JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #80 - April 2013 - 38

reinforcement

An innovative composite solution for
cost-effective primary aircraft structures

Henri Girardy, Business Development
Manager – new Processes
Jean-Marc Beraud,
Reinforcements R&T Manager
Hexcel Corporation

Flying a structure with a mass heavier than air necessitates the
use of the lightest possible materials with the highest possible
performance-to-mass ratio. Since the early years of aviation, aircraft builders have worked to reduce the weight of their planes.
HiTape®, the Hexcel innovative Unidirectional Dry reinforcement is
used to build aircraft structures.

competing materials and its material
and technology reliability.

ucceeding wood, aluminium
metal was for a long time the
only material capable of providing the desired material performance
in relation to its weight. Step by step,
composites have replaced aluminium
in aircraft structures, gradually reaching the current levels of over 50%
of the structural weight of an aircraft.
The latest generation aircraft have a
very high level of carbon fibre composites in their structure, proving again
that the main driver in aerospace is
weight saving.
Starting with military and industrial
applications and evolving into commercial aircraft structures, prepreg
technology has adapted to the market
needs. Major developments came
from material characteristics providing on-demand performance, including fast cure cycles for industrial
applications, high service temperature
performance for engines, and impact
tolerance for primary structures.
Prepreg is a baseline technology in
this industry because of its better
cost-performance ratio compared to

In addition to the constant development of new high-performance
composite materials, the market also
required more robust manufacturing
processes primarily to ensure higher
quality standards, especially for large
composite structures. Automated
fibre placement (AFP) and automated
tape laying (ATL) were developed and
implemented to provide OEMs the
tools for producing these high-quality
parts.

The right material and
technology at the right place
Despite the maturity of prepreg
technology, OEMs are continuously
looking for alternatives for the future.
Is prepreg technology the only answer
for all the primary structures of nextgeneration aircraft?
Although, up to now, the cost-performance ratio achieved with prepreg technology has allowed the
applications for high-performance
composites to increase, this will not
necessarily be the case for all next-

38 jec composites magazine / No80 April 2013

generation aircraft primary structures.
While weight was the main driver for
composite applications in the past, a
new weight-cost trade-off will drive
the material and technology choice
for next-generation aircraft. This new
situation opens the door to other
materials and technologies, including
a return to metal with new-generation
alloys.
The challenge facing aircraft designers
is to find, to develop and to certify the
right materials and technology on a
part-by-part basis, to balance overall
optimum performance and final part
costs with a minimum industrial risk
and with a mature supply chain.

Alternative
composite technologies
From the early days of composite
materials, alternative fibre-reinforcement matrix technologies to prepreg
have existed. When looking at new
cost-performance trade-offs, one
category stands out above all others:
liquid composite moulding (LCM:
RTM and infusion) materials.
LCM materials have been studied and
used in aircraft secondary structures

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #80 - April 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #80 - April 2013