Young engineers at the cutting edge of slabstock foam technology

The King’s School Macclesfield has won the prestigious UK Engineering Development Trust Award for Innovation with a development for cell structure for flexible slabstock foam.

The team, working under the guidance of John Blackwell, Engineering and Technical Director with Opus Technical, which designs and sells PU foam manufacturing machinery worldwide, have completed a six-month project to help improve its product quality.

The team was tasked to find a solution to the problem of the polymer from which the foam is being produced being filed with too many irregular and large bubbles called pin holes.

The project involved a revolutionary laydown system that controls the release of unwanted air bubbles in the liquid foam, reducing the effect of pin holes.

John Blackwell, a Mechanical Engineering graduate, Chartered Engineer, and a STEM ambassador, said: “It’s a genuine privilege to work with these young students. They have a purity of scientific knowledge and they bring a fresh insight into the R&D process.”