Dr James Kratz, University of Bristol / Airbus

Industrial Fellowships 2024

Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellow Dr James Kratz is Associate Professor of Composites Processing at the University of Bristol. He works within the Bristol Composites Institute and leads research focused on studying and optimising the composites manufacturing process. Following a PhD in his native Canada from McGill University in 2013, he moved to the University of Bristol where he was a Research Associate, Lecturer, and Senior Lecturer. Dr Kratz was a Researcher in Residence at the National Composites Centre and has acted as project lead and co-project lead for a range of UKRI funded research projects concerned with composites manufacturing. 

Carbon fibre composites are essential in the move to decarbonise air travel, significantly reducing aviation emissions in like-for-like metal replacement and will be the backbone of novel aerodynamic efficient wing designs. Forming these advanced material sheets into complex aerodynamic shapes without defects, quickly and economically, is difficult. Current research has identified that defects are generated much earlier in the value stream and that it is difficult to improve the defect state after the material is deposited. This understanding was achieved by a team of students, researchers, and collaborators, who have worked in partnership to develop a suite of instruments to study advanced composite materials during deposition, forming, consolidation and curing. 

The Fellowship will focus on taking an existing product shape that was difficult to make at an efficient rate and propose new ways to make the part based on academic research. The different approaches adopted in the process of making the part will be compared and contrasted with the original industrial approach to support product design and manufacturing processes innovation. 

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