News 2020: A year of obstacles and progress for DCMC At DCMC, we look back on 2020 with mixed feelings. We have been able to make good strides this year in several areas but, of course, DCMC has also encountered the obstacles of the corona crisis, which still has the Netherlands and the rest of the world in its grip. Nevertheless, we have certainly moved forward. Not as far as we would like, but we have made progress at DCMC on which we can continue to build in the coming year and in the period after the pandemic.For this reason, we would like to briefly look back on the past year, which has almost come to an end, as well as forward to 2021. Where do we stand and what are DCMC's plans for the coming year?Check out the infographic:   Progress and uncertainty As mentioned previously, feelings about 2020 are mixed. Yes, the corona crisis has brought a halt to many things and we have only been able to realize our ambitions to a limited extent. Nevertheless, we also conclude that we have made progress in various areas on which we can continue to build in the coming year. Much is still uncertain and will remain so as long as Covid-19 has not yet been overcome and continues to affect the sectors in which our partners operate to a greater or lesser extent.Opportunities for the futureHowever, as every crisis in the past has proven, it also offers opportunities for the future. An example can already be seen in the aviation sector, where older aircraft types are being decommissioned earlier to make way for new, more energy-efficient aircraft in which composites are used to a large extent.We would like to invite you to "think ahead" with us about new projects, innovations and partnerships that will take the maintenance of composite structures to a higher level. Together, we can prepare for a future in which composites and their maintenance will play an increasing role in making the economy more sustainable.Last but not least, we would like to wish all of our partners and business relations a happy holiday season, despite the current limitations, and a healthy and successful 2021.Special thanks to:

News DCMC receives additional subsidy for realizing field lab at Business Park Aviolanda The Development Center for Maintenance of Composites (DCMC) has been granted an additional subsidy as part of the Regio Deal Midden West Brabant Makes & Moves. In total, DCMC’s subsidies now amount to € 900,000 for projects including the setting up of a public smart industry field lab at the Business Park Aviolanda location in Woensdrecht. The grant allows DCMC to make concrete plans for the realization and operation of the field lab, where companies and knowledge institutions can develop, test, target and implement smart industry solutions for sectors such as aerospace, marine, automotive and wind energy.Martin Knegt, Managing Director of DCMC, is thankful for the trust and belief in DCMC’s mission to become a well-established center of expertise with a dedicated field lab to which companies with specific issues can turn. Knegt: “With this grant we will be able to start our research center dedicated to innovations on maintenance on composites, a type of structural material that is increasingly being used in various industrial sectors and applications”. Great locationBusiness Park Aviolanda is the aerospace innovation hub for community building and market development in Europe. It is the Dutch one-stop shop for maintenance and knowledge exchange, located next to Woensdrecht Air Base. Aviolanda is actively developing clusters, such as those for composite maintenance and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The DCMC field lab will be a great addition to the maintenance, innovation and research cluster. DCMC’s presence will stimulate partnerships and attract new businesses in the field of maintenance. With a background in aviation, DCMC will be open to other industry sectors in order to share knowledge and expertise across the borders. Moreover, DCMC will be available to regional training and education institutes as a center for practical training and learning on composites. This will attract students to become specialists in the maintenance of this innovative material and increase employment opportunities.Knegt: “With the additional subsidy we can now join forces in one physical location to gain further practical experience and test new ideas. The field lab at Aviolanda will help to facilitate research and create a collective knowledge database for all participants, while also reducing individual research costs. We aim to attract more partners and collaborate with other companies located on the business park, as well as other aerospace, automotive, marine, energy and infrastructure companies.”Regio Deal Midden- en West-BrabantThe subsidy…

News DCMC supports AIRTuB initiative, optimising turbine blade maintenance The offshore wind industry is developing at high speed. Throughout Europe, many offshore windfarms show innovative solutions in the field of construction and operation to make windfarms more efficient, cost-effective and safer. But what about maintenance? Fieldlab Zephyros, an initiative aimed at improving offshore wind energy performance, recently launched the AIRTuB (Automatic Inspection & Repair of Turbine Blades) project to help optimise turbine blade maintenance by developing a fully autonomous inspection and repair drone. DCMC is a proud supporter and participant of the project, together with partners such as TNO, InHolland, NLR, STORK, Eneco and TU Delft.The challengeAt sea, offshore wind turbines face harsh circumstances that affect the operating life of the machinery. The condition of the turbine blades needs to be closely monitored and repairs must be carried out at the right time. However, current inspection and repair techniques make this virtually impossible. The complex and costly maintenance operations require the deployment of many resources and specialists that can only be performed in calm weather conditions.Developing a fully autonomous UAV By developing a fully autonomous UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and sensor crawler, the AIRTuB initiative aims to provide fully automated and autonomous inspection and repair of turbine blades. Besides reducing the LCOE (Levelised Costs of Electricity) of offshore wind turbines, this will help to reduce downtime, limit the need of on-site maintenance and decrease the number of man-hours spent at sea for maintenance. Thereby also reducing safety risks for maintenance personnel.First phase: drone prototypeThe project recently received a € 3 million subsidy from the Dutch government and is currently in its first phase, focusing on the development and testing of a drone prototype equipped with a sensor package.The project consists of a total of 7 work packages:Sensor package researchAutomated drone ResearchDrone prototyping integration and testingData processingAutomated coating of bladesErosion modelling and repair recipeAsset management strategyExternal knowledge disseminationRole of DCMCAt DCMC, we underline the importance of the project’s objective to make composite maintenance more efficient. Our contribution to the AIRTuB project consists of the dissemination of the results to our network as well as offering the use of our new facilities and test area at Business Park Aviolanda in Woensdrecht for the next phase of the project.More informationTo read more about the AIRTuB project:  https://www.worldclassmaintenance.com/sub-project/airtub-automatische-inspectie-reparatie-van-turbinebladen (DUTCH)For an interview with the Program Manager of Fieldlab Zephyros, Ferry Visser, see: https://www.worldclassmaintenance.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Fieldlab-Zephyros-LR.pdf (ENGLISH)

News Patched repair paves the way for onsite repair of composite structures In October 2019, DCMC partners have successfully performed a demonstration patch repair on a composite panel. The planned repair was a milestone in DCMC’s innovation track Field & Onsite Repair of Composite Structures. This project is sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Defence and designed to develop an onsite solution for automated structural repair of composite structures with long-term quality assurance.The exponential growth in the use of composite materials in aviation is leading to problems with regard to the repair of these materials. Where composites techniques are being perfected, little is known about the quality and durability of repairs of composite materials. Only a scarce number of specialised technicians can perform these repairs, but the materials cannot always be moved to where the defective aircraft is located. Repair patchAs part of this innovation track DCMC partners developed a repair method that can be automated and applied at location. This method was tested on a demonstration repair panel manufactured by KLM. First, the TU Delft and TiaT measured the geometry of the panel and inspected the damaged area using Ultrasound and Thermography. From these measurements a data file was created that was used by GKN-Fokker to manufacture the repair patch. A mobile milling machine was used to cut a circular area out of the repair panel around the damaged area. A film adhesive was cut to shape and placed onto the panel cut-out and patch. Final bonding of the patch was done by GKN-Fokker and SPECTO using a heated blanket and vacuum bagging to cover the repair area. A hot bonder composite repair system was used to control the vacuum and curing temperature. The bottom side of the panel was covered by a foil to prevent vacuum leakage and adhesive outflow. After curing for two hours at 120 °C the blanket and bagging was removed. As the last step, excessive adhesive was removed from the repaired area. Microscopic inspectionThe next step will be Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) by TU Delft and microscopic inspection of the bonding interface by Royal NLR. The data generated by this demonstration repair will be used to further investigate automation of the entire repair chain from automated inspection to automated milling and application of the repair patch. Algorithms will be developed to combine NDI inspection data and geometry of the damaged area in order to create…

News DCMC will be present at MRO Europe 2019 exhibition The Development Center for Maintenance of Composites (DCMC) will be present at the MRO Europe 2019 exhibition, which will be held in London, UK from 16 to 17 October. MRO Europe is Europe’s most important exhibition where airlines, MROs, suppliers, OEMs, regulators, lessors and industry experts converge to explore and define the aviation maintenance industry.As the world’s foremost cluster of knowledge in the field of composites inspection, maintenance and repair, DCMC is of potential interest to many of the 447 exhibitors and 9000+ attendees at MRO Europe. DCMC is looking forward to meet  representatives of companies and research institutions interested in long-term partnerships to combine and share knowledge and expertise. By continuously developing innovative projects, DCMC keeps strengthening its excellent competitive position as an international hub.DCMC will be present at the Holland Pavilion of NAG (Netherlands Aerospace Group), a trade association that supports the Dutch Aerospace and Airport Development sector. DCMC will be represented by MD Martin Knegt and advisor Roland Grimm.DCMC at MRO Europe 2019, 16 to 17 October, Holland Pavilion of the NAG, booth 331, ExCeL London, London, UK.

News Martin Knegt appointed as Managing Director of DCMC Martin Knegt, Manager Support at GKN Fokker Services, has been appointed as Managing Director of the Development Center for Maintenance of Composites (DCMC)."Composite materials are increasingly used in aerospace and other industries,” says Martin Knegt, who has a long background in the aerospace industry, “but maintenance of composite materials is mostly unchartered territory.” Following his Aeronautical Engineering studies, Martin Knegt started as Project Manager at Fokker Aircraft in 1984 and has worked in various positions at Fokker Services since 1996 before joining DCMC.A center to turn to with specific issuesMartin: “My ambition is to turn DCMC into a well-established center of expertise with a dedicated field lab that companies can turn to with specific issues. Our main challenges are realizing solutions for the inspection of structural composite components, automation of repair processes and the certification of such repairs. Realizing this whilst meeting regulations is the most challenging for the aerospace industry.”Market opportunities to grab“Right now we still see low-tech solutions for the inspection and repair of high-tech composite materials that are increasingly being used for the fuselage, wings and fairings of airplanes. Our ambition at DCMC is to create automated and robotized on-site inspection and repair methods in order to minimize downtime of aircrafts. One idea is to use robots working inside a mobile clean room to cut out the damaged section and repair it with a composite patch.”“Likewise, I believe recycling of composites should be high on our agenda, since at present there is no viable solution. We would like to find ways to separate the resin from the fibers to re-use these valuable raw materials in meaningful applications. Thereby making sure composite fuselages and wing structures don’t just end up in massive airplane graveyards.”DCMC: facilitating research“Our goal is to facilitate research and create a collective knowledge database for all participants, whilst reducing individual research costs. We aim to attract more partners and collaborate with companies from aerospace, automotive, marine, energy and infrastructure. We also want to work closely together with the regulatory bodies for certification issues and educational institutions to give them the opportunity to gain practical experience and test new ideas in our field lab.”At present, DCMC is comprised of Fokker Services, Specto Aerospace, the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory NLR and the Delft University of Technology and has partnerships with six other companies.

News JEC World 2019: Marco Brinkman on Composites and Sustainability From the 12th to the 14th of March 2019 JEC World will take place in Paris Nord Villepinte, France. JEC Paris is biggest show in the world dedicated to composites market. At this event professionals meet with the worldwide composites industry dedicated entirely to the development of know-how and business connections channels and platforms supporting the growth and promotion of the composite materials industry. In 2019, JEC World will focus on Aero & Space, Auto & Transport, Construction & Energy and Sports & LifeStyle.Marco Brinkman, chairman of the Development Center of Maintenance of Composites, will participate in the Round Table at the Agora Stage, Hall 5, F99, held from 11.00-12.30. He will share his insights during the Country on Stage program which focuses on the National Composite Agenda of CompositesNL at 11.45 AM.Composites and sustainability: repair and maintenanceAt 11.45 AM Marco Brinkman will talk about the link between sustainability and maintenance of composites. He will explain how the Development Center of Maintenance of Composites approaches sustainability by focusing on the repair of composite structures and maintenance for design. The conversations at the Agora stage will be led by Jason Palmer (The Economist).Dutch National Agenda CompositeAt the end of the Country on Stage program, The Dutch National Agenda Composite will be handed over to Maarten Camps, Secretary General of Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Marc Hendriks from the top team of High Tech System & Materials (HTSM) and Pieter de Gooijer, the Dutch ambassador in Paris.During JEC World, Marco Brinkman - chairman of Development Center for Maintenance of Composites, is available for interviews and questions via m.brinkman@spectoaerospace.com.