Haydale to develop graphene enhanced composite tooling and automotive body panels

Haydale (Loughborough, UK), announced Oct. 22, adding to a statement released by Briggs Automotive Company (BAC, Liverpool, UK) in Sept., that it has been awarded a research and development grant from the Niche Vehicle Network (Leicestershire, UK) to develop graphene enhanced composite tooling and graphene enhanced automotive body panels.

A grant of £249,600, of which Haydale will receive £120,000 has been awarded to the consortium that Haydale leads, joined by Briggs Automotive Company and Pentaxia (Derby, UK). BAC is a British manufacturer of the Mono, the world's only road-legal, single seat super car. Pentaxia is specialist in tooling design, machining and composite production.

Through development in this core strategic area, Haydale is looking to reduce cycle times compared to existing tooling methods, as well as reduce weight and increase performance of component material.

While the focus is on the automotive sector, the project provides a wider opportunity for Haydale to look at tooling materials across several markets, particularly where there are throughput constraints. Researchandmarkets.com reports that the global tooling market for the composites industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.1% over the next five years to reach US$ 1,457.4 million in 2022.