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McGill University
Hub International Partner Lead Academic: Professor Pascal Hubert
The Structures and Composite Materials Laboratory at McGill University is based within the Department of Mechanical Engineering, ranked 2nd in Canada. There are 35 professorial faculty staff, 250 students including 110 PhDs, 100 internships per year, and 6 research themes focused around Aeronautical Engineering and Design.
The Laboratory’s major industrial partners include Boeing, Convergent, Toray, and Avcorp, and in addition to major funders including the Composites Innovation Centre, Canadian Light Source, NRC CNRG, and NSERC CRSNG, the Laboratory is working on smaller research projects with over 100 partners.
The Laboratory is headed by Professor Pascal Hubert, whose research interests lie in the manufacturing and testing of composite material structures, and the development of nano-modified polymer composites, and Professor Larry Lessard, whose research interest lie in the design and development of composite structures, and the optimisation of composite material components. Facilities at the Laboratory comprise composites characterization, processing, simulation, and NDE.
The research cluster focuses on sustainable manufacturing, nanostructured composites, thermoset composites, thermoplastic composite processing, polymer composites processing, processing (mechanical relationship), and processing induced defects. In composites sustainable manufacturing, research focuses on thermoplastics, biocomposites, automation, smart tooling, simulation, and recycling, including prepreg recycling for the aerospace industry. In processing, research examines process modelling, characterization methods, process development, autoclave and out of autoclave process modelling, RTM, VARTM, AFP, RTI, SQRTM, compression moulding, diaphragm forming, ATP, welding, micro CT during processing, prepreg tow impregnation modelling, stochastic modelling, complex shapes processing, design charts, void modelling approach, and parametric studies.
The Composite Materials Research Programme at McGill brings together the McGill Institute for Aerospace Engineering, the Research Centre for High Performance Polymer and Composite Systems (CREPEC), and the Composites Research Network (CRN). CREPEC (www.crepec.com) is a network of 7 universities and 5 colleges across Quebec and Canada to train highly qualified personnel (HQP) in the field of high performance polymers systems and composites. The CRN develops manufacturing simulation as a tool to create and capture manufacturing science, in an integrated science base, to make better science-based manufacturing design decisions. The CRN works with a variety of different industries, from aerospace OEMs to industrial SMEs, to protect, advance, and disrupt manufacturing practice, and aims to demonstrate the value of this ‘Knowledge in Practice’ approach in education, research, and industrial practice. This approach focuses research on: material characterization; instrumented processing equipment; simple models to capture phenomena; and knowledge transfer from the lab to the application.
For more information on the Laboratory’s facilities, research, sponsors and collaborators, download their presentation, or visit their website: