industry" and presented at Composites UK 10th Annual Conference, 2010, by Mark Preston

The conclusions from this research project were focussed on a number of key areas:

• integration of functionality leads to the highest performance increase
• automation will be a key factor in the development of composites
• certification of manufacturing processes will be of utmost importance in the acceptance of composite structures

To this end, Formtech is developing a number of development projects focussing on the findings from the above paper and summarised here.  For more information on these technical projects and to get involved please contact Formtech Composites technical team.

Structural Health Monitoring

Netshape Composites

Braiding

Fibre Placement Technologies

Development of Structural Foam for Composites Processing

Low Cost Tooling

Rapid Complex Topology Composites