FEBRUARY 2018
48 CompositesWorld
FEATURE / Thermoplastic Composites
Read this article online |
short.gardnerweb.com/Tape2Words
Read more about thermoplastic aero clips and
brackets in "Inside a thermoplastic composites
hotbed" | short.compositesworld.com/CWHotbed
Read more about thermoplastic welding in
CW's Plant Tour, titled, "Fokker Aerostructures:
Hoogeveen, The Netherlands" |
short.compositesworld.com/FokkerTour
CW considered the question "Thermoplastic
composites: Primary structure?" in May 2011 |
short.compositesworld.com/PrimaryTPC
Read more online about "Aerospace-grade
compression molding" |
short.compositesworld.com/AeroCM
Read more online about "TAPAS 2: Next steps in
thermoplastic aerostructures" |
short.compositesworld.com/TAPAS2next
CW asked the question, "Thermoplastic composite
wings on the horizon?" here |
short.compositesworld.com/WingsTPC
Read online about how "Thermoplastic composites
save weight in rotorcraft aerostructure" | short.
compositesworld.com/RotoTPC
Get another perspective on this subject in
"Thermoplastic composites technology:
A view from Europe" |
short.compositesworld.com/EuroTPC
Finally, there is the question of cost. PEEK and PEKK currently are more expen-
sive than the epoxies with which they compete, but that is expected to change. "Cost
is predicted to go down as volume increases," says Offringa, "if it grows strongly, as
expected, with the increased application in highly loaded primary structures." (See
Learn More.) ATC's Leach agrees, noting that, although thermoplastic tapes have
enjoyed decades of use, volume remained small. "OEMs have a lot of experience with
composites and tend to favor tapes," he says. "e big driver for conversion from ther-
moset to thermoplastic is cost. How can we make thermoplastic parts affordable?"
Porcher's Quéfélec agrees. "e whole value chain ... has to re-challenge the
business case. High cost hurts competitiveness, compared to thermosets. TRL [tech-
nological readiness level] lags, but it is catching up."
Barrday's Buck puts it simply: "e thermoplastics industry could use a polymer
with PEKK/PEEK capabilities, but at the price of PPS."
Going forward
ese real and potential flaws — lack of tack, gaps, waviness, non-uniformity —
engender downstream challenges that, although manageable, make thermoplastic
tapes more difficult to process than competitive alternatives. is, in turn, has
slowed their adoption in high-performance applications. e advantages they offer,
however, are real, and that has spurred much investment in research and develop-
ment of technologies and processes to help push this material into larger struc-
tural parts. "e basic innovations have been done over the last two decades," says
TenCate's Unger. "e major innovation going forward will be process and automa-
tion maturity and the expansion of part fabrication infrastructure."
On the manufacturing side, the ermoplastic Affordable Primary Aircraft Struc-
ture (TAPAS) consortium, led by GKN Aerospace Fokker, is developing for Airbus
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