CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/697353
JULY 2016 22 CompositesWorld WORK IN PROGRESS » Termoplastic composites in aircraft structure have long been scrutinized, because this class of materials has the potential for fast forming, weldability, inherently superior fatigue performance and fre/smoke/toxicity (FST) properties. Considerable research has been funded by OEMs Airbus (Toulouse, France) and Te Boeing Co. (Chicago, IL, US) in everything from tail to wing to fuselage structures. As a result, smaller thermoplastic composite parts, such as clips and cleats and interior structures, have been adopted, and aerostructures are currently in series production, including aircraft foor panels and fight-critical structures, such as the Airbus wing leading edges on several models. Further, the vertical tail plane on the Gulfstream Aerospace (Savannah, GA, US) G650 is a thermoplastic composite construction. (See the Side Story on p. 25 and Learn More on p. 26.) A big hurdle, however, has remained: How to cost-efectively manufacture larger thermoplastic aerostructures — wingskins and fuselage sections — with acceptable part porosity, out of the autoclave. Such technology is being investigated by aerospace entities concentrated in Spain, in a series of research projects funded by Airbus Defense and Space (ADS, Getafe). Te Fundacion para la Investigacion, Desarrollo y Aplicaciones de Materiales Compuestos (FIDAMC), located near Getafe, has demonstrated OUTCOME, a project under the Clean Sky 2 program, aims to industrialize out-of-autoclave thermoplastic primary aerostructure. Thermoplastic wings on the horizon? By Sara Black / Technical Editor that carbon fber/thermoplastic wing structure can be directly manufactured via automation without autoclave consolida- tion, reducing processing steps and ultimately, part cost. Its latest research vehicle, called OUTCOME (OUT of autoclave COMpositE wing), aims to eventually ground test and then fy a thermo- plastic composite wing structure, says Fernando Rodríguez Lence, FIDAMC's senior composites expert. OUTCOME will be funded by Clean Sky 2, a massive, European public/private partnership that brings together companies, universi- ties, public laboratories and the European Commission through 2024 with a budget of €4 billion (US$4.56 billion). Clean Sky 2's ultimate goal is to develop and demonstrate civil aircraft technologies that maximize fuel efciency and cut aircraft emissions and noise. Thermoplastic AFP FIDAMC has investigated its large-part, out-of-autoclave (OOA) thermoplastic composite technology over several years, in four previous projects aimed at developing automated lamination with laser-beam heating, in-situ consolidation and co-consolidation of complex parts, using CNC fber placement equipment from MTorres (Torres de Elorz, Navarra, Spain). Work began with the TARGET- CENIT Program in 2010, which produced fat panels. ICARO, funded Out-of-autoclave primary structure This thermoplastic demonstrator panel, showing a new method prac- tical for combining stifeners and skin for very large aerospace parts in a co-consolidation process, was recently completed at the Fundacion para la Investigacion, Desarrollo y Aplicaciones de Materiales Compuestos (FIDAMC) near Getafe, Spain, under an Airbus Defense and Space project called ISINTHER. Thermoplastic development is continuing at the research center in a new project, OUTCOME, with new funding from Clean Sky 2, aimed at fight-testing an all-thermoplastic composite wing structure by 2020. Source | FIDAMC