The focus of the manufacturing research is on reducing cost - not only in the production but also in reducing maintenance and increasing reliability. Cranfield are studying new low cost reinforcement fabrics to determine the relationship between laminate properties, impregnation techniques and construction. Additionally, development of other promising methods will be pursued such as dry fabric laminating, trans-laminar reinforcement, single sided stitching and tufting.
A major part of the manufacturing cost stems from the tooling required for the job. This is particularly important for low volume production UAVs and for UAVs which are expected to be heavily modified for different missions. Warwick are thus developing new tooling techniques and processes to reduce costs and provide increased flexibility.
Modern structures are expected to have integrated components embedded within the structure itself. Liverpool are researching Direct Laser Fabrication (DLF) methods for creating these so called SMART structures and aim to take their current methods into the micro regime.
