On Readiness in Advanced Thermoplastic Composite Production

Abstract

New materials, processes and production technologies are assessed for the insertion to the next single-aisle aircraft generation. For such high volume applications costly advanced thermoplastic composites will only be a viable competitor to aluminum if the benefits of the material can be lined by opportunities for efficient and flexible production technologies and entirely new assembly strategies. In this work, the process chain based on automated patch-preforming accompanied by oven vacuum consolidation and press forming is assessed in terms of readiness. The main focus was laid upon improvement of the consolidation steps. Two use-cases, namely a sine wave beam assembly made of CF/PEI and a skin segment made of CF/PEEK and CF/PEKK were chosen as demonstrator structures. The work is focused on producibility and reproducible manufacture of development test structures up to sub-component level in order to assess and promote the maturity of production technologies. With the described empirical approach in carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic production we are able to identify needs for further technology maturation, describe successful routes toward higher readiness but also distinguish potential dead ends and show stoppers.