The drive to thrive

The aviation industry offers extraordinarily good growth prospects for fibre composites in future – for both glass- and carbon fibre-reinforced plastics. In their composites market survey 2015, the Composites Germany trade association forecasts strong annual growth rates of up to 13% for CFRP applications in aviation. Even today, this industry already accounts for around one third (32,200 tons) of global demand. According to the forecast, this demand is to rise to over 60,000 tons by 2021.

Composites Europe held from 29 November to 1 December at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre will demonstrate what the composites industry can already do for aviation today. 350 exhibitors from 27 nations will present the state of the art and future market potentials – in the exhibition area, at numerous event areas, in lecture forums, on themed tours and at workshops.

For narrow-body aircraft with just one cabin aisle, as well as up to six seats per row in the Economy Class, components series from composites are expected to reach quantities of up to 10,000 units – not only for structural elements, but also for smaller parts, such as reinforcement ribs or clips. For smaller aircraft however, the initial purchase prices play a more important role compared with operating costs. This is why the industry is working on processes that allow manufacturing costs to be reduced.

Aviation on tour

For designers and engineers, a Guided Tour of selected exhibitors will provide an initial overview. Airtech will hold a live demo of process options for inserting hollow structures in an out-of-autoclave process in conjunction with pressure boosters from its range of products, such as Airpad and Aircast 3700 in order to achieve improved thickness control and solidification during infusion.

Evonik Industries will provide an overview of its product Rohacell Hero as a structural foam core for sandwich components as part of the Guided Tour. This lightweight core material was specifically developed to comply with aircraft manufacturers’ strict requirements for damage tolerance and damage visibility after impact.

Hydraulic press specialists, Langzauner will showcase examples of press automation on its stand, whilst Gunnar International Weissenberger will introduce its turnkey system for automatic and waste-optimised digital cutting of dry fibre or prepreg composite parts. Solutions for non-destructive testing and material labelling of composites are the focus of Agilent Technologies.

In aircraft production, increasingly more material systems are used that go beyond individual material groups. The right material in the right place – under this heading hybrid lightweight construction is increasingly gaining importance. What is already feasible today can be seen at the new Lightweight Technologies Forum as part of Composites Europe and the concurrent Aluminium trade fair. The combined exhibition and lecture forum acts as a cross-material interface of metal and fibre composite technologies in structural components.

Fibre metal laminates (FML) consisting of aluminium foils and glass fibre prepregs have proven a real alternative in aircraft manufacturing, as demonstrated by Premium AEROTEC at the Lightweight Technologies Forum. After positive experiences gained on the Airbus A380 programme, this material is now rated as an alternative to aluminium-only and composite structures. The most important step towards industrial application for high output aircraft production is the automation of manufacturing processes for FML components, such as the automatic coating of metal foils and glass fibre prepregs. Premium AEROTEC will present the results of the first three years of development work.

Along with the co-located Aluminium show, Composites Europe expects to welcome 1,300 exhibitors and 35,000 experts from industry, research and development. Admission to the Aluminium and the Lightweight Technologies Forums is included in visitor admission to the Composites Europe trade fair.

Readers of Aerospace Manufacturing will have free admission to the event. Complete the registration link and then key in the voucher code. Register for free: www.composites-europe.com/voucher using voucher code: 9ibp-qndr-rhis-wmr9

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