Element nominated for JEC World Innovation award

The nominated lightweight rail passenger seat support, manufactured from a fire-resistant bio-resin prepreg, is an offspring of the IntAir aerospace project - an EU-funded project which looked at refining materials and upscaling the manufacturing process for a new generation of aircraft interior composites that are cheaper, lighter and safer than the toxic, carcinogenic materials that are currently used.

The project involved teams from Element’s Hitchin (UK) and Berlin (Germany) laboratories who worked in collaboration with partners Bercella, an Italian manufacturer of composite parts, and Composites Evolution, a UK manufacturer of prepreg material, to deliver a safer and more sustainable alternative to traditional phenolics for equivalent cost and performance.

Matt Hopkinson, EVP Oil & Gas and Infrastructure at Element, commented: “This nomination is testament to Element’s role at the forefront of innovation in the TIC sector and how we partner with companies across industries to solve our customers’ problems.

“To meet the strict fire and weight requirements for aircraft interiors, the current solution is to use a fire-resistant composite made of phenolic resin with carbon or glass fibre reinforcement which has problems with cost, weight and safety. I want to congratulate our teams at Hitchin and Berlin, as well as our partners, for working together to find alternatives to the current materials and then qualifying them for use in manufacturing. Truly ground-breaking work.”

The JEC Innovation Awards celebrate co-operation between players of the composite community and reward composites champions, based on criteria such as partner involvement in the value chain, technicality or commercial applications of innovations. The award winners will be announced at a ceremony during the JEC World exhibition in Paris on 13 March 2019.

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