Center for Composite Materials:
Creating Uncommon Functionality
from Common Materials

In the 1980s, the Center for Composite Materials (CCM) distributed bumper stickers, coffee mugs, and T-shirts displaying the motto The Future Is Composites.  Although the composites industry has undergone major changes in the two decades since that slogan was created, Director Jack Gillespie still believes in it.  “We’re seeing a renaissance in composites,” he says.  “There is tremendous potential in this field, and there aren’t enough qualified people to meet the current needs.”

But the Center is doing its part to meet the growing needs of the composites field:  from educating composites engineers, to conducting cutting-edge research on a broad spectrum of topics, to transitioning technology to government and industry.

“The three components of our mission—education, research, and tech transfer—are all closely linked,” says Gillespie.  “Major support from the government, primarily through centers of excellence, enables us to conduct high-quality research, and we transfer the technology developed from that research to interested companies through our industrial consortium.”

“In turn,” he continues, “our research and tech transfer programs provide the strong foundation of knowledge, people, and facilities that enables us to educate next-generation composites scientists and engineers, as well as offer continuing education to practicing engineers.”

CCM’s status as a National Center of Excellence (COE) began more than two decades ago, in 1985, when UD received a grant from the National Science Foundation to establish an Engineering Research Center for Composites Manufacturing Science and Engineering.  Since then, the Department of Defense has funded COE programs at CCM through the Office of Naval Research, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

The ARL programs epitomize CCM’s success as a COE:  First funded by the Army Research Office in 1986, the ARL Composite Materials Research (CMR) Center is now entering its third phase and will take CCM to the end of its third decade as a national COE.  The program is slated for funding at a maximum level of $18M for nine years.

“Our new agreement with ARL, implemented in May 2006, establishes a comprehensive interdisciplinary program of collaborative research, personnel exchange, and facilities-sharing that focuses on multifunctional composites and structures for lightweight vehicle protection,” says Gillespie.  “And, while it continues a long-term collaboration with ARL, we won the grant through a new competition—the new Materials Center of Excellence (MCOE) is not just a continuation of an existing program.”

According to Gillespie, in the long term, the new MCOE will establish the fundamental science base for multifunctional composites through research in five focal areas:  multifunctional materials and structures, multi-scale modeling, electromagnetics, power, and manufacturing.  The specific projects conducted each year are delineated in an annual program plan.

“Our research philosophy draws on a modeling-based ‘materials-by-design’ approach that is aimed at accelerating the insertion of multifunctional materials into Army systems,” Gillespie says.  “The program will combine the best attributes of the public and private sectors and thereby create a seamless, synergistic, cooperative, ‘open-lab’ environment for University researchers and Army scientists and engineers.”

“We’re very gratified that this long-term collaboration with the Army is ongoing into the next decade,” he continues.  “Quantitatively, the first phases of the program have been a huge success—two Army Science Conference Siple Medals, more than 300 papers and reports, and some 20 patents.  But even more important than what the numbers show is the underlying success story—student internships at ARL, our graduates working for the Army, and numerous technology transitions to the Army and its industrial contractors.”

“The structure of the program provides the highest level of collaboration, accountability, and responsiveness to maximize research productivity and benefits to the Army.  That’s what has enabled the MCOE programs to work so well for everyone involved.”

Gillespie also points to the success of the Center’s relationship with industry.  “Established in 1978, the consortium continues to be healthy and is going strong,” he says, “with more than 65 companies participating last year.”

The Center’s “vertical integration” approach is the key to CCM’s success and uniqueness compared to other university programs, according to Gillespie.  “We start at the foundation,” he says, “with the facilities and expertise needed to synthesize new materials, develop new processes, and characterize the properties of these materials from the nano- to the macro-level in a full CAD/CAM design and manufacturing environment.”

“We then build on our network of government and industrial contacts to identify and fill the technological gaps to provide lightweight and affordable solutions,” Gillespie continues.  “Our capabilities in multi-scale materials, process, and performance modeling enable accelerated insertion of materials into evolving and new applications.”

“As we approach the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Center in 2009, the use of composites in commercial aircraft—the traditional application area for these materials—is on the rise,” Gillespie says.  “At the same time, we’re seeing growth in the use of composites in sporting goods, personal protective equipment, infrastructure, and automotive applications.  I truly believe that ‘the future is composites.’”

by Diane Kukich

Editor’s Note:  For more information about CCM, visit the Center’s web site at http://www.ccm.udel.edu.  For more details about specific research projects, view the CCM poster book at http://www.ccm.udel.edu/Pubs/2006posterbook.html.