We Conducted a Pleasant Interview with Mr. Mansur Çelebi
We talked with Mr. Mansur Çelebi,
and Business Development Manager of the Composite Technologies Center of Excellence, established in cooperation with Sabancı University and Kordsa; about the R&D studies carried out at the center and new technologies developed in composite production.
Could you please tell our readers about yourself and your professional background?
graduated from the METU department of Aeronautical Engineering in 1998. I got MSc degree from Anadolu University Information Technologies in 2004. I have completed my PhD on Polymer Composites in 2017 from Istanbul Technical University Aeronautics
and Astronautics Department and University of South Carolina, where my study was supported by Boeing company.
In 2021, I completed the Executive MBA program at Sabanci University Business School. Between 1998 and 2009, I worked as an engineering branch manager at 1st Air Maintenance Center, where the maintenance and modernization of jet aircraft is carried out. In 2009, I was appointed as a lecturer in the Air Force Academy, and later I became the Head of the Department of Space and deputy director at the Aeronautics and Space Technologies Institute.
In 2019, I started to work as a Strategy and Business Development Manager at the Composite Technologies Center of Excellence. I support the realization of research and
application projects with the leading companies of the sectors.
Could you please explain the establishment process and structure of the Composite Technologies Center of Excellence?
One of Turkey’s most innovative and research-oriented universities, Sabancı University and Kordsa established the Composite Technologies Center of Excellence-CTCE in 2016. It is an industrial-scale research and technology development center that provides design, analysis, optimization, prototype production, laboratory testing and process development services in the field of composite materials and additive manufacturing.
CTCE is a center of excellence born out of the cooperation between Sabancı University Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Research and Application Center (SUIMC) and Kordsa Composite Technologies. SU IMC continues its studies with a team of 11 faculty members, 15 post-doctoral researchers, 50 expert engineers and technicians, and approximately 90 doctoral and graduate students.
Established as the first university and industry cooperation model in the field of composite technologies, CTCE is among the few composite technologies development centers in the world and has become the pioneer of Turkey. CTCE aims to establish cooperation with industry players in various fields such as aviation, space, defense, automotive, maritime, energy, textile, sports and medical equipment in the global arena. Our center has AS9100D certification and ISO 17025 Test Accreditation, which are certificates of conformity with the Aerospace Industry Quality and Risk Management Standard, in order to provide
quality and standards compatible with the industry.
Our center starts from basic research and continues with process development and prototype production according to customer requirements. It is a transformation center that starts with the development and manufacturing of raw material, then transforms this
material into a functional part for the owner of the relevant sector, and finally commercializes the products with testing and certification processes.
The most difficult part during the establishment of the center was to find competent human power which includes academicians, researchers, engineers and technical teams and bring them together around a common goal. During this process, we contacted many of them from abroad and in the country to convince them to work at our center. When we explained the vision and goals of the center, many of them joined us with great enthusiasm.
The basis of the establishment of this center is to contribute to the domestic development of composite material and process development technologies by transforming our industry working in this field in order to support the production of composite material technologies, which had to be imported from abroad for years. In this model, our companies can carry out all the prototype studies in our center before making any investment, they receive the support they need from our experts, they carry out their work with industrialscale machines and make the necessary investments in case of reaching cost-effective solutions.
Thus, our companies can reach the solution they want at much more affordable costs and times, and they get rid of unnecessary resources and time.
What are the goals and objectives of the Composite Technologies Center of Excellence? What goals have you achieved since 2016?
The aim of our center is to bring industry and university together, to develop new generation, novel and high value-added manufacturing technologies, and to design and manufacture innovative and high-quality, multifunctional smart structures that can be used in many sectors such as aviation, space, defence and automotive.
It is aimed to provide our industry with a high value-added design and production capability with new generation precision manufacturing technologies such as advanced composite material technologies, functional polymers and nano-materials, additive
manufacturing and innovative integrated technologies. In this direction, it is aimed to establish a center where basic and applied research, technology development and pilot production are combined.
