Composite

Boeing has announced that it has become the founding industrial member of the University of British Columbia’s composites research network (CRN), a development, which will help Canadian scientists transform ideas in composite manufacturing into practical applications.

Boeing Research and Technology global technology director William Lyons said this collaboration has the potential to generate new applications of composite processing technology not only within Canada’s aerospace industry, but in other fields such as the automotive and resources sectors.

“This collaboration has the potential to generate new applications of composite processing technology."

University of British Columbia’s Department of Materials Engineering CRN director Anoush Poursartip said that Boeing would provide guidance and support to a research centre that is based on an equal partnership between the creation of knowledge and its practice.

In order to support the Canadian composites industry, CRN will partner with other composite initiatives, including the nation’s composites manufacturing research and development consortium hosted by the Composites Innovation Centre (CIC) in Manitoba.

CRN was founded in 2012 and comprises a Vancouver hub based at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus; a Kelowna node at UBC’s Okanagan campus; a Victoria node at the University of Victoria; and a Manitoba node at CIC in Winnipeg.

In addition, CRN plans to establish nodes in Alberta and Saskatchewan regions.

Boeing’s collaboration with the CRN will also support Canada’s industrial and regional benefits (IRB) policy, which requires prime contractors to make investments in order to gain defence and security contracts with Canadian Government.

At present, Boeing has four active IRB programmes associated with the procurement of the CC-177 airlifter; ScanEagle unmanned aircraft systems services, and CH-147 helicopter.


Image: Composites are developed by integrating materials together to form a structure that is better than the individual components. Photo: courtesy of PerOX.

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