Composite Structures Development

Southern Research provides rapid, turnkey development of composite structures and components for commercial and military applications. With more than 50 years of composite materials experience, we provide customers with real-world, innovative design solutions with a focus on low-cost manufacturing methods. Southern Research has in-depth knowledge of composite mechanics, available materials and their properties, structural capabilities, design, analysis, manufacturing, and testing. Our skilled engineers and technicians work closely with our customers' product engineers to improve performance and lower manufacturing costs, tailoring the development process to available time and resources.

Development Process

Application Identification and Requirements Definition. This initial phase includes interpretation of commercial and military specifications, ranking and selection of components that benefit most from transition to composites, and rigorous definition of needed product performance and attributes.

Engineering. Our composite experts perform material and process trade studies/selection, design for performance and manufacture, and structural, thermal, and dynamic analyses.

Prototype Fabrication. A wide variety of in-house and contract process types are available, with an emphasis on extrusion compression molding (ECM) of long fiber reinforced thermoplastics (LFRT). In addition, VARTM, RTM, autoclave, injection molding, and most other composite processes can be utilized.

Validation and Qualification Testing. Southern Research has an established history of more than 50 years of materials testing with continuous support of DoD, NASA, and commercial customers. Recent addition of a large structures static and dynamic test lab allows complete in-house qualification programs in an ISO, DoD, and FAA-conforming quality environment.

Production and Technology Transfer. Southern Research can transfer developed products and processes to sponsors or manage external production. In-house ISO quality and specification support, combined with extensive composite supply-chain experience, complete the turnkey engineering development process.