The Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Automated Manufacture of Advanced Composites (AMAC) established under the Industrial Transformation Research Program (ITRP) of the Australian Government, commenced its operations on 29 May 2017. This UNSW led Centre is a collaboration between the Australian National University (ANU), the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and several industry partners.
AMAC@UNSW features world-class facilities for composite material design, analysis, lay-up, curing and testing, all under one roof. The centrepiece of the Centre is the Automated Fibre Placement (AFP) facility which is the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere. The facility includes a head for laying parallel thermoset prepreg composite tows as well as a specialized thermoplastic composite head for in-situ melding for one-shot part fabrication of bespoke high-performance composites. AMAC’s state of the art test facilities include testing capabilities from coupon level to large structures at various loading and temperature conditions. This includes a custom designed multi axial test bed that is equipped with dynamic actuators on a base isolated platform for testing large structures.
AMAC is also focused on developing and maturing its smart monitoring capabilities. This is a key component of Industry 4.0 that promises to better quality, reduce waste and hence drive down costs. AMAC has developed a novel application for embedded sensor technologies to monitor the processing conditions during the manufacture of composite components and structural health throughout the life of these components.
For more information please visit http://advanced-composites.co.
