MELComp - Mutiplex Energy Laser Sustained Plasma Consolidation of Lightweight Novel Continuous Fibre Aluminium Matrix Composites

Aluminium Matrix Composites (AMCs) offer the strength and stiffness of steel, but with the density of aluminium, making them an exciting candidate for reducing the weight of ground and air vehicles to help improve efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Although in existence for many decades, the barriers to widespread uptake are ever decreasing and these materials are steadily making their way into mass vehicle production. Advantages over carbon fibre reinforced plastic composites include higher temperature resistance, better toughness, recyclability and no corrosion in contact with aluminium structures. This project will investigate the feasibility of an entirely novel manufacturing process for producing these materials which can remove many of the limitations of the existing processes. The new process uses multiple lasers to consolidate novel woven composite material into potentially large and complex shapes, enabling AMC to be used in large structures such as automotive vehicle bodies or aircraft fuselages. It will also enable production of continuous AMC strip, a first for AMC production processes and a major enabler of cost reduction.