hybridmat 3 mission report2 - university of washington

GLOBAL WATCH MISSION REPORT

HYBRIDMAT 3: Advancesin the manufacture of advanced structural composites in aerospace – a mission to the USA

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2006

Global Watch Missions

DTI Global Watch Missions enable small groups ofUK experts to visit leading overseas technologyorganisations to learn vital lessons about innovationand its implementation, of benefit to entire industriesand individual organisations.

By stimulating debate and informing industrialthinking and action, missions offer uniqueopportunities for fast-tracking technology transfer,sharing deployment know-how, explaining newindustry infrastructures and policies, and developingrelationships and collaborations. Around 30 missionstake place annually, with the coordinatingorganisation receiving guidance and financial supportfrom the DTI Global Watch Missions team.

Disclaimer

This report represents the findings of a missionorganised by the National Composites Network(NCN) with the support of DTI. Views expressedreflect a consensus reached by the members of themission team and do not necessarily reflect those ofthe organisations to which the mission membersbelong, NCN or DTI.

Comments attributed to organisations visited duringthis mission were those expressed by personnelinterviewed and should not be taken as those of theorganisation as a whole.

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure thatthe information provided in this report is accurateand up to date, DTI accepts no responsibilitywhatsoever in relation to this information. DTI shallnot be liable for any loss of profits or contracts orany direct, indirect, special or consequential loss ordamages whether in contract, tort or otherwise,arising out of or in connection with your use of thisinformation. This disclaimer shall apply to themaximum extent permissible by law.

HYBRIDMAT 3:Advances in themanufacture of

advanced structuralcomposites in aerospace

– a mission to the USA

REPORT OF A DTI GLOBAL WATCH MISSION FEBRUARY/MARCH 2006

FOREWORD 5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6S.1 Background 6S.2 The mission 6S.3 Key findings 7

1 INTRODUCTION 91.1 Background 91.2 Objectives 101.3 The mission 11

2 ORGANISATIONS VISITED 132.1 NIAR, Wichita State University 132.2 Raytheon Aircraft Co 132.3 Spirit AeroSystems Inc 132.4 V System Composites Inc 132.5 Goodrich Aerostructures Group 132.6 Boeing Co, Frederickson 142.7 AMTAS, University of 14

Washington2.8 C&D Zodiac Inc 14

3 MISSION TEAM AND ITP 153.1 Roger Duffy 153.2 Roger Francombe 153.3 Brian Gilbert 153.4 Andrew Mills 163.5 Brian O’Rourke 163.6 Sue Panteny 163.7 John Savage 173.8 Chris Webborn 173.9 Cliff Young (ITP) 17

4 DEVELOPMENTS IN RESIN 18INFUSION MATERIALS AND PROCESSES; STRUCTURALUNITISATION AND COMPONENTINTEGRATION TECHNIQUES

4.1 Summary 20

5 ASSEMBLY AND AUTOMATION 21METHODOLOGIES ANDIMPLEMENTATION

5.1 Assembly processes 215.2 Automation 225.3 Future trends 235.4 Summary 23

6 LOWER COST SECONDARY 24STRUCTURE

6.1 Summary 26

7 AFFORDABLE COMPOSITE 27MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY

7.1 Summary 29

8 MOULD TOOL TECHNOLOGIES 308.1 Single sided, metal tooling 308.2 Single sided, composite tooling 30

8.2.1 Modular tooling 318.2.2 Composite caul plates 31

8.3 Closed mould tooling 318.4 Tooling automation 318.5 Drivers for change 318.6 Future technologies 32

8.6.1 Near term 328.6.2 Mid term 338.6.3 Long term 33

8.7 Summary 33

9 LOWER COST 34MANUFACTURING IN COMPOSITES

9.1 Introduction 349.2 Use of composites today in civil 34

aircraft manufacture9.3 Cost opportunities through 34

process change9.4 Observations 369.5 Summary 38

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HYBRIDMAT 3: ADVANCES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ADVANCED STRUCTURAL COMPOSITES IN AEROSPACE – A MISSION TO THE USA

CONTENTS

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10 A NON-AEROSPACE 39PERSPECTIVE

10.1 Processing and qualification 3910.2 Programme and response 40

timescales10.3 Design communication 4010.4 Summary 42

11 EDUCATION AND TRAINING 4311.1 Summary 45

12 CONCLUSIONS AND 46RECOMMENDATIONS

APPENDICES 49A Acknowledgments 49B Host organisations 50C Mission team and ITP 52

contact detailsD List of figures 54E Glossary 56

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Figure F.1 Boeing Aeronautical Laboratory soon after completion in 1917

Figure F.2 Mission team standing in front of the historic Boeing Aeronautical Laboratory at University of Washington with Professor Mark Tuttle (Director, AMTAS) and Alan Pritchard (Boeing); L-R: Brian O’Rourke, Chris Beck,John Savage, Roger Duffy, Cliff Young, Andrew Mills, Brian Gilbert, Roger Francombe, Chris Webborn, Mark Tuttle, Alan Pritchard, Sue Panteny

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The global composites market has grownconsiderably in the last 10 years with currentannual revenue for finished parts in excess of£2 billion. This is set to rise by another 25%in the next five years with the aerospace andadvanced transport sectors, in particular,contributing significantly to this.

However, increasing economic growth isbeing achieved by regions with lower labourrates than the West. There is thereforeincreasing pressure on the UK to draw on thestrengths across the whole of its compositesindustry to maintain competitiveness in thischallenging marketplace.

The primary drivers for the selection ofcomposite materials are still weight anddurability, but with advances in technology,composites offer greater flexibility in designand affordable component manufacture. Thishas made a significant contribution toimprovements in the total life-cycle cost ofproducts using these materials.

The National Composites Network (NCN)now plays a key role for the UK in signpostingexisting capabilities and best practice ineffective technology insertion for optimisedperformance and economic improvement.This involves assessment across sectors andglobal regions. It also seeks to benchmarkand identify key gaps in technology vital inmaintaining the competitiveness of the UKcomposites industry on the global stage.

