The new architecture, designed specifically to accommodate new hybrid powertrains, has been entirely engineered, developed and produced in-house at McLaren’s £50m Composites Technology Centre in South Yorkshire, opened back in 2018.

The new flexible vehicle architecture utilises new processes and techniques to strip out excess mass, reduce overall vehicle weight, while also further improving safety attributes. It will underpin the next generation of McLaren hybrid models as the supercar company enters its second decade of series vehicle production.

Hundreds of pieces of carbon fibre cloth are cut for every chassis, the shape and orientation of each cut piece is controlled by software to optimise the strength and weight of the finished chassis. Lasers guide the alignment of the cut material into 2D Preforms.

These preforms are then loaded into McLaren’s own resin transfer moulding process where the resin is infused while the parts are clamped together under force. The moulded lightweight chassis is then removed from the press and machined to accept the mounting of multiple components during the vehicles final assembly.

The first new McLaren hybrid supercar to be based on the all-new architecture will launch in 2021.

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Although full specs are yet to be revealed, we do know that the coupe will feature a carbon fibre chassis designed by the company’s Composites division, while under the hood the car will be powered by a 480 bhp V8 engine channelled to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox.

Most of the Legend 480’s components will be assembled at the Group’s existing 60,000sq ft factory in Derby and is scheduled for release in September for around £90,000 according to Top Gear.

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The breathing aid, known as Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), has been used extensively in hospitals in Italy and China to help Covid-19 patients with serious lung infections to breathe more easily when oxygen alone is insufficient.

Since Wednesday 18^th March, engineers at UCL and HPP and clinicians at UCLH have been working round the clock at UCL’s engineering hub MechSpace to reverse engineer a device that can be produced rapidly by the thousands. This has now been recommended for use by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

This breathing aid was produced within a rapid timeframe – it took fewer than 100 hours from the initial meeting to production of the first device. One hundred devices are to be delivered to UCLH for clinical trials, with rapid roll-out to hospitals around the country ahead of the predicted surge in Covid-19 hospital admissions.

The collaboration, supported by the National Institute for Health Research UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, demonstrates the way that universities, the NHS and industry are coming together to help the national response to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, by providing vital technologies to the NHS which can enable them to care for patients who require respiratory support.

Reports from Italy indicate that approximately 50% of patients given CPAP have avoided the need for invasive mechanical ventilation. However, such devices are in short supply in UK hospitals.

These devices will help to save lives by ensuring that ventilators, a limited resource, are used only for the most severely ill

UCLH critical care consultant Professor Mervyn Singer (UCL Medicine)

CPAP machines are routinely used by the NHS to support patients in a hospital or at home with breathing difficulties. They work by pushing an air-oxygen mix into the mouth and nose at a continuous rate, keeping airways open and increasing the amount of oxygen entering the lungs. Invasive ventilators deliver breaths directly into the lungs but require heavy sedation and connection to a tube placed into the patient’s trachea (windpipe).

Project Pitlane is a collective of UK-based Formula 1 teams and their respective technology arms coordinating a response to the UK government’s call for assistance with the manufacture of medical devices. It will pool the resources and capabilities of its member teams, focusing on the core skills of the F1 industry: rapid design, prototype manufacture, test and skilled assembly. F1’s ability to respond rapidly to engineering and technological challenges allows the group to add value to the wider engineering industry’s response.

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The company which manufactures speciality chemicals for the composites industry is also a producer of two key raw materials needed for sanitisers – isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and ethanol. The company is already running these plants flat out and have been diverting more of this product to essential medical use and will now build two new factories to make hand sanitiser from them.

INEOS intends to produce both standard and the increasingly popular “pocket bottle” hand sanitisers and is already talking to retail outlets across Europe. Supplies to NHS hospitals will be free of charge for the period of the crisis with the public being able to purchase bottles through retailers.

The company manufactures essential healthcare products from rubber gloves to PVC saline drips, syringes, ventilators, medical tubing. Its products purify public drinking water. It produces raw materials for soap, acetone for aspirin and paracetamol, and its phenol is being used in pharmaceutical analysis essential in procedures necessary to find a vaccine.

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The company has reconfigured its production to begin die-cutting discs for filters to assist with the urgent production of ventilators for the NHS. At present, Bindatex is working with its customers, manufacturing the parts, but are also able to support other manufacturers by providing the filters.

The filters of a ventilator play a number of important roles. They protect the patient from any sort of airborne particles which might be in the gas supply systems or the ambient air, they protect the ventilator itself from the air being exhaled by the patient and they protect the physician and co-workers from exhaled pathogens which did not make it to the patient.

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The new facility, which will create more than 100 new jobs in Scotland has been equipped with state-of-the-art composite manufacturing machinery using the latest automation and robotics. With this new facility, Spirit will achieve the required rate of approximately 700 aircraft and 7,000 spoilers annually.

The opening of this new facility is part of Spirit’s journey to becoming a leader in advanced out of autoclave composite technology. It demonstrates how we can develop cost-effective new technologies and manufacturing processes that will play a central role in the next generation of aircraft programs.

