Formtech Composites

Formtech Composites specializes in the design and manufacturing of lightweight structures using fibre composite materials.
The company is based on Milton Park, Oxfordshire, UK, in the heart of the so-called "Motorsports Valley" - home to the majority of Formula One Teams.
The business environment is driven by the performance-oriented F1 Team clientele, their fast pace and an infrastructure of qualified suppliers.
We have a highly skilled team of experienced composite designers, engineers and technicians managing engineering and production.

Design of individual parts and wider solutions, working closely with the customer throughout the design process.
Finite Element Analysis - calculation of the properties of the part / module / solution in order to fulfil the technical specification.
Prototype Testing and Validation using Non-Destructive Testing Methods, including Ultrasonic and Acoustic Emission testing.
Formtech Composites Engineering accompanies the customer from an early stage of the project, to the final stage of engineering to the final stage phase of engineering, with the hand-over into prototype production, where engineering is still involved for optimization of the solution.

Our design team works closely with our customers, creating composites designs at all levels - from concept evaluation through to final detailed design.
The design team is responsible for the production of CAD geometry for tooling and products, drawings and ply books.
CAD geometry is effectively a virtual part created by the designers, used to produce drawings that are then referenced during manufacture.
The beauty of CAD geometry is that it may easily be edited if the design constraints change, or if Finite Element Analyses indicate a change is required.

Physical testing is an expensive part of the design process.
The time and cost involved in building and testing prototypes may restrict the number of iterations a particular design may go through.
This may lead to missed opportunities for weight saving or design optimisation.
By incorporating Finite Element analyses into the design process, unnecessary rounds of physical testing may be eliminated while maintaining the scope to optimise a design.
Additionally, Finite Element analyses can offer insight into behaviour such as delamination, debonding and fatigue crack growth which may be difficult or impossible to detect during physical tests.

Testing of Structural Composites Components is an important part in the process of developing Composites Solutions.
At Formtech Composites, we use two main Non Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques: Acoustic Emission Testing and, for Composite Sanity check, Ultrasonic Testing.
Non-destructive testing is an important part of the research and development phase of composites solutions, as well as manufacturing.
Formtech Composites is experienced in a number of techniques used to analyse composites.