Since the establishment of our center 89 national and international projects have been successfully carried out, apart from the production and testing services we have provided to our customers. These projects consist of R&D and prototyping projects that we carry out directly with companies, TÜBİTAK, EU and other cooperation projects. Within the scope of these projects, we can give examples of the development and production of aircraft parts with new generation production technologies, the design and development of hybrid composites used in aviation and space systems, the design and production of many metal parts with additive manufacturing methods in the aircraft engine industry, the design and production of electric vehicle composite parts. In our center, we have researches also for a sustainable environment.
In this context, we offer innovative solutions for the recycling of expired polypropylene products into pure quality polypropylene using solvent-based technology with the EU-supported ISOPREP project. In addition, recycling-based and lowcost graphene can be produced with environmentally friendly graphene production. Polymer performance is increased by mixing graphene into thermoplastic and thermoset polymers. Applicability in various matrices is also provided with high amounts of graphene of different sizes.
What are the R&D studies you do in the field of composites and could you please tell us about your laboratories where you do R&D studies?
Our center has fully-equipped advanced composite process and prototype development capabilities that serve in all processes from the idea stage to mass production, from polymer development and testing to prototype production. In our open innovation center,
in addition to traditional part production technologies, parts are produced untouched by the automatic fiber placement method, which is the latest technology in composite part production. Starting from the development of special resin or epoxy formulations in line
with the needs of our project partners, we determine the production methods according to the number of production and costs needed in mass production, apply optimization and testing up to certification, we offer solutions to our industry partners. The following
production and laboratory facilities are located in our center.
In the Advanced Composites Manufacturing Laboratory, utilizing the Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) Machine we can manufacture much more complex composite parts, which is not possible with manual laying, can be produced precisely. Using our autoclave, we can manufacture high-quality aviation parts. In automotive and other sectors, we mostly use high temperature presses or resin transfer molding (RTM) methods. These methods are much more convenient and cost-effective for mass production. We can precisely trim and process metals and composite parts in our robotic production cell and using robotic water jet.
Additive Manufacturing Laboratory (AML) focuses on metal, high performance plastic, composite and hybrid Additive Manufacturing processes. AML starts from design, path planning and optimization, process development to testing and characterization. It provides solutions for all industries with SLM and DED machines integrated with 5 axis CNC.
Mechanical Testing and Structural Health Monitoring Laboratory was established to meet a wide range of thermo-mechanical and structural testing standards with its diverse test setup and equipment. The mechanical properties of all kinds of materials are characterized and reported in accordance with national and international standards. Technical data sheets, fatigue and damage tolerance characteristics are provided. Utilizing the dynamic and static testing equipments, quasi-static and dynamic tests between 0.2 N and 250 kN range can be performed. These tests can be performed also at temperatures between -150°C and +500°C.In our laboratory, we also use non-contact measurement technologies such as: high resolution Digital Image Correlation (DIC), thermography, acoustic emission and Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) based sensors. Tests for the aging and moisture retention capabilities of the materials can be carried out in the conditioning chamber.
Material Characterization Laboratory, covers the thermal, thermo-mechanical, rheological and structural characterization of all composite materials and individual components used
in composite manufacturing. Our lab is capable of characterizing the thermal properties of materials by means of thermo-gravimetric (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal conductivity measurements. Modulated, high pressure and flash DSC can also be conducted. Additionally, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA), heat deflection temperature (HDT), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), FT-IR spectroscopy, thermal conductivity and contact angle measurement tests are also available. We can define thermal stability and degradation behavior and thermal transition of materials under load and controlled, variable heating and cooling rates.
