Techni-Modul is a partner in the Clean Sky 2 “Optimized Composite Structures” (OPTICOMS) project, which has designed a composite wing demonstrator comprising a lower wingskin, multiple ribs and an upper wingskin with three spars. The consortium also includes small aircraft OEM Piaggio Aerospace (Savona, Italy), Techni-Modul Engineering and AFP equipment suppliers Coriolis Composites and Danobat. ![]() Israel Aerospace Industries (Lod, Israel) was selected as the coordinator for OPTICOMS in July 2016. 2) is part of an AIRFRAME Innovative Technology Demonstrator (ITD) for evaluating and maturing technologies toward technology readiness level (TRL) 6 for next-generation aircraft in production from 2025 onward. OPTICOMS has designed a composite wing demonstrator comprising an upper wingskin with three spars, produced as an integrated structure in a one-shot process. Organized within Work Package B-1.2 (“More affordable composite structures”), OPTICOMS aims to reduce small aircraft (e.g., regional jetliner) production costs via integrated structures and automated manufacturing, exploring both prepreg and liquid resin methods. Techni-Modul Engineering saw an opportunity to adapt C-RTM for aerospace during its role as a partner in the Clean Sky 2 “Optimized Composite Structures” (OPTICOMS) project. It has also worked with Electroimpact (Mukilteo, Wash., U.S.) AFP equipment to demonstrate deposition rates of up to 150 kilograms/hour for a full-size spar aerostructure. The thermoplastic veil also adds toughness to the final laminate, and we have demonstrated that we can achieve high material deposition rates with the next generation of AFP machines.” In a May 2015 SAMPE paper, Hexcel describes a single-curvature preform manufactured using 0.25-inch-wide HiTape applied with a laser-equipped Coriolis Composites (Quéven, France) AFP machine at a layup speed of 1 meter/second. “HiTape is calibrated, and is not a slit tape, so there is no fuzz and there is less variation in width for improved AFP processing. “With this, you don’t need to use powder binder to hold the UD layers in place,” explains Pagnac. For HiMax, this veil is interleafed between NCF plies for HiTape, the veil is applied to both sides of the carbon fiber unitape. With both HiMax and HiTape, Hexcel integrates layers of thin, low-areal-weight thermoplastic filament veil that act as a binder, eliminating the need for powder binders historically used in dry materials for preforming and liquid molding. Since 2016, Hexcel L eicester has also been working on HiMax solutions for aerospace applications with major OEMs. Now NCF materials have been used in a wing demonstrator project completed by Airbus Defense and Space (Airbus DS, Cadiz, Spain) and Danobat (Elgoibar, Spain) using the latter’s Automated Dry Material Placement (ADMP) technology - a type of automated fiber placement (AFP) for NCF (see “Proving viability for dry fabrics infusion for large aerostructures”) - and in the Airbus-sponsored ZAero project for zero-defect CFRP structures such as stringer-stiffened wingskins (see “Zero-defect manufacturing of composite parts”). The lightweight, spread-tow multiaxials produced at this facility already had a long history of providing solutions for demanding applications such as racing yachts, supercars and Formula 1 racecars. HiMax materials are made at the previous Formax facility in Leicester, U.K., which Hexcel acquired in 2016. Hexcel has worked to reduce bulk and improve drapability with HiMax NCF, including a fine, 20 dTex stitch yarn. “We can achieve properties equal to latest generation UD prepregs,” Pagnac adds. HiMax enables large, flat structures such as wingskins to be laid up quickly, while HiTape enables tailored layups for large, complex structures with minimal waste. Hexcel has developed its HiMax noncrimp fabric (NCF) and HiTape unidirectional (UD) carbon fiber materials to address primary structure performance needs when using LCM processes. “We see liquid composite molding (LCM) as offering an answer to the three-way challenge to reduce cost, be rate ready and provide primary structure performance,” explains Rémy Pagnac, Hexcel technical support engineer for liquid composite molding. The parts are made with automated preforming of Hexcel dry carbon fiber reinforcements and a compression resin transfer molding (C-RTM) process that offers fast infiltration of Hexcel HexFlow RTM6 liquid epoxy resin to produce parts with 60% fiber volume and less than 1% voids in a 2.5- to 3.0-hour cycle that can be scaled to produce multiple parts for high-rate production. and French business units of advanced materials supplier Hexcel (Stamford, Conn., U.S.) to demonstrate automated OOA production of CFRP ribs and stringers. ![]() (Dallas, Texas, U.S.) have partnered with the U.K. Equipment and automation supplier Techni-Modul Engineering (Coudes, France) and its U.S.
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