Project description
Rollable composites could be rolling off the production line soon
Composites have replaced metals in numerous applications thanks to their high performance and strength combined with their lighter weight. However, the difficulty in joining them means they must be manufactured as complete ‘monolithic’ components. Combined with their stiffness, packaging, transport and mounting are a challenge. MadFlex is an innovative composite sandwich design and production process leading to flexible or rollable panels that can be implemented at existing facilities for about the same cost. The EU-funded MadFlex project is conducting a feasibility study to fine-tune applications, the business plan, a partnership deal with a manufacturer and the route to venture capital support.
Objective
Composite Sandwiches are a special class of composite materials combining structural performance to lightweight, which are increasingly used in aerospace, building, automotive, sport and leisure sectors, with an estimated CAGR of 8% in the next 5 years. One of the drawbacks consist in their stiffness and difficulty in joining together different parts, which imply the need to produce monolithic components, increasing enormously costs and complexity of realization, transport and mounting. CoRe has developed and patented MadFlex: an innovative composite sandwich design and production process, which makes the panel flexible (even rollable) on the one side and rigid/crushproof on the other, at comparable cost and using the same production facilities. MadFlex can replace standard composites in different sectors where flexibility can be a keystone to simplify storage, transport and mounting or can substitute flexible polymeric materials adding structural performance to lightness. In the aerospace sector CoRe is collaborating with Arescosmo and ESA for the development of rigid foldable structures for satellites; Leonardo and Airbus for producing fuselage and wings elements for aircrafts. The strategy to get to the market is to involve composite manufacturers under a license agreements for specific applications. The Serviceable Available Market (SAM) in the building, aerospace, transportation and sport /healthcare is estimated of 323 M€/y of which MadFlex could take >100 M€/y in 5 years through a portfolio of 14 applications. This will correspond to royalties for CoRe of 6.7 MEuro and EBIT of 5M€ (75% margin). The objectives of the feasibility study are: 1) Validate the technical feasibility and definition of 2 use cases in Aerospace and Architecture for demonstration in phase 2 project. 2) Define an agreement with 1 manufacturer; 3) Refine the Business Plan and Implementation Plan to reach the market; profiling and identification of VC to support the upscale.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
10064 Pinerolo (TO)
Italy
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.