Optimised composite materials improve competitiveness
The Industry’s Composite Laboratory is collaborating with the Danish company Tuco Marine Group in developing a new generation of boats made from carbon fibre reinforced composite materials.
The Danish company Tuco Marine Group was founded in 1998. Originally, the company was a shipbuilding yard, focusing on pleasure boats. Today, their focus has changed and the company is now manufacturing light structures such as hulls for the maritime sector and other large composite structuresfor completely different industries as well.
Previously, Tuco Marine was an order-producing company only, for which the customers supplied designs and material specifications. With the new boat series, Tuco Marine will be in charge of design and approvals, which requires great knowledge of materials properties, calculations and test standards, knowledge to which The
The lightest design that has been found is a CFRP-based (carbon fibre reinforced polymer) design, reducing the weight by 35 %, while material costs may be reduced by 24 %. In order to minimise production costs, the last step of the design phase emphasises reduction in the production-time, which requires close cooperation with Tuco Marines’ employees.
Changed focus requires greater knowledge
Tuco Marine has entered into a cooperation with the Industry’s Composite Laboratory with the purpose of optimising the design and the composite materials used in their boat series, ProZero, in order to obtain a lighter and less resource requiring boat series.Previously, Tuco Marine was an order-producing company only, for which the customers supplied designs and material specifications. With the new boat series, Tuco Marine will be in charge of design and approvals, which requires great knowledge of materials properties, calculations and test standards, knowledge to which The
Industry’s Composite Laboratory can contribute.
Reduction of costs is a means of maintaining the production in Denmark
The aim is to design one boat type for various applications, e.g. work-boats, life boats or speed boats. At the same time, it is necessary to reduce the production time so that the company becomes competitive enough to maintain production in Denmark.The lightest design that has been found is a CFRP-based (carbon fibre reinforced polymer) design, reducing the weight by 35 %, while material costs may be reduced by 24 %. In order to minimise production costs, the last step of the design phase emphasises reduction in the production-time, which requires close cooperation with Tuco Marines’ employees.
The Industry’s Composite Laboratory
The Industry’s Composite Laboratory (Industriens Kompositlaboratorium) is a partnership between FORCE Technology, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (The Technical University of Denmark) and Aalborg University. The purpose is to enhance the knowledge content and innovation of composite materials, especially in small production plants. The Ministry of Higher Education and Science supports the project.