Aerospace manufacturers are looking for flexible agile machines for automated aircraft assembly to overcome limitations of current machines, i.e., inflexibility of conventional large expensive dedicated equipments and the low stiffness and accuracy of industrial robots. Recent research shows (Hybrid) Parallel Kinematic Machine ((H)PKM) has the potential to provide the required flexibility, stiffness and accuracy. It is an emerging technology, which has been identified as the key enabler for next generation manufacturing systems, although its development is still in the initial stage. Obviously, various types of H(PKM)s will be needed for different manufacturing processes, and modular design is required for ease of reconfiguration. Therefore the machine design has to be process dependent and driven by real engineering requirements. The travel grant is for visiting the world-leading research Group of Manufacturing Equipments and Systems (GMES) in Tianjin University in China, and working together with Prof. Tian Huang and his research team for one month to explore innovative design method of PKM/HPKMs for next generation manufacturing systems for aircraft assembly. The project will initially focus on aerospace manufacturing, once successful, it will be extended to other manufacturing sectors, such as automotive and transport industries. To contribute to the UK national priority in high value manufacturing, the success of this project will bring a huge impact to the UK economy, where manufacturing accounts for 13% of GDP and more than 50% of exports. The scope of this investigation is as follows. 1) Assessing existing PKM/HPKM performance 2) Categorisation of manufacturing processes for automated aircraft assembly 3) New PKM/HPKM design and development 4) Novel performance indices for design and production 5) Topological and dimensional optimization method 6) Innovative method of productive system integration for aircraft assembly The main deliverable will be the writing of a post-visit report, which will form the basis for two to three funding applications (at least one for fundamental research and one for applications). Other deliverables will include joint publications and research exchanges in the future.

A particular aspect of polymer matrix composites is that in most cases the material structure is defined in the final stages of manufacture. This provides both advantages and challenges. Existing composites technologies are reaching maturity (e.g. Airbus A350 and Boeing 787), and new material forms are being developed to take further advantage of the opportunities that composites can offer (e.g. spatially varying properties, multi- functionality, light weight). The detailed material microstructure (e.g. final fibre paths, local fibre volume fraction and imperfections) is determined by the various processes involved in their manufacture. These details ultimately control the integrity of composite structures, however this information is not available at the early stages of conceptual design and stress analysis. This lack of suitable predictive tools means that the design of composite structures is often based on costly iterations of design, prototyping, testing and redesign. This Platform Grant will help replace some of this empiricism with fully predictive analysis capabilities. A suite of advanced composite manufacturing simulation tools will be developed, and a dedicated team of experienced researchers will be established to sustain knowledge on new simulation capabilities for new and emerging manufacturing methods. In parts made by Automated Fibre Placement (AFP) much of the tow path optimisation to improve part quality and production rate is done at the manufacturing stage. The research will develop numerical models that can accurately predict the as-manufactured geometry and fibre paths, making virtual manufacturing data available at a much earlier stage of design, ensuring parts are manufactured right-first-time with a minimum of defects. For liquid moulding technologies, it is necessary to control the deformable fibre preforms during handling, deposition, draping, infusion or high pressure injection using stabilisation techniques. However, some of these technologies are not yet widely used due to the lack of suitable modelling tools. The team will build on their extensive understanding of the compaction and consolidation processes in composite precursors, complex preforms and prepregs to devise process simulation tools that will unlock the full potential of new liquid moulding technologies. To maximise the reach of this research, the team will ensure that the simulation tools are suitable for future industrialisation. The software generated will be fully documented, optimised and robust, so that it can serve as a focal point for collaborative research with academia and industry on advanced process simulation techniques for composites. In the longer term, hybrid preforms and aligned discontinuous fibre composites will be explored. Hybrid preforms incorporate tailored metallic inserts or reinforcements (e.g. produced via additive layer manufacturing). Such technologies can only be optimised if appropriate numerical tools are available for suitable multi-material process simulation. Aligned discontinuous fibre composites based on novel manufacturing methods require new constitutive models and process simulation tools so that their complex forming characteristics, thermal distortion and final microstructure can be accurately predicted to facilitate their adoption by different industries. Working at the forefront of composites technologies, this Platform Grant stands in a highly advantageous position to step ahead of the current manufacturing paradigm, where modelling and understanding are at best catching up with the technology development, and pave the way for the manufacturing of tomorrow.

