Roadmap

The TPRC believes that innovation is a team effort. The research roadmap, which comprises a growing number of research projects, is therefore defined in close cooperation with the Technical Advisory Board.

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Collaboration

Together the TPRC and its partners aim to further strengthen their position in key thermoplastic composite processing technologies. The roadmap activities resulted in a leading position in thermoplastic composite manufacturing, as confirmed by the growing number of third-party multilateral and bilateral research projects.

Technical Advisory Board

The TPRC research roadmap, which comprises a growing number of research projects, is defined in close cooperation with the Technical Advisory Board (TAB). The TPRC members are actively involved in the ongoing research roadmap and the status of the projects is frequently reported to our industry partners. Industrial reference groups guide the research and ensure the relevance of the projects, while its scientific quality is secured through its academic members.

The TAB, meeting face to face twice a year and regularly via telcon, consists of the technical community (researchers/engineers) of the TPRC and the Tier 1 and Tier 2 members.

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Consortium Board

The general direction of the research center is steered by the TPRC Consortium Board (CB), which is also a representation of all current members of the TPRC. The current Consortium Board members are: Boeing, GKN-Fokker, Toray Advanced Composites, University of Twente, Howmet, Collins Aerospace, Daher, Latécoère, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Solvay, Spirit AeroSystems, Vaupell and Victrex.

Research results

The consortium as a whole defines and executes a research roadmap aimed at generating the fundamental knowledge required to optimize existing and new manufacturing processes in terms of quality and productivity. The knowledge developed is put to use through process design tools, which allow design for manufacturing for thermoplastic composites, taking into account the material and processing capabilities and limitations.

The roadmap follows a typical bottom-up approach: starting with materials, manufacturing processes and joining techniques at an elementary level, using the experience gained to continue with components of increasing complexity and then to proceed from secondary substructures to primary load-bearing assemblies. As a common denominator, all projects aim to gain a fundamental understanding of the processes and materials at hand, thereby guaranteeing that the knowledge developed can be transferred to alternative materials and processing conditions. Moreover, the research results are translated into material and processing guidelines as well as into design rules, to be used by our industrial members.

Research overview