Sallea extends salt-based templating to advanced composite manufacturing 

Sallea, an ETH Zurich spin-off specialised in templating technologies for biomanufacturing, is expanding the application of its proprietary salt-based structuring platform into the field of advanced composites and high-performance materials manufacturing. 

At the core of Sallea’s technology is the controlled shaping of water-soluble salt cores, which act as temporary templates during manufacturing. These cores enable the creation of complex internal geometries and cavities that are difficult to realise with conventional tooling approaches. Following part consolidation, the salt is removed through dissolution, leaving behind precisely defined internal structures without the need for permanent cores or complex demoulding strategies. 

Originally developed for applications in biomanufacturing, this templating approach is now being evaluated for composite processes where geometric complexity, weight reduction and process integration are key performance drivers. The technology is compatible with a range of manufacturing routes, including liquid moulding processes such as RTM, as well as thermoplastic processing approaches involving co-moulding or overmoulding. 

Compared to traditional core materials such as foams, honeycombs or sacrificial mandrels, salt-based templates offer a distinct combination of design freedom and process robustness. The cores can withstand typical processing conditions while enabling the integration of internal features such as channels, lattice structures or functional cavities. This opens up new possibilities for monolithic part design, reducing the need for secondary bonding operations and enabling more efficient load path-oriented structures. 

From a manufacturing perspective, the approach also contributes to process simplification and material efficiency. By enabling more integrated geometries, it can reduce the number of components and assembly steps. In addition, the use of salt as a templating material introduces advantages in terms of sustainability, given its abundance, low cost and potential for reuse in closed-loop systems. 

As industries such as aerospace, mobility and industrial equipment continue to push towards lightweight, high-performance and more sustainable structures, such templating technologies could play an important role in enabling next-generation composite architectures. 

Cover photo: Sallea sample kit (source: Sallea)