Page 3 - MODCOMP NEWSLETTER 1

Current technological demands are increasingly
stretching the properties of traditional materi-
als to expand their applications to more severe
or extreme conditions, whilst simultaneously
seeking cost-effective production processes and
final products.

These materials are a route to further exploiting The benefits of fibre-based materials have
advanced materials, using enabling technolo- clearly been shown in aerospace applications,
gies for additional functionalities, without com- which require lightweight, high strength, high
promising structural integrity. stiffness and high fatigue-resistant materials.

CF based materials have particular advantages Therefore consortium focuses on the desire for
due to their lightweight, good mechanical, elec- fibre-based materials for high value, high per-
trical and thermal properties. Current genera- formance products by demonstrating the suc-
tion CFs have extensively been used in a multi- cessful development of functionalized fibre-
tude of applications, taking advantage of their based composites for a range of industrial appli-
valuable properties to provide solutions in com- cations.
plex problems of materials science and technol-
ogy. The limits of the current capability of such The reduced cost of CFs are addressed by opti-
materials, however, have now been reached. mizing the fraction of fibres present in the com-
posite without a detrimental reduction in per-
formance. Small quantities of nano-fillers are in-
troduced, which can significantly improve the
overall functionality of the final product with a
competitive total price.