A new initiative to drastically cut the time needed to make complex composite aircraft components has been launched with the award of a prestigious EPSRC High Value Manufacturing Catapult Fellowship.

Prof Richard Day will work with the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing (AMRC) and the National Composites Centre in Bristol (NCC) to develop microwave technology that industry could use to cut curing times, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Richard is Professor of Composites Engineering at Glynd?r University, in Wrexham and an expert on the rapid manufacturing of composites, critical for the next generation of aircraft. He founded the North West Composites Centre at Manchester University before joining Glynd?r University in 2010, where he helped form the Advanced Composites Training and Development Centre with Airbus in Broughton, Flintshire.

He will work closely with both the AMRC and NCC to develop microwave ovens as an alternative to conventional technology, using autoclaves - ovens that heat components under pressure.

Researchers have been using microwaves to cure composites for some years, but have yet to develop robust processes that could be used by industry to make geometrically complex parts, as opposed to flat panels.

Richard Day said: "I am delighted to be awarded this fellowship which will allow me to be embedded in two prestigious research centres and to take the results of my research from the laboratory into production.

"I'm very grateful to the companies who supported my application."

Those backing the Fellowship application included engine developers and defence and aerospace giants.

The four year research programme will explore and overcome manufacturing problems associated with microwave curing, before going on to make complex components, identical to those used in aeroplanes.

"We have a number of plans for developing the microwave curing of composites over the next four years, taking it from the laboratory and turning it into a robust industrial process," says Richard.

"It takes a long time to cure composites by conventional means and using microwaves significantly increases the speed.

"The use of composites by the aerospace industry, in particular, is going from strength to strength. More than 50 per cent of some aeroplanes are now composite and that has put pressure on the supply chain all of a sudden."

AMRC Composite Centre Manager Richard Scaife said: "We see this fellowship as a strategic collaboration to further microwave technology in the UK.

"The collaboration will enable the UK to remain at the forefront of microwave processing of composite materials. We're very pleased to have Richard on board and look forward to a fruitful collaboration with all partners."

NCC Collaborative Research Manager Dan Kells said: "We have been aware of the potential for microwave curing for a number of years. We hope that this fellowship will develop microwave curing so that it can become a real industrial process. This in turn will enable composites to continue to compete as a major structural material for aircraft and other applications."