Composite materials, technologies and manufacturing: current scenario of European union shipyards

This paper provides the results and analysis of a study conducted on processes technologies currently used by European Union shipyards, their potential interest in new advanced composite construction technologies, including Adaptive Moulds, Automated Tape Laying, Fibre Placement, Curved Pultruded Profiles, Additive Manufacturing, Hot Stamping, Modular Serialised Shipbuilding Digitisation Production. A set indexes are also introduced with objective facilitating evaluation technological level shipyard, thereby allowing understanding shipyard's developments. The survey shows that almost 95% shipyards either use or plan to materials, being composites made fibreglass polyester resin most used. These mainly manufactured manual lamination vacuum infusion techniques. has shown there is high shipyard digitisation shipbuilding industry, especially for shipyards. despite want adopt engineering design processes, implementation concepts held back financial cost uncertainty regarding outcomes such as improved operational efficiency vessels. do not less technologically than those them, according indexes. index have more varied market offer.