Retention

As part of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s Mobility Development Program, the Retention project fosters IVW’s scientific cooperation with the Centre for Advanced Composite Materials (CACM) at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The cooperation between the two institutions in the fields of materials science, process engineering and process simulation has been in place since the early 1990‘s, with the current cooperation strengthened by the participation of a new generation of young scientists. The goal of the funded project is to evaluate the potential of an innovative new manufacturing concept for the industries of both countries. In the new concept, which aims for a high degree of process robustness, a combination of impregnated and dry fiber structures are stacked together and resin transfer is subsequently initiated via a vacuum build-up. In January 2019, three members of IVW visited CACM. Together with their hosts Simon Bickerton (Director of the CACM), Graeme Finch (CACM’s Business Development Manager) and Tom Allen (Senior Researcher), IVW scientists David May and Miro Duhovic (Competence Field Managers for “Impregnation and Preform Technologies” and “Process Simulation”, respectively) along with Matthias Bendler (Technology Transfer) were able to come into direct contact with New Zealand companies. During an industrial workshop as well as several company visits, the German scientists were able to get an idea of the possible uses of the new concept and the challenges of its implementation. In parallel, cooperation on a scientific level deepened with the involvement of Piaras Kelly (Professor in Engineering Science, University of Auckland) through the joint construction of a process simulation model, which depicts the complex hydrodynamic compaction behavior that occurs during resin transfer in the newly developed manufacturing process. The results so far and the feedback from the industry on both sides of the globe are very promising, which is why the IVW and CACM are preparing a followup project which will involve strong industry participation. Subsequently, the CACM scientists visited IVW in Autumn 2019.

In cooperation with the University of Auckland, IVW develops a novel Liquid Composite Molding process.