Wet Chemistry Laboratory; this laboratory was equipped for different kinds of synthetic experiments from the production of newly designed monomers and nanomaterials to polymer synthesis. Also, surface functionalization is performed to get better interfacial
interactions between nanomaterials and the chosen matrix. The instruments in the wet chemistry lab provide burn-off ignition test, volatile content test, density measurements, void content test, water uptake at room and elevated temperatures for composites and plastics according to national and international standards. In addition, besides the tests, nanomaterials like graphene, CNTs and HNTs as well as ceramic materials can be synthesized and later be incorporated into composite resins or thermoplastics.
Polymer Processing Laboratory, offers improvement of structural, thermal and mechanical properties of thermoplastic polymers and production of advanced functional composites based on industrial needs. It also provides thermoplastic polymer compounds, new formulated masterbatches, resins, coatings and improved manufacturing processes. The lab is equipped with machines such as twin-screw extruders and high shear compounding machines. Polymer process aims to serve engineering plastics (PE, PP, PA, ABS) sectors by producing thermoplastic resins like PEEK, PEKK and synthesizing novel monomers.
Control, Vision and Robotics (CVR) Laboratory, develops real-time control and vision systems and integrates control systems and computer vision along with machine learning in the interdisciplinary field of robotics. It focuses on visual servo control, robot vision, cooperative control of multiple autonomous robotic systems. CVR Lab provides real-time control, vision algorithms and software solutions.
Design and Analysis Laboratory aims to develop novel design methodologies and theories in order to simulate various problems based on the demands of the industries.Starting from the materials, method of manufacture, geometry, performance and the associated production cost, we provide the best appropriate solutions. We provide design, detailed structural analysis, performance and failure analyses, behaviour analyses including fatigue, creep and environmental effects, novel modelling tools for a wide variety of problems.
Flammability Testing Laboratory offers test capabilities according to aerospace and railway industry standards which require detailed and sensitive handling and execution of flammability tests. Moreover, textiles, foams, construction materials, engineering plastics and polymers can be tested per related standards of each sector.
Could you please tell us about the research you have done in your Advanced Composite Manufacturing Laboratory and the new technologies developed as a result of these studies?
In our Advanced Composite Manufacturing Laboratory, new generation materials and prototype parts development studies are carried out, which are especially needed by the aerospace, defence and automotive industries. We can give examples of the projects as; development and production of new generation aircraft control surfaces with automated fiber placement method, design and development of boron reinforced hybrid composites, design and production of various metal parts for the engine industry with various additive manufacturing methods, electrical vehicles battery casing and composite part productions. Together with KORDSA we successfully completed the development of slit tape/ tow-prepreg materials used in automated fiber placement machines which is an advanced technology composite production method. The tow-prepregs that could not be produced in our country before was manufactured and took its place in KORDSA’s portfolio as commercial products.
How do you evaluate the development and future of the composite sector in Turkey?
The main actors of the advanced composites sector are the aviation, space and defense industries. Similarly, in the automotive industry, metal parts are now replaced by composite parts. In the aviation industry, Turkey is one of the few countries that can develop and manufacture its own aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and its own defense vehicles. Therefore, the development of composite material technologies in Turkey will continue to grow. The Turkish otomative industry is one of the largest suppliers to major automobile companies. As the automotive industry starts transitioning from metal parts to recyclable composite parts, our companies need to keep up with this change and realize their transformations. CTCE will be the biggest supporter of our companies at this stage.
What are your thoughts on university and industry cooperation? Could you please tell us about the contribution of your cooperation in the composite sector to the industry?
As academia and industry, when both actors are parts of an inseparable whole, high value added products can be developed and you can direct the technology. In this way, we can take our place at the top, in the league of developing countries. Today, since the technology develops and changes so rapidly, you need to possess the entire chain, from basic scientific research to prototype production.
As a research and application center, we focus on our research in line with the needs of the industry, and it is among our priorities to try to contribute to the sector to take the right steps in line with the needs by blending the results of these researches with the trends of the composite industry.
I believe that we can realize much more important technological projects in this center with the contributions of our companies and that we can achieve sustainable growth in our country.
