Welcome from the Director

Professor Constantinos Soutis

Director of the Northwest Composites Centre (NWCC) and The National Composites Certification and Evaluation Facility (NCCEF)

The application of carbon fibre has developed from small-scale technology demonstrators in the 1970s to large structures today such as the Airbus A380 super jumbo airliner and Boeing 787. The main advantages provided by composites include mass and part reduction, complex shape manufacture, design optimisation, improved fatigue and corrosion resistance. Some of the challenges restricting their use are material and processing costs, impact damage, repair and inspection, size effects on strength and conservatism associated with uncertainties about relatively new and sometimes variable materials, which can lead to extensive testing.

Our mission at NCCEF is to provide UKAS accredited testing and characterisation, supported by research and analysis that enable our clients to make informed and, where required, difficult choices through providing innovative and creative solutions. It is accepted that designs in composites should not merely replace the metallic alloy but should take advantage of exceptional composite properties if the most efficient and price competitive products are to evolve. NCCEF offers a flexible business model and team structure; we have a small dedicated technical team, but are able to call on a large network of academics and other trusted experts within the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences of the University of Manchester that can support the research and development needed by our clients to improve their products and enter new markets.

We work in a highly collaborative and creative way with capability to process, test and analyse all types of composites. Welcome.