The advent of carbon-fibre composite passenger aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350, has been primarily driven by the need to reduce structural weight. Higher operating efficiencies per revenue passenger kilometre also contribute to a reduction in environmental impact where 1 kg of fuel saved equates to a reduction of 3.15 kg of CO2 emissions. Indeed the European Union has set ambitious aircraft emission reduction targets by 2050 as the level of commercial air traffic is set to continue doubling every fifteen years. The high specific strength and stiffness, and corrosion and fatigue resistance of carbon-fibre composite materials, make them highly suitable for lightweight aerostructures. In laminated form, these superior properties are tempered by the material's relatively low through-thickness strength and fracture toughness which makes composite structures susceptible to impact damage. Carbon-fibre composites also have low electrical conductivity which necessitates the need for additional measures to ensure adequate lightning strike protection. The industry has adopted the use of a fine metallic mesh incorporated into the aerodynamic surfaces. This approach adds unnecessary weight to the structure as well as increasing manufacture and maintenance complexity. Composite materials also have low thermal conductivity which impacts on the design of anti-icing systems. In recent years, a number of research groups have explored the unique properties of nanoparticles dispersed in resin or introduced between lamina interfaces, to address these limitations. The use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) especially, generated much excitement due their phenomenal structural and transport properties. The results to date have been highly variable and have fallen well short of expectations. This is partly due to a lack of interdisciplinary collaboration where fundamental questions, requiring input from chemists, physicists, material scientists and research engineers, were not adequately investigated. The proposed research in MACANTA aims to rectify this by bringing together a team with highly complementary expertise to increase the fundamental understanding of the influence of physical and chemical characteristics of different CNT assemblies in pursuit of developing multifunctional composites which mitigate the known shortcomings as well as providing additional functionality. A unique aspect of MACANTA is the emphasis on understanding and exploiting the different forms of CNT assemblies to best serve specific functions and integrated within a single structure. The team has the unique capability of producing very high quality CNTs, produced as highly-aligned 'forests'. These may be harnessed in this form and strategically placed between plies to increase through-thickness fracture toughness. Beyond simply dispersing within the matrix, they may also be 'sheared' to produce aligned buckypaper, drawn into very thin webs or spun into yarns, where their respective electrical and thermal conductivity will be investigated. These CNT assemblies will be assessed for improving lightning strike protection and providing anti-icing capability. The piezoresistive property of CNT webs will also be explored for in-situ structural health monitoring of adhesively bonded composite joints. The successful completion of the research proposed in MACANTA will culminate in the manufacture of a set of demonstrator multifunctional composite panels. They will represent a significant advancement in the state-of-the-art and provide a competitive advantage to interested stakeholders. It will also provide an ideal training platform for the development of skills of three postdoctoral researchers and two associated PhD students funded by QUB.

