NCCEF OverviewNiall Macfadyen

Summary

• Introduction to Aerospace in the Northwest

• Overview of NCCEF capabilities

• Overview of Materials test and evaluation unit

• Questions

Aerospace in the Northwest• Major Companies operate in the

area– BAE– Airbus– Rolls Royce

• Aerospace Revenue for the region is approximately $10Bn

• The Aerospace supply chain in the region employs over 20,000 people – 25% of UK total

University of Manchester

• One of the largest single Campus Universities in Europe

• 35,000 students, of whom 25% are Post Graduate

• 11,700 employees, 50% academic.

UoM School of Materials• Largest single materials

grouping of any European University

• 750 students and 60 academic staff

• Three focus areas– Materials Science– Textiles and Paper– Corrosion and Protection

NCCEF• Opens January 2010

– NADCAP Accredited testing laboratory– Full range of mechanical and physical

testing equipment and non-destructive evaluation facilities

• Remit: to work with companies in the supply chain to help them:-

– Understand in service performance, including failures

– Make the transition from metals to composites

– Understand composite behaviour– Qualify parts for aerospace and other

duties– Assess new composite materials and

processes– Understand and evaluate 3D composite

structures

Part of a National Network

The NCCEF is a fully independent centre, free to work with all major primes and Tier 1, 2 suppliers.

NCCEF is a division of the Northwest composites centre, which is a consortium of the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton and Lancaster

We are members of the Northwest Aerospace Alliance

NCCEF Highlights• European Centre for Quickstep

research (advanced out of autoclave processing)

• Largest and best equipped composites textile research unit in Europe (with manufacturing capabilities)

• Most comprehensive suite of damage evaluation facilities ( including £2.8 million X-ray CT)

ROLE of NCCEF• To Support the local supply chain in developing their businesses in

the area of composites– Consultancy– Tech Transfer (with NCN)– Qualification of materials and parts

• To develop new technology that can diffuse out into the supply chain– R and D– KTP’s

• To provide a bridge between the pure academic research undertaken in the northwest and industry and between industry and the science base.– Technology programme, EU programmes

• To train the next generation of technically competent engineers for the Composites industry– MSc’s and PhDs

Processing – What is the NCCEF doing to help the supply chain?

• Focus of NCCEF – out of autoclave processing– Microwave curing– Quickstep– Vacuum infusion/RTM

Textiles – What is the NCCEF doing to help the supply chain?

• The University of Manchester hosts the largest textile research Centre in Europe

• A major initiative is now to develop textiles for aerospace (and other) composite applications:– Braiding– 2D and now 3D weaving of flat fabrics– Weaving of 3D shapes– Fibre placement– Mechanics of dry fibre assemblies

Design Database – to help the supply chain reduce development time

NCCEF - Full suite of Mechanical Testing Machines/Fixtures

• 300kN quasi-static test frames

• 100kn fatigue frames • Instrumented impact• Ballistic impact

All with environmental chambers, associated conditioning, test fixtures for ASTM/ISO etc

All calibrated and to be accredited to ISO/ NADCAMP

Backed up with physical characterisation: DSC, DTA, TGA, electron microscopy

NCCEF - NDT capacity

• Immersion C-Scan (large and small)

• UT- phased C-scan• Eddy Current• Digital radiography

– (£2.5 million x-ray tomography facility)

• Ultrasonic bond tester• Laser Shearography• Thermoscope

Courtesy X-tech

Materials Testing and Analysis Unit

• Main activity – providing XRD residual stress services

• ISO accredited laboratory

Measuring Residual Stress using XRD

• High spatial resolution – 1mm or so by a few microns depth

• Used on polycrystalline (reasonably fine-grained) materials, metallic or ceramic

• Gauge volume depth is very shallow – we assume a free surface with only 2-D stresses

Residual stress depth profile from peening

Proto XRD – focussing on sample

XRD of awkward locations

On-site XRD of large samples

Thank You!Questions?