Consortium

Overview of the consortium

MC4 gathers 16 partners from 9 different European countries. covering the whole value chains: process developers, material manufacturers, end users manufacturing the composite parts. The association of the skills and know-how of the partners will enable the collaborative creation of a sustainable and viable circular process for composites.

The consortium of MC4 is coordinated by Profactor. The 16 partners are:

  • Profactor (Austria)
  • FIDAMC (Spain)
  • GAIKER (Spain)
  • CIDETEC (Spain)
  • STFI (Germany)
  • 3B Fibreglass (Belgium)
  • VDL Fibertech Industries (the Netherlands)
  • CEA (France)
  • Techtera (France)
  • Amura (Spain)
  • Managing Composites (Spain)
  • IRES (Greece)
  • LAB23 (Italy)
  • Chomarat (France)
  • i-RED (Austria)
  • NOMA RESINS (Poland)

The partners in detail

Profactor – Website

Profactor is an Austrian non-university research centre, developing production technologies such as robotics, machine vision, augmented reality and processes for functional surfaces. In the field of machine vision Profactor is developing inline inspection systems for carbon fibre composite materials, pre-forms and parts.

FIDAMC – Website

FIDAMC is a foundation dedicated to Research on carbon fiber and developments of demonstrators between TRL3-TRL6. We were created in 2006 between Airbus (EADS at that time) and the regional government of Madrid.

GAIKER – Website

From 1985, GAIKER Technological Centre, located in the Technological Park of Bizkaia (Spain), is devoted to the development of new technologies and knowledge in Biotechnology, Recycling, and Plastics and Composites. GAIKER has carried out close to 1500 R&D projects with industries and academia collaborations.  In the field of recycling GAIKER has a wide experience in recycling processes for post-consumer waste from different streams (WEEE, C&DW, ELV, etc.). By means of these recycling treatments at GAIKER, the materials are recovered from complex waste streams with the required quality to be returned to the economic cycle in a circular economy approach.

CIDETEC – Website

CIDETEC is a private organization for applied research founded in 1997 in Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain) that seeks to generate and transfer technological knowledge to companies. CIDETEC currently employs a workforce of 215 and its volume of activity came up to € 15M in 2021. In MC4, CIDETEC will work on reprocessable glass-fibre reinforced epoxy composites based on dynamic covalent chemistry.

STFI – Website

Saxon Textile Research Institute (STFI) is a German non-profit research institution. Process-related and product-related research work of STFI covers classical textile technologies as well as innovative technical solutions for a wide range of applications in nonwovens and technical textiles. STFI runs a Competence Centre of Excellence in Nonwovens, a Centre for Textile Lightweight Engineering and an Accredited Textile Test Laboratory as well as a Certification Department for Protective Textiles. Currently, the Centre for Sustainability is under construction and will be inaugurated in summer 2022.

3B Fibreglass – Website

3B Fibreglass is a leading developer and supplier of glass fibre (GF) products and technologies for the reinforcement of polymers to serve the automotive & the wind industry. GF circularity and waste management, CO2 emission reduction & use of renewable energy, Industry 4.0 are parts of the 3B’s sustainability agenda.

VDL Fibertech Industries – Website

VDL Fibertech Industries is a supplier for fiber reinforced composite parts, specialized in thermoset sandwich design. Fiber reinforced composites are mainly used for high stiffness and lightweight applications where conventional (metal) materials do not meet requirements anymore. With our experience and expertise in engineering for manufacturing, we come to high-quality and cost-efficient parts. Our modern production facility is suitable for small-to-large series parts in RTM, RIM and Hot-pressing.

CEA – Website

Created in 1945 to pursue the development of the nuclear civil and national defence technologies, CEA today contributes to the reindustrialisation of France and to the development of renewable energies. CEA Grenoble is the first technologic & research centre of the region with 6000 employees. Within it, the CEA-LITEN is a French reference in renewables energies and circular economy.

Techtera – Website

Techtera is the French innovation cluster dedicated to the textile industry. It leads a network of more than 258 members with the main objective of boosting competitiveness through collaborative innovation.

Amura – Website

Amura is a company focused on the nautical sector where we manufacture composite parts (GRP, carbon, etc…) and we are at the forefront in the production of bioresin parts. We prepare from the model to the final piece, manufacturing both manually and by vacuum, etc. Without forgetting the high gloss finishes that are so much in demand in this sector.

Managing Composites – Website

Managing Composites are a team of experts on the Composite field on all areas of the product development and manufacturing process. From the blank sheet to market release, industrialising a factory or developing a new material. Managing Composites is a one stop shop for all your composite needs: Conceptual design, Product business analysis, Detail Engineering, Simulations, Quality, Project Management, Technology Selection, Manufacture and Training.

IRES – Website

IRES is an R&D consulting company, established in 2015, providing specialized services in the fields of Sustainability & Circularity, Risk &(nano)Safety, Data Science & Materials Science Digitization. IRES is actively involved in more than 20 H2020 funded research projects, leading the activities on environmental and cost assessment, sustainability and eco-design, data management plans (DMP), machine learning (ML), risk assessment and safe-by-design.

LAB23 – Website

LAB23 offers a varied range of products – benches, bus or car canopies, bins, bollards, planters, bike racks, tree grates – for a total of about 200 products meant for both public and private clients. All products are characterized by a contemporary design combining rigid, essential shapes with soft and sinuous ones and high-quality, high-resistant materials that require very little maintenance costs. To achieve this, LAB23 chooses materials like galvanized steel, stainless steel, corten steel, hardwood, and HPRC (composite material).

Chomarat – Website

Established in 1898, CHOMARAT is a French industrial textile group, with a large range of know-how based on mastery of complex technologies. For Composites manufacturing, CHOMARAT provides glass and carbon woven, multi-axial fabrics and complex. The family-owned company employs 1000 people in 4 countries (France, Tunisia, the United States, and China).

i-RED – Website

i-RED Infrared Systems GmbH realizes spectroscopic real time monitoring solutions for the control and optimization of chemical and physical production processes. The technological core of these process monitoring solutions is a new in-house developed FTNIR or FTIR technology specifically designed and optimized for industrial use. Besides this i-RED has developed the SpectroPLC technology which is enabling the implemenation of almost arbitrary spectral sensors into a fully automated process spectroscopic system (e.g. UV/VIS, NIR, MIR, Raman).

NOMA RESINS – Website

NOMA RESINS is a SME from Poland, specializing in the production of resins, in particular epoxy resins. The offer of NOMA also includes auxiliary materials necessary in the technological process of composite production. NOMA produces, among others, prepregs in the form of textiles and tapes as well as SMC/BMC materials (also with recyclate) and composite elements (e.g., for public transport). Taking advantage of the fact that NOMA produces its own formulation, the company has the ability to personalize products and improve them in cooperation with clients and according to their needs.