The project is one of the three Synergy Promotion projects funded by the Future Composites Manufacturing Research Hub (£10.3m investment by the EPSRC), led by Dr Han Zhang at Queen Mary University of London (https://cimcomp.ac.uk/people/han-zhang/). The proposed research will develop great synergies between ongoing Hub research activities and three new academic contributing institutions, achieving novel collaborative research on energy efficient and cost-effective composite manufacturing with a clear contribution to advance the UK’s composite manufacturing capabilities. This project links the expertise and experience of seven academic and industrial contributors, addressing the need of sustainable development of composite sector alongside multiple Hub priority research themes.

The ECOTOOL project will contribute to achieving the Net Zero with a significantly enhanced energy efficiency during composite manufacturing, with reduced cycle and lead time from traditional tooling.