On 16th of October 2015, IComp and The Earth Institute (UCD) organised a workshop “High Pressure RTM – An Emerging Technology for Composites Manufacture” at University College Dublin. This event brought together a group of experts on this technology from all over Europe. Dr. Aideen Hartney started the day with a welcome to UCD and an introduction to the Earth Institute. This was followed by Dr. Neal Murphy (UCD & IComp) and Dr. Terry McGrail, Director of IComp who gave some background to the topic and the objectives of the workshop.
The program included presenters from three HPRTM equipment manufacturers; Cannon Ergos (Italy), Hennecke (Germany) and KraussMaffei (Germany). Next, were representatives from material suppliers Saertex (Germany) and Arkema (France). The agenda also included contributions from Bernd Thoma of the Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie (ICT), David Jewell from the National Composites Centre, UK and Jarlath McHugh, Lead Development Engineer at BMW (Landshut). They gave a very in-depth and interesting insight into the applications of HPRTM. Overall the day provided a comprehensive overview of HPRTM technology and the associated opportunities and challenges. After much discussion among the delegates it was concluded that this is not a technology in which IComp should be investing.
Link to UCD Earth Institute http://www.ucd.ie/earth/
Bernd Thoma, Fraunhofer ICT, Tobias Jansen, Hennecke, Steven Bakker, Saertex,
Paolo Salina, Cannon Ergos and Erich Fries, KraussMaffei.
