MACHINING & MACHINERY
NEXT GENERATION
CARBON THREESIXTY
Carbon ThreeSixty’s new Tailored Fibre Placement capability:
complex composite designs delivered 3x quicker and up to
90% reduction in waste
Carbon ThreeSixty, the structural
composites specialist, has installed an in-
house Tailored Fibre Placement (TFP) cell
which will deliver the next generation of
complex composite products three times
quicker than traditional methods whilst also
reducing waste by up to 90%.
The new world-class automated facility -
which at present is the only commercially
accessible machine of its type in the
UK – uses high precision free-form fibre
placement to enable greater design
freedom, improved repeatability and creates
the opportunity for multiple complex design
configurations. Intended for high utilisation
operation, it can produce up to 100 metric
tonnes of composite preforms per year.
Ed Allnutt, Managing Director of Carbon
ThreeSixty, said: “We specialise in the
design and out-of-autoclave manufacture of
highly stressed novel composite structures.
The TFP cell enables the production
scale-up of our defence wheel products,
whilst significantly contributing to ongoing
R&D activity with clients in other sectors.
Such challenging structures are inherently
complex, and for true weight, stiffness
and strength optimisation the reinforcing
fibres must be placed to run in specific
orientations, so for us TFP was the obvious
solution.”
Carbon ThreeSixty invested in the TFP
machine in autumn 2019, following a
Intended for high
utilisation operation, it
can produce up to 100
metric tonnes of composite
preforms per year.
successful trial of the technology at the
UK’s National Composites Centre (NCC)
in Bristol. That trial directly contributed to
Carbon ThreeSixty securing ongoing R&D
and pilot production projects with a global
land defence OEM.
TFP’s automated technology enables the
company to accurately position fibres
onto a variety of backing materials in the
exact orientations required and secure in
place with a fine thermoplastic polymer
fibre. These bespoke preforms are then
placed into precision RTM closed moulds,
impregnated with high performance
resin and cured, giving rise to a highly
engineered end-product.
Ed Allnutt continued: “Thanks to TFP when
it comes to shape, the sky’s the limit and
we are able to make products that were
previously out of reach using traditional
preforming methods. Helping our global
customers gain access to next generation
composite structures will also be quicker
compared to traditional labour intensive
routes, which are not only time consuming
but less accurate with poorer repeatability.”
But for Carbon ThreeSixty, TFP’s benefit
is not just technological. As well as a
seamless transition from design office
to production, the company is no longer
reliant on suppliers for product specific
material preforms, instead they can now
take raw material to preform. On top of
this, the process of taking laminate concept
to built preform has been reduced from
weeks to just hours. And last but by no
means least, the structural composites
specialist predicts its TFP capability will
lead to the creation of number of highly
skilled STEM jobs in the not too distant
future.
The company has also recently upgraded
its specialist surface preparation and
geometric inspection capabilities at its
6,000 sq. ft facility, which is in easy reach
of the M5.
To find out more, please email: [email protected] or visit www.carbonthreesixty.com
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PECM Issue 43