Smart Design of New Composite Materials with Chemical Simulation

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£250,000

May 31, 2023

Nov. 30, 2023

The composite materials industry is one of the UKs best examples of manufacturing. Representing £4.0 billion of the UK economy, the industry will be key to creating carbon fibre parts for the future of green air travel and hydrogen storage. In order to support these developments, new plastic (otherwise known as polymer) materials need to be researched and brought to market faster. Many leading UK research institutions have identified that smart design through chemical simulation will drive discovery of the next generation of materials. The greatest barrier to this adoption of simulation tools in the materials industry is a lack of skilled computational chemists in the workforce.

Molydyn has developed Atlas, an accessible chemical modelling platform can put simulation tools into the hands of all materials scientists. Chemical simulation can save £100,000s in material discovery projects by screening new polymers virtually before taking the best ones into the laboratory. These tools can predict material properties in hours rather than weeks of lab experiments. They are also far more resource efficient: no disposable gloves, single use plastics, or solvents are needed to virtually test materials.

This project will expand the capabilities of Atlas, so that it can be used to simulate the viscosity of new polymer formulations. Viscosity is important when infusing carbon fibres with polymer, which can be incredibly resource intensive. Simulating the viscosity of polymers will allow for the discovery of optimised polymers that reduce the time and cost of manufacturing composite materials. This grant will also fund lab testing of commercial polymer systems that can be used to validate the simulation tools, and will be an important case study for future industrial customers.

The output of this grant will power Molydyn's growth for the future. Expanding Atlas will make the platform more appealing to industry and academia alike. Coupled with the compelling case study, this project will support Molydyn's sales and become a core part of the future of Atlas. This comes at an important time for Molydyn who will be raising a pre-seed investment round at the end of 2023\.