Cygnet Texkimp officially opens Innovation Centre

Machine builder and composites technology company Cygnet Texkimp (Northwich, U.K.) has created an open-access Innovation Centre at its headquarters in Cheshire as a development, prototyping and testing space for the advanced materials and composites industry. The new Innovation Centre was previously announced for behind-the-scenes tours in February 2023.

The 15,000-square-foot research and development (R&D) facility will house machines from across the company’s entire product range including filament winding, prepreg processing, slitting and spooling, automation and recycling equipment. Its creation marks the latest chapter in Cygnet Texkimp’s work to forward the interests of the industry through the development of equipment used in fiber processing, materials and part manufacturing and recycling.

The facility has been designed to complement existing industry support from academic institutions and the UK’s Catapult Network, and is intended to help companies develop technologies from technology readiness level (TRL) 5 or 6 to commercial viability and on to full-scale production. Organizations can reserve time at the Innovation Centre to carry out trials to optimize and validate their process design, evaluate materials and gather evidence to prove their business case or justify investment.

“Our Innovation Centre forms part of our commitment to reinvest in U.K. capability and to accelerate learning in this area of materials science, so that organizations involved in the development and application of advanced materials can achieve more and do so more quickly,” Cygnet Texkimp CEO Luke Vardy explains. “In this way we hope to create an asset for the world’s composites and advanced materials industry, and to support the work of the U.K.’s composites industry, including the Catapult Network and university-led innovation centers, as a world-class destination for composites technology.”

Andy Whitham, director of process development at Cygnet Texkimp, says the company’s principal aims “are to support industrialization of emerging composites manufacturing technologies, take the guesswork out of process qualifications and reduce the inherent commercial risk associated with investment in large-scale capital equipment by demonstrating the capabilities of our equipment.”

“Being able to demonstrate the full extent of this capability under one roof is a pivotal moment for us and for the industries we serve.”

As a commercial engineering firm, Cygnet Texkimp has a 50-strong engineering team including R&D and product specialists, mechanical, electrical, software and design engineers to support the development work taking place in the company’s Innovation Centre.

“The breadth of expertise within our in-house engineering team means we can leverage other technologies to solve a particular problem and are ideally placed to manufacture specific items or equipment needed to demonstrate a process,” Whitham adds. “Having our own team of specialist software engineers, for example, is a valuable asset and means that operating improvements identified within a trial program can be made quickly and securely to create the most effective tailored solution for each application.”

The center will also further enable Cygnet Texkimp to show the full scope of its diverse and growing range of fiber processing equipment in one place. Technologies housed within the Innovation Centre will include:

• Direct melt thermoplastic processing line capable of producing unidirectional (UD), and narrow tape prepregs from standard industrial feedstock.
• Multi-roll stack, high-speed, short-footprint, vertically stacked prepreg manufacturing line.
• High-precision slitter spooler rewinder to process UD prepreg slit tapes.
• Nine-axis robotic filament winding system with a range of fiber feed and resin dosing systems capable of high-tension and thermoplastic winding
• Multi-axis and 3D winders providing high-rate deposition for wound parts of varying geometry.
• Automated filament winding cell showcasing Cygnet Texkimp’s work in high-rate manufacturing of composite components.
• Composites reclaiming and recycling solutions including those powered by DEECOM.
• Spread tape line for low-crimp fabrics.
• High-temperature consolidation line.
• Automation demonstration equipment.
• Automated guided vehicle (AGV).
• Fiber unrolling creels.

“As a machine builder and fiber specialist, we’ve developed a full lifecycle of fiber processing technologies from handling and manufacturing to end-of-life management, recycling and repurposing,” Vardy says. “Being able to demonstrate the full extent of this capability under one roof is a pivotal moment for us and for the industries we serve.”