Tue, 03 May, 2022
We are delighted to announce that TWI is part of the ESENSE (Out-of-autoclave self-heated tooling enabling temperature homogeneity and embedded graphene sensors) project consortium.
The 24-month project began with a kick-off meeting on 20 April 2022 and aims to bring to market a smart composite manufacturing route comprising self-heated, multi-zone out-of-autoclave (OOA) composite tooling capable of manufacturing composite parts with process monitoring and through-life sensing capabilities.
The fully controlled processing tool developed by ESENSE will minimise the required energy budget and offer unparalleled quality assurance.
This will enable first-time-right efficient OOA processes, effectively replacing expensive autoclave moulded parts to offer a more robust and cost-effective alternative to existing self-heated tooling solutions.
The development of the self-heated tooling will be performed based on the following unique technologies:
- An integrated multi-zone self-heated system utilising composite heating fabric and graphene heated ink, to achieve efficient localised heating and temperature homogeneity, eliminating temperature variations
- Development and optimisation of advanced graphene sensors embedded in the part, which are at least 5x more sensitive than conventional solutions
- Advanced in-situ monitoring and real-time data acquisition of actual material properties at specific critical locations, enabling quality signature of every part
Lead partner, Atlas Composite Technologies and fellow partners Haydale Composite Solutions Ltd, Brunel University London (participating through Brunel Composites Centre), Advise-Deta Ltd, Haydale Ltd and Energy Carbon Ltd join TWI in the project consortium.
The ESENSE project has received funding from Innovate UK under collaborative R&D programme 10023349