New Zealand scientists visit IVW (Institute for Composites Materials)

In September, scientists from Centre for Advanced Composite Materials (CACM) at the University of Auckland visited IVW (Institute for Composite Materials) . Background of the visit is a joint project within the framework of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research's mobility program, which ties in with the since the early 1990s existing cooperation between the two institutions in the fields of materials science, process engineering and process simulation. Goal of the funded project is to evaluate the potential of a novel manufacturing concept for the production of fiber reinforced polymer composites for the industries of both countries. In the new concept, which aims at high process robustness, both impregnated and dry fiber structures are stacked together and resin transfer is initiated by a vacuum build-up.

In January 2019, IVW scientists Dr. David May and Dr. Miro Duhovic (Head of the Competence Fields "Impregnation and Preform Technologies" and "Process Simulation" respectively) as well as Mr. Matthias Bendler (Technology Transfer) visited their colleagues in New Zealand in a first exchange round and entered into direct communications with New Zealand companies. Professor Simon Bickerton (Head of the CACM), Dr. Tom Allen (Senior Researcher) and Mr. Graeme Finch (Business Development Manager) participated in the counter-visit and had the opportunity to learn more about the German composite industry during company visits and an industry workshop. The results so far as well as the feedback from the industry are very promising, hence, IVW and CACM are currently preparing a follow-up project involving industry participation.

We thank the CACM team and the University of Auckland as well as the companies Rhein Composite GmbH, Math2Market GmbH, Saertex GmbH & Co. KG, CirComp GmbH, Compactive GmbH and CompoSpoke for their hospitality. We would also like to thank BMBF for funding the "Retention" project (funding reference 01DR18005).