Design, develop and test a production method, and engineer 3D composite materials’ performance to customer demands

Purpose and goal

To enable a scalable business model, this project had two goals: (a) develop a prototype to address the bottleneck in the production process to enable scale production, and (b) develop the material further to meet a broader set of customer demands to enable market adoption. Through this project, progress has been made on both goals leading to (a) creation of a set of prototype solutions that can enable automation and thus scalable production, and (b) development of a material configuration for an identified load-case, which after full characterisation can be adopted by customers.

Expected results and effects

The outcomes of this project will be implemented to support the development of the business in a scalable and sustainable manner and serve customer material requirements in an efficient way.

Planned approach and implementation

The project was conducted by maintaining customer focus, and using their material performance and economical requirements specifications to guide the work in development of both the material and prototype. Inputs from development of the material served as specifications for the development of the prototype. Due to novelty, practical complexities and unknown-unknowns involved, an iterative trial-and-error approach was employed to arrive at feasible solutions.