Scott McLarty, Spirit AeroSystem’s senior vice president of Airbus programs

Spirit AeroSystems is one of the largest manufacturers of aerostructures in the world with design and builds capabilities for both commercial and defence customers. In addition to spoilers, the company currently produces Airbus’s A320 family leading and trailing edge.

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Inside features a bespoke diamond patterned satin chrome aluminium jewellery pack that sits amongst the obsidian black leather. Carbon fibre machined from solid to create a technical finish clads the central console and door inserts, while a single piece of herringbone carbon fibre can be found throughout the floor of the car’s storage area.

The DBX’s cabin is a unique carbon fibre finish used for the car’s floating centre console and door trims. The central piece is machined from a solid block consisting of 280 individual layers of carbon fibre, laid meticulously by hand. After a 12-hour curing process, 90-hours of five-axis milling are required to deliver the stunning finish shown today.

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The authority is involved in developing the next generation of magnetic confinement reactor called a tokamak at their site in Culham, Oxfordshire. Research is focussed on preparing for the international tokamak experiment at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance in southern France and for the following machine that will demonstrate the generation of power from fusion.

Fusion occurs when two types of hydrogen atoms, tritium and deuterium, collide at enormously high speeds to create helium and release a high energy neutron. Once released, the neutron interacts with a much cooler breeder blanket to absorb the energy.

The breeder blanket must capture the energy of the neutrons to generate power, but also prevent the neutrons escaping and ‘breed’ more tritium through reactions with lithium contained in the blanket. Each blanket module typically measures ~1 x 1.5m and currently weighs up to 4.6 tonnes.

Engineers are proposing to make use of high-performance ceramic composite materials and to form a unitised 3D woven structure with additive manufacture components. The cooling tubes in the breeder blanket would be integrated into the material and 3D printed parts used to define features such as connectors and manifolds.

To achieve a lightweight, temperature resistant structure, a silicon carbide composite material was chosen for the breeder blanket, with the internal flow channels being created by forming the composite around a disposable core.

With a CAD model produced, a weave design was then created for the composite. The structure needed holes robust enough to include tubes and needed to maintain the preform shape without distortion. They then produced a 3D woven structure on the loom with pockets for the 3D-printed tubes which could be formed into a rigid component.

The next step for the AMRC project is to continue the silicon carbide composite development and build a demonstrator that can be tested inside a reactor test facility in order to understand how it performs and reacts to the environment

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With the purchase of the UK based distributor, BÜFA is not only expanding its presence in the UK market but also consolidating its position as a speciality manufacturer for the composites market in Europe.

We are glad to strengthen our trusting, successful cooperation with BÜFA, and at the same time create a stronger company in the UK.  This will serve our customers even better and create a bright future for our UK employeesJoe Salley, Global CEO AOC Aliancys

Resins from AOC Aliancys, who have supplied BÜFA Composite Systems for more than 50 years, are transformed into specialities by the Rastede-based chemical company. The complete package also includes a long-standing sales partnership in numerous European markets.

The company will officially change over from the 3rd of March and will offer its existing product range In combination with the BÜFA specialities product range.

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The fan blades and fan cases being made at the facility are a feature of the Rolls-Royce UltraFan engine demonstrator, a new engine design which will reduce fuel burn and CO2 by at least 25% compared to the first Trent engine.

The new facility will use low-energy, very low emissions processes and features state-of-the-art automated manufacturing methods and materials. It will maximise the use of raw materials, reducing waste. with the company targeting zero emissions at its operations and facilities by 2030.

The facility will focus on carbon fibre composites, which are used in the aerospace industry to reduce weight significantly. The lighter an engine is, the less fuel it burns, creating fewer emissions. A Rolls-Royce fan system made with carbon fibre composites can save almost 700kg per aircraft, the equivalent of seven passengers and their luggage.

The fan blades are made by manufacturing techniques that build up hundreds of layers of carbon fibre materials, pre-filled with state-of-the-art toughness-enhanced resin material. Heat and pressure are then applied, and each blade is finished with a thin titanium leading edge, which offers extreme protection against erosion, foreign objects and bird strikes.

From January, the facility will begin making fan blades and cases for the UltraFan demonstrator engine. The composite system for the UltraFan engine demonstrator is taking shape, and different parts have completed aerodynamic performance, bird-strike, containment, icing and water ingestion tests, as well as ground and flight testing.

Rolls-Royce has been involved in developing carbon fibre technologies for several decades and already uses the material for parts within its engines. The new facility will take this technology to the next level.

It will benefit from manufacturing techniques that have been developed in partnership with the National Composites Centre in Bristol, and research conducted at the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre at the University of Bristol, as well as several other universities and research centres based in the UK and in Europe.

The facility has secured 150 jobs in Bristol. An existing composite manufacturing technology facility, along with around 30 employees, has been transferred from the Isle of Wight. Since 2008, the UK Government has provided funding and support for Rolls-Royce composite technology research and development, including £7.4m of funding to support the Isle of Wight facility. The equipment from here has been moved and developed further at the new facility in Bristol.

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