This year's show ran from 2-3 November at the NEC in Birmingham and the NCC exhibited alongside over 750 supply chain engineering exhibitors across all high-performance engineering sectors.

The NCC stand featured a range of innovative exhibits, including the Automated Fibre Placement (AFP) and 3D reinforced components from its Tier 1 Core Research Programme. The NCC Tier 1 members, Airbus, GE Aviation, GKN Aerospace, LEONARDO Helicopters, QinetiQ, and Rolls-Royce shape the Core Programme, which aims to overcome challenges shared by all members.

The stand also showcased cutting-edge strain sensor technology developed by the University of Bristol. The HiPerDuCT Novel Hybrid Composite Overload Sensor is a patent-pending, robust, lightweight, offline sensor for detecting overload conditions. This sensor is easy to use, with no special NDT techniques or training required and can detect a range of strains from approx. 0.3 to 2%, in multiple orientations, according to the manufacturer.

Read the full story on our Inside Composites website