The main aim of the Technology Station is to provide companies within the manufacturing sector with subsidised services and assistance in product design, prototype development and tooling design, development and manufacture.

The main objective is to ultimately assist these companies to become more competitive via technology transfer. The rate of subsidisation involved depends on the size of the company, turnover, ownership and the particular project.

Within the Technology Station there are three operating units.

Design Unit
The TS design unit specialises in conceptual design and design verification of metallic and non-metallic fabrications and systems and makes use of some of the most sophisticated design analysis software and techniques (like finite element analysis – FEA) available. The Unit focuses on conceptual design, design analysis, optimisation and verification of non-metallic (and metallic):

Aerospace and other advanced structures
Custom fabrications
Pressure and vacuum vessels
Process tanks and vessels
Specialised process equipment


Prototyping and Testing Unit
The TS prototyping unit specialises in the fabrication of prototypes and tooling for the composites sector. Composite materials such as glass fibre, Carbon fibre, aramids and other high performance materials are utilized.  The unit offers CNC machining services to our clients, from general profiles to intricate 3D models. All are machined to tight tolerances.

The prototyping unit also offers a broad range of mechanical testing services. These tests include:

Tensile strength, shear strength, flexural strength, Barcol hardness, Mass fraction, Optical microscopy, Degree of polymerization, Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA)

Advanced Manufacturing Unit
The Advanced Manufacturing Unit specializes in tooling design, development and manufacture.  The laboratory is a well-equipped CNC machining center whose staff are experienced in plastic injection mould design and manufacture.  The advanced manufacturing unit boasts the following facilities:

Computer aided design and machining (CAD/CAM)

CNC turning center
3 & 5 axis CNC milling
Universal & turret mills
Surface grinder
Shadow graph
Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM)