Dr Ian Bond from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol and colleagues from Imperial College London have been awarded a four-year research grant of £1.2 million from the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) and DSTL (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory). The research entitled 'crack arrest and self-healing in composite structures' (CRASHCOMP) is looking at developing methods to arrest, redirect and self-heal compression fracture in composite structures. 

The main beneficiaries of the research will be engineers within UK aerospace, marine and transport industries. The research will offer potential solutions to significantly improve the damage tolerance of composite components.

A free annual CRASHCOMP workshop will be held at University of Bristol and Imperial College London on alternate years, providing a forum for academics, researchers and industry to review the results and influence the direction of the programme. For further details of CRASHCOMP, please contact Dr Ian Bond and Dr Emile Greenhalgh.

Dr Bond’s work is carried out within the Multifunctional Composites Group within the Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science in the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

For more details, read the article in Research News.