Carbon Fibre and Composites

The Carbon Nexus pilot plant based at IFM is a unique carbon fibre facility with a suite of equipment available to researchers and industry.

Carbon Nexus incorporates open-access infrastructure designed to manufacture carbon fibres, textile pre-forms and composites. The group’s research themes were developed in response to industry needs.

• low cost carbon fibre
• high-performance carbon fibre
• surface treatment and sizing of carbon fibre
• rapid composite cure.

We are working on projects with industry leaders, such as Vestas and Boeing as well as smaller companies, to address problems and improve performance under these overarching themes.

Our researchers look at problems, ranging from the fundamental scale, e.g. surface chemistry of carbon fibre and composites, to the design of products made from composites, such as automotive components and defence apparel.