A collaborative project between eight industry partners and three universities has secured almost £2m to research the use of 3D woven composite material for application to aircraft structures.

The Breakthrough Aerospace Materials project, known as BAM, is a three-year scheme designed to advance the manufacturing techniques and simulation of 3D textiles in the UK and to make them commercially available.

The £1.8m funding for the project has been provided by Innovate UK as part of plans to invest up to £10m in collaborative research and development and feasibility studies.

The successful consortium is led by Runcorn-based Sigmatex alongside Loughborough's M Wright & Sons; Antich & Sons in Huddersfield; and Wirral business Teledyne CML Composites.

They will work with BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, ESI and MSC Software. The education partners involved are the universities of Nottingham, Manchester and Bristol.

It is hoped the expected benefits of the project will include structural light weighting, reduced manufacturing and inherent assembly costs.