COMPPRESS SUCCESS!

With the end of our 2 year Innovate UK Manufacturing and Materials Research and Development Project, Simpact start their composites manufacturing journey.

Led by Simpact and carried out in collaboration with WMG at the University of Warwick, the project investigated a completely new and highly disruptive innovation in the compression moulding of composites. Designed to open up the market for structural composites, improve productivity and market position for the UK.

The project delivered the COMPPRESS technology demonstrator machine, now housed in Simpact’s brand new Composite Manufacturing Laboratory. To serve our defence market, it was used to produce an UHMWPE ergonomic chest plate prototype. The shape of the plate is derived from our project work with the Metropolitan Police which was presented at the PASS Personal Armour System Symposium in Amsterdam 2016. The shape is challenging to produce using conventional methods because of its extreme curvature. (click here for the pdf of this publication)

Dirk Landheer, Managing and Technical Director of Simpact said “The developed concept takes advantage of hydrostatic pressure and a special type of tooling. This allows for high consolidation pressures, a large freedom in product geometries and low tooling investment/lead time. The design of the tooling is inherently linked to the simulation of the process using our CAE tools.”

Tim Williams, Commercial Director of Simpact said “This innovation in UK Manufacturing is now creating significant opportunities for UK companies across the composites supply chain, by enabling quick product customisation and low tooling/time investment, new market opportunities are being created, increasing the profitability and market lead that the UK already has in this market.”

Below is a selection of pictures taken from our COMPPRESS Q7 Close meeting with Innovate UK Monitoring Officer, Andrew Higson.