Say Hello To Richard

This is Richard, one of the composite laminators at work.

The laminators lay down the individual plies (or layers) of carbon fibre into moulds in specific directions to make the parts. The orientation of the fabric is important, and helps build upon the inherent very high strength and low weight of carbon fibre. This is then bagged up in a vacuum bag and placed in an autoclave (a big oven that can apply pressure as well, think of it as a big dry pressure cooker). This makes the epoxy resin cure hard and support the fabric in the required shape.

Sorry if you have fallen asleep...

Our composite shop is expanding at the moment, with new people starting on a regular basis as we cope with more work, both external and for ourselves.