Our facility and technologies

World-leading advanced technologies

At the heart of the National Composites Centre is a 25,500 sqm manufacturing facility with a wide range of technologies that are accessible to industry for the development of next generation products.

The vast workshop space is reconfigurable to suit project needs and provides our customers with a safe and secure way of working with some of the latest and greatest equipment and materials the industry has to offer.

Our facility is: ​

  • Secure: Customer IP and data is protected by controlled physical and cyber secure infrastructure; conditions such as temperature and humidity in the cell can be recorded and adjusted.​
  • Flexible: Workshop space and labs are reconfigurable to suit project needs so that we can be building a 20-metre long aircraft wing in parallel to a 30-gram drone chassis.​
  • Complementary: The equipment and staff skills we have enables us to offer full lifecycle solutions, from the design and manufacture of a product, to verification and through-life assessments.
Contact us to access our world-leading facility
  • Read more about Braiding and Winding

    Braiding and Winding

    Our twin-ring braider can create components that are hollow and straight or complex cross sections with curved profiles. Our tape winder and filament winder machines can create anything from high-strength pipes to high pressure type 4 hydrogen tanks.

  • Read more about Fibre Placement

    Fibre Placement

    The NCC is the best equipped research centre for automated fibre placement (AFP), tensioned fibre placement (TFP) and automated tape laying (ATL) in the world.

  • Read more about Pressing and Overmoulding

    Pressing and Overmoulding

    Our dedicated high volume manufacturing workshop is equipped with a range of presses, including our 3600T Schuler, and a state-of-the-art injection overmoulder capable of producing complex and repeatable parts in sub 5 minute cycle times.

  • Read more about Ultra High Rate Deposition

    Ultra High Rate Deposition

    The NCC’s Ultra High Rate Deposition cell contains two huge industrial robots that automate the production process for future large scale, high rate composite products such as wings and turbine blades.

  • Read more about Ceramic Matrix Composites

    Ceramic Matrix Composites

    Our bespoke ceramic matrix composite (CMC) development facility includes material storage and processing equipment specifically for CMC applications.

  • Read more about Resin Impregnation

    Resin Impregnation

    We have an array of resin infusion and resin transfer moulding capabilities that allow us to manufacture parts from 10s of millimetre up to 20 metre scale, and process materials at a range of temperatures and pressures.

  • composites engineering Read more about Verification and Assurance

    Verification and Assurance

    We have a suite of verification capabilities across non-destructive testing (NDT), metrology, and a materials testing laboratory to assess the quality and performance of a material or product.

  • Read more about Ovens and Autoclaves

    Ovens and Autoclaves

    The NCC has a wide variety of composite curing and assembly capabilities ranging from an oven or autoclave big enough to handle an aircraft wing to the fixturing and skills required to bond high-precision parts into a safety critical assembly.

  • Read more about Automation and Assembly

    Automation and Assembly

    In addition to a range of specific automated manufacturing technologies, the NCC has a dedicated automation cell predominantly used to create fast, repeatable, complex parts. Our fixturing capabilities allow us to bond high precision parts into a safety critical assembly.

Large equipment directory

For more technical information about our flagship equipment, please review the large equipment directory. 

 

Strengthening your innovation

Our team of specialist composites engineers have extensive industrial experience from across a range of sectors. We work as part of your team to boost your innovation capabilities for long-term programmes or rapid turnaround projects.

We can connect you with the right partners, business support and High Value Manufacturing Catapult expertise you need to solve your challenge.

Find out more about our sector expertise

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