Composites Perspectives
Sustainable Composites
12 September 2022
Speaker 1: Dr. Tia Benson-Tolle (Director, Advanced Materials and Sustainability, Boeing Commercial Aircraft)
Talk title: Composites Sustainability: Circularity & Recycling
Abstract: Composite materials have provided platforms with weight reduction that enable improved efficency for several decades. Today, climate change and decarbonizing aerospace goals provide our community an opportunity to work together to accelerate developments to help meet sustainability challenges and goals. Circularity and recycling are concepts that can be embedded in education through application, and cut across applications and material types. Early assessments and integration of tools to assess total carbon footprints are important. Composites continue to offer benefits in a product's use phase, but opportunities in designing materials and processes that have reduced climate impacts must also be realised in the future. Working together on these shared challenges is key to future success.
T Benson-Tolle presentation (PDF, 1,556kB)
Speaker 2: Prof. Ian Hamerton (NCC Professor of Polymers and Sustainable Composites, University of Bristol)
Talk title: HiPerDiF: A New Route to Produce Sustainable Composites
Abstract: The High Performance Discontinuous Fibre (HiPerDiF) technology is now entering its 12th year. Originally developed at Bristol within the EPSRC-funded HiPerDuCT programme grant, and subsequently patented, the method offers a more sustainable route to the production of advanced composites. A newly upscaled machine, based in the National Composites Centre, also makes it possible to generate novel prepreg material at scales that allow the production of larger laminates. This has led ot the launch of a spin out company (Lineat Composites) in 2021. In this presentation, Prof. Hamerton will describe the history of the technique and concentrate on more recent developments in a variety of current research projects within the Bristol Composites Institute.