The HYBRIDMAT 3 and 4 DTI Global WatchMissions to the USA, which were managed bythe NCN, had the objectives of both promotingUK capabilities and assessing the status of UStechnology. HYBRIDMAT 3 addressedadvanced manufacturing techniques for

composites, while HYBRIDMAT 4 addressed3-D weaving and near net shape preforms.Findings from these missions will shape theagenda of future technology activities for boththe NCN and also government fundinginitiatives. These will address technologydevelopment and transfer in a timely mannerto ensure continued improvements in thecompetitiveness of products for healthyeconomic growth in the UK.

Ken Wappat Chairman, NCN

FOREWORD

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S.1 BackgroundS.2 The mission S.3 Key findings

S.1 Background

Aerospace industry composite materials canincrease structural efficiency, particularly instiffness critical applications, resulting inincreased range, lower fuel consumption andreduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.However, weight savings have to be balancedagainst material and manufacturing costs. The acquisition and through-life costs ofcomposite components can be considerablymore expensive than heavier metalliccomponents. More than half the cost of acomposite structure is associated with lay-up,cure and assembly. Acquisition and through-life costs can be significantly reduced bylow-cost manufacturing and reliable conditionmonitoring. Recent reviews of thecomposites industry have highlighted theneed for more cost-effective manufacturingprocesses for high-performance composites.

In composite materials development, theemphasis is now on consistency, longevityand cost-effectiveness, rather than minorincreases in mechanical performance.Affordability is the major issue, andmanufacturing costs, total life-cycle cost, lackof whole-life performance data andrecyclability are issues that are inhibitingcomposites from attaining their full potential.

Carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP)composites are now widely used forsecondary civil wing structures(leading/trailing edges, flaps, spoilers, fairings,access panels, engine nacelles etc). Airbusled the move into primary structure of large

civil aircraft, first with vertical stabilisers in thelate 1970s then with horizontal tailplanes(HTPs) in the 1980s, and keel beams andpressure bulkheads in the 1990s. The A380will enter service with a composite centralwing box and composite rear fuselagesections, but it is the Boeing 787 that willtake the next major step forward in large civilaircraft by introducing a complete compositewing and fuselage. Airbus will alsosignificantly increase the usage of primarycomposite structure by its introduction ofcomplete composite wings on the A400Mand the future A350.

In business aircraft, Raytheon has led the wayin automated composite fuselage productionwith its Premier 1 programme.

Traditionally, composite components havebeen manufactured by curing laminatedprepreg layers in an autoclave at hightemperature. Cost savings have been soughtby automation of the laminating process, butin recent years there have been a number ofhigh-profile programmes aimed at producinglarge primary structure by ‘out-of-autoclave’routes, and at producing smaller complexshaped components by liquid resin infusion ofdry fibre preforms.

The progress of alternative low-costproduction techniques has been a primarytopic of discussion.

S.2 The mission

Consequently a team from UK organisationswas brought together to undertake aDepartment of Trade and Industry (DTI)Global Watch Mission to the USA toexchange ideas on the future directions of

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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1 Aerospace Composite Structures in the USA, DTI, 1998: www.globalwatchservice.com/missions

manufacturing processes for aerospacestructures with some of the key Americanindustrial and research organisations workingin the area. Whilst aerospace organisationswere visited, to ascertain the trends inmanufacturing processes for composites thesynergies with the motorsport sector werestudied. The mission, coordinated on behalfof DTI by the National Composites Network(NCN), took place during 26 February to2 March 2006 and visited the followingorganisations:

• National Institute for Aviation Research(NIAR), Wichita State University

• Raytheon Aircraft Co, Wichita• Spirit AeroSystems Inc, Wichita• V System Composites Inc, Anaheim• Goodrich Aerostructures Group, Riverside• Boeing Co, Frederickson• Center of Excellence for Advanced

Materials in Transport Aircraft Structures(AMTAS), University of Washington

• C&D Zodiac Inc (formerly NorthwestComposites), Marysville

This report details the main findings of themission, giving an overview of developmentsin advances in the manufacture of advancedstructural aerospace composite componentswithin the American organisations visited.

S.3 Key findings

There is currently under way a markedincrease in confidence and business in thedesign and manufacture of carbon fibrecomposite structures in the USA. Thetimescale for the development of the Boeing787 is driving massive investment inmanufacturing capability. National Aeronauticsand Space Administration (NASA) and FederalAviation Administration (FAA) investment inmaterials and structural testing at NIAR isremoving the barriers of performance andrepair uncertainty and reducing the barrier to

new materials introduction by smallercompanies such as Raytheon.

Since the last DTI Global Watch Mission inaerospace composites that was undertakenin 19981, there is far greater enthusiasm forcomposites introduction, and designs arebecoming less conservative. However,although cost reduction and light weight arestill the main drivers, the rapid developmentof structures required for the Boeing 787 hasmeant the continued use of prepregs in theshort term.

Research and development (R&D) fundinghas been directed towards development ofout-of-autoclave curing processes, resininfusion processes, and integrated stiffenedstructures with one-stage cure.

The mission team found a wide range ofmanufacturing, assembly and automationmethodologies in use, from legacyprogrammes such as the Boeing 737fuselage, to the very latest generation Boeing787 fibre-placed composites fuselage.

The emphasis for future programmes is verymuch on major capital investment in facilitiesand process development.

Innovative solutions to reduce cost andmaximise efficiency were evident in theapproaches taken by the companies visited.Many of these companies have implementedthe principles and culture of leanmanufacturing (LM) and statistical processcontrol (SPC), in common with manyEuropean companies.

An emerging business model is one thatrelies on technical development and newproduct introduction in the developedeconomies and volume production inlow-cost areas.

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The majority of applications seen during themission used the traditional approach ofunidirectional carbon fibre, pre-impregnatedwith epoxy resin, cured at elevated pressureand temperature in an autoclave to givehigh-quality composite components.

Overall it appears from a tooling perspectivethat the UK and USA have similarphilosophies. Invar is widely used for mouldtooling due to its damage resistance andperceived longer life compared to composite,but the weight and heat capacity arebecoming increasingly problematic ascomponents increase in size.

There are many similarities in theprogrammes and work being carried out inNorth America and the UK and, on balance,technology development is similar betweenthe UK and the organisations that werevisited.

