Researchers cut composite costs and boost recycling

摘要

Composite manufacturing has taken a step forward after engineers at Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre completed research to reduce its cost and environmental impact. The four-year European research project, Reform, has developed technologies ranging from water-jet machining to reconfigurable composite fixturing and tooling. The systems can cut the energy used in some processes by more than 50 %, reduce costs by more than 45 % and increase the recycling of raw/ materials to around 95%. The research work, which was led by the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), and involved nine companies from five countries and four research organisations, focused on four areas: forming, machining, assembly and recycling.