Manufacturing of Continuous Fiber Reinforced Composites: Advances in Technology and Sustainability

Continuous fiber reinforced composites gained increasing relevance in recent years in many high-end applications. Due to their high mechanical properties along with low weight, composite use is widespread in many sectors such as aerospace, automotive and energy. Composites production process traditionally strongly relied on manual labor, resulting in long manufacturing processes and high production cost; this aspect, along with relevant environmental impacts associated with composite manufacturing, can limit composites use on an industrial scale. Hence, there is a scientific and industrial need to develop innovative manufacturing processes for composite materials, integrating aspects such as automation, digital manufacturing, sustainability and eco-design within the industrial production paradigm.

Despite the strong and growing industrial interest in composite materials, several aspects related to manufacturing processes, process optimization, and environmental sustainability still require significant improvement. Current composite production systems often face challenges in terms of efficiency, scalability, material utilization, and environmental performance, limiting their broader and more sustainable industrial deployment.

The goal of this Research Topic is to evaluate and critically discuss the most recent advances in composite material technologies, with a particular focus on product, material, and process optimization in automated manufacturing systems, together with the environmental sustainability of production processes. By integrating manufacturing science, materials engineering, and sustainability assessment, this topic aims to provide a comprehensive perspective on how composite manufacturing systems can be improved from both a technological and environmental standpoint.

This Research Topic focuses on advanced composites manufacturing processes and their sustainability.

Some of the key aspects being explored in the Research Topic are as follows:

• Advanced manufacturing processes for continuous fiber composites, including but not limiting to Filament Winding, Automated Fiber and Tape Placement, Pultrusion and other automated technologies.

• Integration of Digital Technologies, application of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning for process and components optimization

• Digital manufacturing approaches for composite production, including process monitoring, data-driven optimization, and simulation-based design

• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and environmental impacts evaluation of composite materials, processes and component

• Sustainability driven process and products design

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

Keywords: Continuous fiber composites, FRP, Oriented fiber architectures, Manufacturing process, Automation, Sustainable manufacturing

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.