Haydale Graphene awarded Innovate UK grant to develop smart composite tooling

Global advanced materials group Haydale Graphene Industries (Ammanford, U.K.) has been awarded funding of £186,403 by Innovate UK, the U.K.’s innovation agency, to develop smart composite tooling for the aerospace industry using functionalized nanomaterials.

The ESENSE project — out-of-autoclave (OOA) self-heated tooling enabling temperature homogeneity and embedded graphene sensors —  aims to enhance OOA manufacturing processes with monitoring and through-life sensing capabilities using Haydale’s patented HDPlas functionalization process to develop high-temperature inks and pressure sensors. The project is due to start in April 2022 and is expected to run for 24 months.

Haydale Composite Solutions Ltd. (HCS) and Haydale Ltd. are partners in the project alongside Atlas Composites Technologies (Ilkeston, U.K.), Brunel University London (U.K.), Advise-Deta (Bedford, U.K.), TWI (Cambridge, U.K.) and Energy Carbon (London, U.K.). The parties will address the demand for lightweight composite materials in aerospace and the need for eco-friendly and cost-effective manufacturing processes.

The ESENSE project aims to replace costly autoclave-molded processes with a multi-zone OOA self-heated tooling solution potentially offering up to 20% shorter lead times and a 15% energy saving compared to traditional aerospace composite part manufacturing processes.

Haydale’s functionalized graphene inks are said to offer a non-intrusive solution and unlike current self-heating tooling can withstand temperature inhomogeneity and complex processing conditions thanks to the enhanced characteristics plasma functionalization imparts. The pressure sensors can potentially integrate with online processes and in-service monitoring to provide robust, defect-free manufacturing at a cost of up to 45-55% less than autoclave manufacturing, Haydale adds.

While OOA is mostly used in aerospace, the outputs from this collaborative project could potentially have far-reaching benefits for other sectors such as automotive, renewable energy and consumer electronics where improved efficiencies and product quality are being sought.

“With the Smart Grants award from Innovate UK, Haydale can supplement and further develop core technology and thereby help to bring to market a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manufacturing solution for composite parts,” Keith Broadbent, CEO at Haydale, notes. “Using functionalized nanomaterials, we are looking to address the current issues experienced using self-heated tooling solutions and we look forward to working with the project’s partners on a solution that will significantly enhance the quality of composite materials and exploit their full potential not just in aerospace but in other commercially viable solutions.”