The fundamental goal of this proposal is to Re-Imagine Design Engineering so that new ideas and concepts are generated rapidly, and where both the product and its associated manufacturing system (including its supply chain and people) are designed concurrently and fully tailored to each other. By doing this the >70% of lifecycle and supply chain costs that are "locked in" at the concept design stage can be understood, minimised and verified. This programme will target the transformation of Design Engineering via Interoperable Cyber-Physical-Social (CPS) Services in which: (i) engineering competences and multiscale physics are integrated by innovative digital capabilities, (ii) advanced analytics support capture of knowledge, enhance resilience and predict compliance by interoperable 'smart testing' and fully simulated lifecycle analyses to validate model-centric designs, (iii) novel business/supply chain models provide a transparent value stream from digital design through to manufacturing and pathways to ensure the UK develops the next generation of digital engineering talent. Our vision of the future where manufacturing systems are self-organising, self-aware and distributed, brings a radically different manufacturing industry than exists today. This leads naturally to identifying four major research challenges to this programme: 1. Interoperability - CPS Design Theory: How can we generate ideas and concepts rapidly such that artefacts are designed concurrently with manufacturing systems to create resilient extended enterprises with open communication throughout the whole system? 2. The Cyber World - CPS Modelling Design & Manufacture: How can we represent concepts virtually such that key design characteristics driving intended behaviour are understood, coded and realised via robust, intelligently manufactured product variants? 3. The Physical World - CPS Concept to Reality: What verification and validation concepts are needed to find the shortest and most beneficial pathway to physical realisation aided by a cyber-physical-socio manufacturing ecosystem? 4. The Socio World - CPS The Extended Manufacturing Enterprise: How can we translate and exploit concepts in new organisational structures within a cyber-physical-socio ecosystem to accelerate evolution of design solutions across extended enterprises? The four technical challenges are integrated and pose interdependent challenges. They form the four threads which are to be woven together in this programme. A range of approaches for modelling, evaluation and prediction are needed for the whole programme, and dealing with such diverse system entities from simulation models to individual human and business organisations necessitates a diversity of technical approaches. The concept of 'cyber-genes' and 'cyber-seeds' that can be used in an evolutionary approach form the core thread to provide a new CPS design theory but requires significant interlinkage with the other aspects. For example, CAD models in the cyber world are sufficient for some products, but in general systems are multi-functional and multi-disciplinary and will require a range of modelling methods to provide the necessary design evaluation data, such as with whole life costing. Similarly, although possible to communicate with manufacturing (e.g. CNC machines), feedback of intelligent data directly into a live design is not yet done, and new methods are needed in both design systems and the organisation to allow this capability. Overlaying evolutionary algorithms to these will necessarily require all elements to be adapted and changed, as both the system and underlying methods evolve. Therefore, these nature analogous processes and a range of alternative approaches (e.g. fractals, agent-based systems, response surface methodologies etc.) will be explored.

Laminated composites from dry carbon fibre preforms are increasingly being used to produce primary structures in several industries. However, the poor performance in the out-of-plane (through the thickness) direction, and delamination has been a cause of concern, requiring the careful analysis of load paths to limit out-of plane stress. Furthermore, this has a limiting effect on the design freedom for composite components and could challenge the use of composites for future aerodynamic or structural concepts. Several 'first-generation' methods have been proposed to improve out-of-plane performance including z-pinning, selective interlayers and hybrids, protective layers or resin toughening; one method that is becoming increasingly successful is to reinforce composites with a fibre that connects the layers together running from the upper to lower surface of the laminate. This method shows potential but has been limited by the lack of suitable materials available for through-thickness reinforcement where we have hitherto been limited to carbon fibre, glass, basalt, Aramid or other polymeric fibres. Also, there is a limited understanding of the mechanisms involved in out-of-plane rate-dependent response of composite materials. This proposal aims to develop a new understanding of through-thickness reinforcement and to research a method to produce composites with a through-thickness response which is designer defined. This will be done by placing a 'second-generation' manufactured yarn with optimised properties in the through-thickness direction, thereby enabling the design of optimum Ez (laminate through-thickness Young's modulus) for a given loading scenario. The new yarn will be made by compounding extrusion of a thermoplastic monofilament reinforced with carbon fibres of specified length, optimising material and process parameters, and using these yarns as through-thickness reinforcement in carbon fibre/epoxy laminates. The performance will be characterised and a predictive analytical elastic stiffness model will be developed. Also, the visco-elastic properties of the new through thickness yarn will be related to the transverse impact performance of the laminated composite. These subjects have not been previously researched and if successful, the results could be transformative and generate global impact for UK composites research and industry. In the future the research will benefit aerospace companies; with the proposed enhanced out-of-plane performance they could potentially design a pressurised blended wing, composite lug arrangement, stringer to skin interface and run-out, buckling critical locations, high impact locations, etc.