Cheshire-based Cygnet Texkimp (www.cygnet-texkimp.com), which makes bespoke machinery for processors of fibre and plastic, paper and other materials, has supplied a 3,000-position 3-D weaving creel to the Composites Centre at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) (www.amrc.co.uk).

This will be used with the AMRC’s 3-D weaving loom and Jacquard to produce woven structures from carbon, ceramic and other technical fibres for automotive and aerospace applications.

Chris McHugh, Composite Centre dry fibre development manager, said: “The AMRC is taking dry fibre processing for composites to a new level in the UK. Significant investment in advanced technologies will help manufacturers to develop composite solutions for wide-ranging applications in automotive, aerospace, space and beyond.

“We need to control the tension of fibres, vary their speed and minimise degradation. This advanced 3-D weaving creel from Cygnet Texkimp helps us to do that.”

The two organisations first worked together in 2014, and in 2018 the AMRC commissioned Cygnet Texkimp to design a 2-D weaving creel that is also housed at the Composites Centre.

The company’s product director, Chris Furphy, said: “We are delighted to be working with the composites team at the AMRC again, as two British manufacturing brands supplying solutions to the global composites industry.”