The US universities are noticeably involvedwith industry not only in the R&D undertaken,but also in the day-to-day solving of technicalissues for a company, as witnessed at NIAR.

As in the UK, there is a shortage of qualifiedengineers and trained technical staff. The USuniversities are addressing this issue byworking closely with industry to run coursesspecific to industrial requirements.

The US Government is aiding its industrysignificantly with its research programmesand centres of excellence that have been setup in the composites and aerospace sectorbetween universities and industry.

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1.1 Background1.2 Objectives1.3 The mission

1.1 Background

Aerospace industry composite materials canincrease structural efficiency, particularly instiffness critical applications, resulting inincreased range, lower fuel consumption andreduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.However, weight savings have to bebalanced against material and manufacturingcosts. The acquisition and through-life costsof composite components can beconsiderably more expensive than heaviermetallic components. More than half thecost of a composite structure is associatedwith lay-up, cure and assembly. Acquisitionand through-life costs can be significantlyreduced by low-cost manufacturing andreliable condition monitoring. Recent reviewsof the composites industry have highlightedthe need for more cost-effectivemanufacturing processes for highperformance composites.2,3

Carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP)composites are now widely used forsecondary civil wing structures(leading/trailing edges, flaps, spoilers, fairings,access panels, engine nacelles etc). Airbusled the move into primary structure of largecivil aircraft, first with vertical stabilisers in thelate 1970s then with horizontal tailplanes(HTPs) in the 1980s, and keel beams andpressure bulkheads in the 1990s. The A380will enter service with a composite central

wing box and composite rear fuselagesections, but it is the Boeing 787 that willtake the next major step forward in large civilaircraft by introducing a complete compositewing and fuselage. The new super-efficientcommercial passenger plane will be the firstcommercial jet ever to have the majority ofthe primary structure made from carbontoughened epoxy composites.4 The 787 isexpected to be up to 18 tons lighter than theAirbus 330-200,4 with composites accountingfor 50% of the aircraft’s structural weight –only 12% being aluminium. Airbus will alsosignificantly increase the usage of primarycomposite structure by its introduction ofcomplete composite wings on the A400Mand the future A350.

In composite materials development, theemphasis is now on consistency, longevityand cost-effectiveness, rather than minorincreases in mechanical performance.Affordability is the major issue, and

1 INTRODUCTION

Figure 1.1 Advanced composite fuselage for the Boeing 787 (courtesy Boeing Co)

2 UK Polymer Composites Sector: Foresight Study and Competitive Analysis, 2001

3 www.iom3.org/foresight/nac/wing_summary/DERAWINGSummary.htm

4 Boeing sets pace for composite usage in large civil aircraft, B Griffiths, High Performance Composites, May 2005

manufacturing costs, total life-cycle cost, lack of whole-life performance data andrecyclability are issues that are inhibitingcomposites from attaining their full potential.

The USA continues to develop CFRPtechnology. Resin-transfer moulding (RTM)methods are being developed by a number oforganisations to achieve greater speed,accuracy and lower voidage than is possiblewith hand lay-up methods. RTM can givesignificant cost and weight savings overstandard hand lay-up methods. The price ofhigh strength, aerospace quality carbon-fibretow has fallen since the late 1990s by around50%, and production worldwide hasincreased considerably.

Processing trends in the UK are away fromhand lay-up towards RTM, resin infusion andthermoforming techniques, whilst a routeaway from autoclave cure is sought forstructural composites. A mainrecommendation of the DTI-fundedcomposites report was that the highestpriority should be given to the development,dissemination and commercialisation oflow-cost processing methods.2

This DTI Global Watch Mission evolved toinvestigate the current and futuredevelopments in advances in the manufactureof advanced aerospace composite structuresthat are being considered by major Americanaerospace manufacturers and organisationsthat are already working in this field.

1.2 Objectives

The overall objective was to investigate thecurrent and future strategies for low-costprocessing of advanced composite structuresin the aerospace sector, through a series ofmeetings with major US aerospacemanufacturers and research organisationsthat are already working in this field.

This information will be evaluated, condensedand disseminated to the UK compositesindustry and to the science base, not only inaerospace but to other transport sectors andmotorsport. The knowledge will enable UKcompanies to initiate or refocus research anddevelopment (R&D) projects on low-coststructural composite processing technologies that are demonstrating potential success, as well as initiatingpotential licensing agreements.

Advanced composites in aerospace structureswill be an important growth area over thenext decade with more composites beingused for primary structures.1 Utilisation oflow-cost processes is seen as essential forthe UK’s advanced composites sector toremain competitive. There is a need tounderstand current state-of-the-art in low-costadvanced structural composite manufactureand identify future trends.

The overall objective was to investigate thecurrent and future strategies for low-costprocessing of advanced composite structuresin the aerospace sector. Encompassed withinthis, specific objectives were identified as:

• Ascertain cross-sector applications

• Investigate increases in systemsintegration and modelling

• Determine the gaps in currentdevelopment of low-cost processes andthe obstacles to exploitation

• Identify the preferred manufacturingroutes, the issues and costs:

– The current extent of out-of-autoclavetechniques, for both civil and militaryapplications, with particular reference toresin film and liquid resin infusionprocesses (including vacuum infusion)

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• Determine the state-of-the-art in predictivemodelling tools related to out-of-autoclaveprocessing and control:

– The process modelling validation requiredand identification of input data testmethods (eg resin impregnation)

• Identify the trends in cure processing:

– For low and high temperature cures – For repair processes

• Assess the current status of near netshape manufacture

• Compare the primary areas oftechnological development in out-of-autoclave processing to UK capabilities

• Assess technology and researchrequirements and compare with the UK,eg ultrasonic manufacture

• Describe the UK’s work so far in thistechnology area

• Discuss environmental impact such aswhole-life issues, as environmental issues are expected to become majormarket drivers

• Understand how education and trainingneeds are being addressed compared tothe UK

• Identify technology opportunities, exploringareas of potential, mutually beneficial,collaborative work to exploit low-costcomposite manufacture

• Ascertain automation and roboticdevelopments and their implication in cost reduction

• Assess what new technologies are beingdeveloped and where the competitiveadvantage will be

• Access technology, knowledge andconnections not available in the UK

• Disseminate the resultant findings to the UK composites and aerospace supply industries

The feedback from this mission will give UK companies an insight into the thinking of some of the key American organisations in this area, enabling them to:

• Identify technology gaps• Focus development programmes• Initiate potential supply agreements

1.3 The mission

The mission, coordinated on behalf of DTI by the National Composites Network(NCN), took place during 26 February to2 March 2006 and visited a cross section of original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Tier 1 and research organisations from the aerospace sector:

• National Institute for Aviation Research(NIAR), Wichita State University

• Raytheon Aircraft Co, Wichita• Spirit AeroSystems Inc, Wichita• V System Composites Inc, Anaheim• Goodrich Aerostructures Group, Riverside• Boeing Co, Frederickson• Center of Excellence for Advanced

Materials in Transport Aircraft Structures(AMTAS), University of Washington

• C&D Zodiac Inc (formerly NorthwestComposites), Marysville

This report details the main findings of themission. Each member of the mission teamconsidered the series of meetings from adifferent perspective, looking at a specifictechnology or business area. Thoseperspectives are reflected in this report, withthe following chapters based mainly on thetechnologies of interest, rather than simplybeing a chronological sequence of visit reports.

In production terms, and with an eye on leanmanufacturing (LM) techniques, there wereexamples of best practice and less goodpractice, as would be found on any continentin this industry. It is not possible to make arigorous comparison between the USA andEurope on the basis of this mission alone, sothis report highlights areas where good ideaswere seen and may perhaps identify areaswhere general lessons can be learned aboutflow and lower cost manufacturing.

It was very noticeable how much moreinvolved universities are with industry inthe USA than in the UK, not only in theR&D for a company but also in the day-to-day solving of technical issues. This is seenon a small scale with the materials testingand analysis services that many UKuniversities now provide.

As in the UK there is a shortage of qualifiedengineers and trained technical staff but,unlike the UK, the US universities areaddressing this issue by working closely with industry to put on courses specific to industrial requirements.

The US Government is aiding its industrysignificantly with its research programmesand centres of excellence that have been setup in the composites and aerospace sectorbetween universities and industry. TheFaraday Partnerships and Technical Centres of Excellence being set up by the UKGovernment are steps in the same directionand, with the amalgamation into KnowledgeTransfer Networks (KTNs), should haveenough ‘critical mass’ to make a difference.

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2.1 NIAR, Wichita State University2.2 Raytheon Aircraft Co2.3 Spirit AeroSystems Inc2.4 V System Composites Inc2.5 Goodrich Aerostructures Group2.6 Boeing Co, Frederickson2.7 AMTAS, University of Washington2.8 C&D Zodiac Inc

The host companies were selected to give across section of OEM, Tier 1 and researchorganisations from the aerospace sector:

2.1 National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR),Wichita State University

NIAR is developing national standards forcomposite materials used in aircraftmanufacturing. Working with NASA'sLangley Research Center, NIAR isdeveloping ways to reduce the cost ofcomposite material insertion into aviationprogrammes. The work on compositesstandards is highly focused on qualifying anumber of new composite materials andadvanced processing methods, includingRTM, to benefit the aviation community.Damage tolerance, joining, crashworthinessand new nanotechnology for composites arebeing addressed.

2.2 Raytheon Aircraft Co

Raytheon Aircraft is a major manufacturer ofbusiness jets and specially equipped aircraftthat perform unique and specific tasks, suchas photographic, flight inspection, airambulance, maritime, or electronicsurveillance. Raytheon airframes setstandards of operational readiness throughoutthe world, with a long track record of service,

dependability and adaptability.

2.3 Spirit AeroSystems Inc

Spirit AeroSystems is the world's largestindependent supplier of structures forcommercial aircraft. It has designed and builtpart of every Boeing commercial aircraftexcept the 717. In addition to the 737fuselage, Spirit produces the airplane'sengine nacelles and pylons, as well as nosesections, nacelles and pylons for the 747, 767and 777 aircraft. It also designs and producesslats, flaps, forward leading edges andtrailing edges for 737 wings, slats and floorbeams for the 777 airplane, and wing andfuselage components for the 747. Thecompany also designs and builds aircraftproduction tooling. Spirit also supplies enginestruts and nacelles, vertical fin and horizontalstabiliser, inboard and outboard flaps, andfront and rear wing spars for the Next-Generation 737 family of airplanes.

2.4 V System Composites Inc

V System Composites specialises in low-costaerospace composite technologies. Thecompany is a leading productionmanufacturer and assembler of qualitycomposites using affordable RTM, VARTM(vacuum-assisted resin-transfer moulding) andconventional fabrication technologies fordefence, space and commercial products..2.5 Goodrich Aerostructures Group

Goodrich Aerostructures holds a leading shareof the world market for its core products andis the world's leading independent full-servicesupplier of nacelles, thrust reversers andpylons. In addition, Goodrich produces

2 ORGANISATIONS VISITED

lightweight, temperature-resistant auxiliarypower unit (APU) tailcones for regionaljetliners, damage-tolerant rigid cargo barriersfor freighter aircraft, and corrosion-resistantstructures for tactical military aircraft.

2.6 Boeing Co, Frederickson

Boeing Commercial Airplanes is one of theworld's premier commercial jetlinermanufacturers with a complete focus onairplane operators and the passengers theyserve. Boeing Frederickson CompositeManufacturing Center (CMC) supplies thehorizontal and vertical stabiliser assembliesfor the Boeing 777 airplane. CMC will providethe vertical fin for the 787 programmethrough work at its facilities in Frederickson.

2.7 Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials in TransportAircraft Structures (AMTAS),University of Washington

The University of Washington is working withthe University of Manchester, the North WestAerospace Alliance (NWAA), Airbus, Boeingand a wide range of businesses in the UKand USA on the development of compositematerials for use in aircraft design and thedevelopment of the next generation ofmaterials for aircraft construction. These newmaterials will lead to significant savings inaircraft weight – thereby saving fuel andreducing emissions.

2.8 C&D Zodiac Inc (formerly Northwest Composites)

Zodiac is a full-service provider of completeaircraft interiors as well as structural andnonstructural composite components. Zodiacis responsible for the design, certification andfabrication of the Boeing 767 interior, and itscustomer base includes Boeing, Embraer,Bombardier, BAE Systems and all majorairlines. The company's R&D centre iscontinuously developing new processes andmethods to expand the capabilities ofstructural and non-structural composites whilereducing overall costs.

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Figure 2.1 Jason Scharf (C&D Zodiac) showing ChrisWebborn the quality of Zodiac’s mouldings

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3.1 Roger Duffy3.2 Roger Francombe3.3 Brian Gilbert3.4 Andrew Mills3.5 Brian O’Rourke3.6 Sue Panteny3.7 John Savage3.8 Chris Webborn3.9 Cliff Young (ITP)

The UK mission participants were chosen tomake up a well-balanced team of aerospaceindustry specialists able to make acontribution to the mission. In creating theproposed team, the coordinators deliberatelyavoided the inclusion of a large civil aircraftmanufacturer to maximise the likelihood ofopen conversations with Spirit AeroSystems,Boeing and Raytheon Aircraft. The teamtherefore comprised:

3.1 Roger Duffy

Engineering Manager for Product and ProcessesBAE Systems plc

BAE Systems is a producer of aerospace anddefence equipment, employing90,000 people – the largest Europeandefence company – and is a top 10 USdefence company with an order book of£51.2 billion, £14.8 billion annual sales and£1.2 billion annual R&D spend. AtSamlesbury in the UK the main areas ofinterest are: design, manufacture andqualification of low temperature, lowpressure resin systems; infusion processesand processing; automated tape laying andfibre placement; affordable tooling; andassembly methodologies.

3.2 Roger FrancombeGroup Product Manager andEuropean Aerospace Market Sector ManagerAdvanced Composites Group Ltd

The Advanced Composites Group (ACG) is aUK-owned company within the UMECOGroup that has been at the forefront ofadvanced composite materials andprocessing for more than 25 years. Thecompany has a proven track record indeveloping and marketing application-orientedprepreg materials designed for lowtemperature and out-of-autoclave processing.These materials find use in a wide range ofindustries including F1 motor racing,aerospace, automotive, marine, wind energy,recreation, construction, and industrialengineering. ACG is also acknowledged worldleader in the design and manufacture ofcomposite tooling. It has production facilitiesin both the UK and USA, backed up by astate-of-the-art research capability.

3.3 Brian GilbertSenior Consultant and Project ManagerINBIS Ltd

INBIS Ltd is a £60 million engineeringconsultancy company, a wholly ownedsubsidiary of Assystem, offering wide-rangingengineering experience to a number ofdiverse sectors and is a leading provider ofdesign and engineering services in Europe,with a pedigree which includes majorinvolvement in many prestigious aircraftprojects for both military and civil applicationsboth UK and overseas. INBIS’s core businessaspects are often combined to provide aturnkey solution, and this match of

3 MISSION TEAM AND ITP

component design, tooling design,manufacture and installation allows aseamless service to industry. INBIS’sexperience covers aerostructures, aircraftinteriors, aircraft components, gas turbinecomponents, development and mechanicaltest equipment, instrumentation, tooling andground support equipment. For the AirbusA340-600 wing jig, concurrent engineeringpractices were used throughout the design,manufacture and installation of toolingallowing completion from concept to finalclient buy-off to be finished within 12 months.

3.4 Andrew MillsHead of Composites ManufacturingResearchComposites CentreSchool of Applied SciencesCranfield University

The Composites Centre investigates anddevelops technology for the cost-effectivemanufacturing of lightweight compositestructures in partnership with industry.

Current large projects with jointEPSRC/industry/Faraday Partnership fundinginclude:

• Novel design and manufacturingtechnology for unmanned aircraft

• Low-cost carbon-fibre composite structurefor low-volume sports cars

• Crash structures for performance carsusing novel materials

• Preforming techniques for compositeaircraft structures

The Composites Centre comprises adesign/projects office with 20 staff andstudents and a large laboratory equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for high-performance composites processing. It offersadvice in composite materials, design,testing, process technology, automation,manufacturing facilities and costing..3.5 Brian O’Rourke

Chief Composites EngineerWilliamsF1

WilliamsF1 is a designer and manufacturer ofFormula One (F1) racing cars. The companywas formed in 1977 by Frank Williams (TeamPrincipal, co-owner) and Patrick Head(Engineering Director, co-owner) and currentlyemploys more than 490 people. It has beennine times World Champion Constructor andwinner of 113 Grand Prix. Work has, in thepast, also covered the design and build ofrally, touring and sports-prototype vehicles.The composites workforce comprises over80 people engaged on design, analysis,research, testing, quality assurance (QA),tooling and production prepreg/autoclavework.

3.6 Sue PantenyMission CoordinatorNational Composites Network (NCN)

NCN is part of the new and unique MaterialsKnowledge Transfer Network, jointly fundedby government and industry, that embracesthe entire UK composites industry and itssupply chain. NCN is a company limited byguarantee, with a board drawn fromorganisations with prominent compositesinterests. The UK has an impressive global

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Figure 3.1 Brian Gilbert (R) with Mark Tuttle (Director,AMTAS) at University of Washington

reputation for innovation and research incomposite materials and recognised highskills and quality based manufacturing, whichis heavily led by implementation of newtechnologies. Driven by improvements inbusiness economics and the technicalperformance of materials, industry willinevitably seek further advances via the useof composites. NCN has established anumber of regional centres of excellencewhere companies can obtain hands-onsupport and expert advice.

3.7 John SavageTechnical Authority – CompositesSmiths Aerospace

The Smiths Aerospace facilities in Hamble(UK) and Suzhou (China) design andmanufacture airframe structural componentsand assemblies and associated systems inmetallics, advanced composites and acrylicmaterials for the world’s prime aircraftmanufacturers. In addition to the aerospacecomposites products, Smiths Aerospace hasalso developed a specialised compositesfacility currently producing high-performancestructural automotive composite components.

3.8 Chris WebbornManaging DirectorSt Bernard Composites Ltd

St Bernard Composites is one of the leadingUK suppliers of manufactured compositecomponents and subassemblies to theaerospace industry. Major clients includeAirbus, Rolls Royce, Aircelle, Goodrich andGKN. Products include fan case linings,thrust reverser doors, skins and acousticpanels, airframe components, wingcomponents and ribs.

3.9 Cliff YoungInternational Technology Promoter –Manufacturing Industries, North AmericaDTI Global Watch Service

The DTI Global Watch Service helps Britishbusinesses to identify, and learn from, leadingtechnology developments around the world toimprove their competitiveness. InternationalTechnology Promoters (ITPs) help UKcompanies to learn more about, and access,technologies and partnership opportunities inkey overseas territories. The ITP networkcovers the Asia-Pacific region, West & CentralEurope, Israel, Russia and North America.

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Resin infusion was pioneered in the UK forlow-cost automotive bodies. In recent yearsmany research projects and productionaircraft components have been manufactured,particularly by the matched mould resintransfer moulding (RTM) technique. Resininfusion processes can provide materials costand assembly cost benefits, throughcomponent integration compared to pre-impregnated material processing, but canalso incur much higher tooling costs andprocess development time. The experience ofthe US aerospace industry with its greaterenthusiasm for higher cost tooling investmentwas of particular interest.

The issues of assembly cost reductionthrough part integration and materials costreduction through the introduction of infusiontype processes were common challenges/issues for the mission hosts.

The unitisation theme had been pioneered atRaytheon with a single shot all co-curedfuselage structure for the Premier andHorizon business jet fuselages. Automatedtape placement has replaced hand lay-up. This has been successful, but manufacturingtimes still have much opportunity forimprovement. A similar technology was beingtaken up by Boeing for the 787 in a simplerform without honeycomb. Raytheon isconsidering, longer term, to move to RTMwith no surface filling and lower labour.

Lower cost materials are playing a back roleto metal replacement and unitisation to saveweight and assembly time and toolinginventory with an aggressive timescale.Toughened 180ºC cure prepreg is used inmost Boeing 787 applications.

Spirit AeroSystems is considering RTM andvacuum infusion processes but these arelower priority considerations to fibreplacement.

Figure 4.1 Boeing 787 forward fuselage demonstrator(courtesy Spirit AeroSystems Inc)

Successful NASA technology transfer hadbeen achieved for advanced compositetechnology (ACT) braided frames and resinfilm infusion (RFI) used by Zodiac for Boeing787 fuselage frames.

V System Composites preferred vacuuminfusion compared to prepreg since it gavefewer parts and lower weight through fastenerelimination and adhesives. The companyemploys an in-house joints analysis module asan aid for composite joint design. The pioneeringRTM and VARTM (vacuum-assisted resintransfer moulding) technologies employed by V System Composites have been successful,but the company is setting up for prepregmanufacture to fulfil build-to-print demand. Thecompany’s R&D work is supported by $5 million(~£2.8 million) Small Business InnovationResearch (SBIR) Program funding which has

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4 DEVELOPMENTS IN RESIN INFUSION MATERIALS AND PROCESSES;STRUCTURAL UNITISATION AND COMPONENT INTEGRATION TECHNIQUESAndrew Mills – Cranfield University

enabled the development of a missile framewith reinforced fuel pipes to withstand 3,000psi, using infusion manufacture.

V System Composites uses a variety of resin systems including high temperatureresins bismaleimide (BMI) and cyanate estersfor RTM processing and Hybrid Plastics’ resin (a preceramic polymer) that can be RTM processed at a B-stage then at a hightemperature to form a metal matrix that can replace carbon-carbon composite. For RTM production of a battery box themould tool’s thermal expansion is used tocompression mould.

The VARTM processing that V SystemComposites specialises in is used to produceChinook fairings (replacing a four-partcomponent) and non-crimp fabric (NCF)stringers with tackifiers and plain weave skins resulting in a 40% cost reduction. A transmission support, 75 mm thick, whichtakes a very high loading, made by VARTMgave a 50% weight saving compared to thealuminium design using IM7 fibre and BMIwith a local bearing attachment fitting.

V System Composites has produced anunmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) spar conceptin which a frame or frame with web can bemade in the same tool using a modular toolbuild. The C-section and I-section flanges arein the same base tool with removable blocks.BMI is used as it is found to be easy toinfuse and cure, unlike for prepreg systems.

V System Composites has linked with theUniversity of Delaware to develop an RTM AFI(affordable feature integration) spar conceptand has just signed an agreement with BallyRibbon Mills to develop three-dimensional (3-D) woven shaped reinforced composites.

NIAR’s programme for materials data wasencouraging, covering recognised provenprepreg systems, but braids and vacuuminfusion have also been included.

This programme, organised by NIAR’sNational Center for Advanced MaterialsPerformance (NCAMP), is an extension of theAGATE (Advanced General Aviation TransportExperiments) programme. The aim is toreduce the cost for the introduction of newmaterials and use shared data. The liquidresin infusion process was specified, andtesting started in 2004.

The intention of NCAMP’s programme is toprovide publicly available, airworthinessapproved, material databases that may beused to design certified componentswithout independent generation of a fullproprietary database.

Figure 4.2 V System Composites innovative open andclosed reinforced structures, moulded in one step(courtesy V System Composites)

The AGATE programme mapped processdevelopment to establish sensitivity ofvariables. Manufacturing variables such as

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wrinkles and voids were studied but notthoroughly. Materials ageing results showedno problems apart from honeycomb.

NIAR would welcome UK industry oruniversity involvement.

Goodrich believes that despite the benefits ofpart assembly time, RTM is difficult to justifyfor nacelles business and see the wayforward is through fibre placement since thetooling cost with RTM is difficult to justify forlow-volume, high-complexity parts. Also thedurability of out-of-autoclave materials wasquestioned since vacuum infusion (VI) andRTM liquid resins are less tough than currentprepreg systems.

Boeing has considered RFI but has concernswith its use for large structures – tool costsand process complications and materialsproperties. After manufacture of a largeforward fuselage VI demonstrator, theyconsidered the risks too high for the benefitsexpected. However, fuselage frames for the787 are being manufactured using RFI andpreforms but cure will be under autoclaverather than vacuum bag pressure. The shapecomplexity and braiding reinforcement allowscurved tows to be used and hence weightreduced. The frame is not highly loaded andso reduced strength from braid reinforcementis not an issue.

Boeing is looking at resin infusion to increaseboth compression strength and compressionafter impact (CAI) – tougher resins increaseCAI but reduce compression strength.

The 777 composite tail was said to be 25%lighter than aluminium and at equivalent cost.The 787 tail is expected to be at least 30%lighter than aluminium.

Zodiac was selected by Boeing to carry outlow-cost manufacturing processes. Projectsinclude Boeing X45 UAV payload doors using180oC prepreg and C17 VARTM components.

The double vacuum (inlet and outlet) CAPRI(controlled atmospheric pressure resininfusion) process using a Cytec PRIFORMpreform and soft tooling was used on aprototype bulkhead.

For the Boeing 787 braided resin infusedframes, VI of thick resin film with autoclavecompaction is used in place of RTM since lay-up detail was not fixed and RTM cavity sizecould not be set and a high toughness resinwas required. Low-cost soft tooling is utilised.

4.1 Summary

The extremely rapid development ofstructures for the Boeing 787, combinedwith the shortage of composite materialsand process engineers and concerns overmaterials performance, process reliability,damage resistance and tooling cost, havediminished the drive towards thereplacement of prepregs by lower costtechnologies. To realise the replacement ofprepreg for highly loaded structure, it is clear that substantial research effort has tobe focused on materials performanceimprovement for preforming and infusionprocessing technology.

For the 787, the challenge is seen to besuccessful completion of development, andtimely entry into service. The strategyseems to be sticking with what is proven,with later introduction of lower costtechnologies. From the comments made,this appears to be a temporary situation withcost reduction seen as a future priority.

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5.1 Assembly processes5.2 Automation5.3 Future trends5.4 Summary

5.1 Assembly processes

In many cases the assembly philosophies inthe USA are very similar to the industry normin Europe, with traditional assembly jigs andfixtures. Interfaces are typically liquid or hardshimmed to meet the aerodynamic or othertolerances. Many US companies, like theirEuropean counterparts, have embraced aculture of lean initiatives, such as direct linefeed (DLF) and Kanban, with some alsoapplying SPC to reduce cost and improveperformance and manufacturing flow throughtheir businesses.

Assembly stages still rely on dry-builds orprefitting, and in many cases multi-stagedrilling, deburring and cleanup operations,resulting in high levels of manual intervention.Methodologies such as ‘determinateassembly’ and ‘hole to hole’ location are usedin some applications. Whilst it is possible insome cases to improve these processesduring the life of a programme, onceestablished the opportunity to implementmajor changes can be limited, depending onthe savings to be made and the cost ofimplementation. Frequently issues associatedwith qualification and/or certification can alsorestrict these opportunities.

The drive for ever more cost-effectivemanufacturing processes, led by pressuresfrom the end user for better fuel efficiency ofaircraft and vehicles, is also backed by theneed to cater more towards environmentalconsiderations.

To meet these requirements, engineers inEurope and the USA have approached theseissues in several ways. From a compositespoint of view, many companies are drivingthe boundaries of technology and capabilityby developing and building larger and morecomplex unitised structures. In the USA theRaytheon approach, for its range of businessjet fuselages, combines non-metallichoneycomb core details between fibre-placedand adhesively bonded skins to create twolightweight fuselage sections of sandwichconstruction. These are then joined toproduce a one-piece fuselage assembly. Thiswould traditionally have been thousands ofholes and rivets and hundreds of metal-formed details, all of which need to be drawn,planned, manufactured, controlled and factoryscheduled. In airframe manufacturing thegeneral view is that assembly accounts for upto 40% of the cost of manufacture. This verylabour-intensive process of detail manufactureand assembly is now replaced with asophisticated two-piece composite mouldingthat is both light in weight and significantlyreduces the manual intervention and work-in-progress (WIP).

This step change in technology has now beentaken a significant step further with thedevelopment and productionisation of theBoeing 787 fuselage. Though fibre is placed ina similar manner to the Raytheon fuselages,the Boeing composite fuselage approach ismore akin in appearance to a conventionallooking fuselage but with integrally mouldedstiffeners and secondary assembledcircumferential frames. Though somewhatsimilar to its metal counterpart, thetechnology, scale and investment, and know-how to achieve this should not beunderestimated. This is clearly one of the

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5 ASSEMBLY AND AUTOMATION METHODOLOGIES AND IMPLEMENTATIONRoger Duffy – BAE Systems plc

biggest steps forward in the design, tooling,and manufacture of composite structures. Themonolithic skins of the 787 structure allowconventional autoclave pressures, typically100 psi (~7 bar) to be applied, to ensure theoptimum laminate consolidation. This differsfrom the Raytheon fuselage, where theadvantages of the light weight and stiffnessof the honeycomb sandwich structure cansometimes be compromised by thelimitations of a processing pressure to around45 psi (~3.5 bar). This reduced pressure canin some cases result in reworks and the needfor cosmetic adjustments.

In addition to the reduced cost of assembly,other benefits of these large unitisedstructures are the far fewer joints required,thus producing a cleaner aerodynamicsurface, and improving performance andoperational efficiency.

Programmes and businesses with thebenefits of advances in tooling technology,automation and the ability to work within afully integrated digital environment stand tomake the biggest gains, especially wherethese activities are linked with a qualityengineering data management (QEDM)philosophy and SPC, where appropriate, thuscreating opportunities to control and monitorprocesses for quality management (QM) andproduct enhancement.

Opportunities to exploit reductions in assemblycost and product mass for more conventionalcomponents and structures, such as flyingsurfaces, large panels and doors or complexfairings may be available through theintroduction of processes such as resininfusion (RI), where dry fabrics and preformsare infused with resin to remove the need forsecondary assembly operations such asshimming, drilling and fastening. Typicalexamples of this technology are some of thecomplex fairings and products produced by V System Composites for programmes suchas the Boeing Chinook helicopter.

5.2 Automation

Within the aerospace and compositesindustry the automation of processes such asraw material ply profiling, machining anddrilling has been established for many yearsand is used extensively by almost allcompanies, even those producing relativelylow numbers and one-offs. For large scalestructures, many of the assembly-typeprocesses have been read across from theautomated drilling or fastening methodsdeveloped for structures such as metalfuselages and flying surfaces. However,composite materials and structures havesignificantly different needs in terms of drillingand machining. Cutter costs are significantlyhigher, with unit cost per length of cut ornumber of holes drilled being up to ten timesthat of a metal alternative. Companies such asRaytheon and Boeing make extensive use ofabrasive water-jet cutting for a whole range ofapplications, and to great effect, for bothrouted edges and in some cases hole cutting,depending on the tolerances required.

The most radical improvements in compositesautomation have undoubtedly been in theareas of automated tape laying and fibreplacement. These machines haverevolutionised the manufacture of large andcomplex components. The fibre placement ofthe Raytheon business-jet fuselages and theautomated tape laying of the detailcomponents for the 777 at Boeing’sFrederickson facility are prime examples of theforesight and investment in what were ground-breaking new technologies when thoseprogrammes were launched. The BoeingFrederickson facility is also supported by animpressive array of automated forming andmechanical handling systems including AGV(automated guided vehicle) transportation.

The next generation of fibre placementmachines being developed is looking towardswider tow widths and increased numbers oftows. These are primarily aimed at the larger

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scale and softer contours, typically for civilaircraft applications. Ongoing development insoftware and machine control systems, withbetter product repeatability, will improveefficiency and throughput. These advances inconjunction with improvements in rawmaterial control and processing will all aid thedrive for better affordability.

5.3 Future trends

Where low mass, stiffness and good fatigueproperties are an essential feature of aproduct, composites are becoming thenatural choice, hence the reason for thephenomenal growth in their use in airframeapplications. For the near future at least,composite structures will almost certainlycontain some level of metallic components,typically titanium for high load concentrations,or where galvanic issues may arise.

The relatively low cost of aluminium alloysand the advent of high-speed machiningcommonly make this the chosen solutionfrom a cost perspective, although corrosionand fatigue can be an issue.

From an assembly point of view thiscombination of materials, with their differingprocesses and capabilities, ie tolerancemanagement, treatments etc, are an openinnovation for the introduction of cost-competitive composite preforms, especiallyfor complex components or those that lendthemselves to unitisation or matchedmoulding processes, such as RTM orinfusion, as mentioned previously.

To improve process control, compositesuppliers are under pressure to reducefeatures, such as batch to batch variability.Whilst this would aid the assembly process, itis only part of the solution to improvingaffordability. Ongoing development insoftware and machine control systems, withbetter product repeatability, will also improveefficiency and throughput.

In addition, software packages such as thosebeing developed in the UK offer predictivemodelling for composite componentdistortion, thus allowing the automatic biasingof tooling at the point of manufacture. Thesedevelopments should result in lower recurringand non-recurring cost and improved time tomarket. Ultimately the goal is ‘perfect parts’,removing the need to shim or the adjustmentof interfaces. Initiatives such as these will aidthe drive to achieve better build standardsand improve interchangeability (I&R in theUSA) as well as the overall quality of theaerodynamic surfaces of the product. The enduser will also benefit by a reduction in thenumber and frequency of maintenance cyclesleading to better operational efficiency.

5.4 Summary

The mission team found a wide range ofmanufacturing, assembly and automationmethodologies in use, from legacyprogrammes such as the Boeing 737 fuselage,to the very latest generation Boeing 787 fibre-placed composites fuselage. These twoprogrammes clearly demonstrate the changesand advances in materials, manufacturing andassembly methods, along with the latest thattechnology has to offer in automation andmachine tool control. Other innovativesolutions to reduce cost and maximiseefficiency were evident in the approachestaken by companies such Raytheon and V System Composites, with their applicationsof innovative tooling and component unitisationto reduce the number of detail parts andminimise assembly operations.

Many of the companies visited haveimplemented the principles and culture oflean manufacturing (LM) and SPC, incommon with many companies in Europe.

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With the increase in use of composites forstructural aerospace applications driven bynew programmes such as the Boeing 787 andAirbus A350 there has been very significantinvestment, particularly by the primes, indeveloping and automating manufacturingprocesses for major structural items such aswing spars, wing skins and fuselage sections.In addition to these major primary structureapplications, current and future aircraftdesigns require considerable numbers ofsecondary structure composite parts such aswing leading and trailing edge panels, fairings,nacelles and undercarriage doors.

Prime manufacturers tend to view thesetypes of secondary structure as beingdisproportionately costly for their size, and inthe UK there has been a trend to tackle thiscost challenge by two routes. Firstly, transferof existing parts and processes to areas oflow cost labour, predominantly in the FarEast, and secondly by development of newer,lower cost materials and processes such as‘out-of-autoclave’ curing.

A key mission target was to understand howthese secondary structure cost challengeswere being addressed in the USA.

Secondary structure parts are typically simplemonolithic or honeycomb core stiffenedsandwich panels produced using wovenprepregs laid up manually and autoclavecured. Although material costs make up asignificant part of the overall componentcosts, the major segment tends to be labourdue to the high manual content of the lay-upprocess. A further factor driving costs is thehigh capital value of autoclaves. In Europethere has been a great deal of developmentin RFI and ‘semi-preg’ technologies which

allow more rapid lay-up by reducing oreliminating vacuum consolidation and reduceoverall processing costs by allowing vacuumoven curing. This technology is now used inproduction on the A380 lower trailing edgepanels produced using Hexcel’s M36 resinsystem and NCFs.

The companies visited during the missioncovered the full range from primes through tosecond tier subcontractors, with examples ofsecondary structure evident at each company.Strategies to reduce cost varied at eachlocation but the overall impression was of amore conservative approach than in Europewith some movement of very simple structureto the Far East combined with significantinvestment in improving and automatingtraditional autoclave cure methods.

At Raytheon there were, in addition to themajor fuselage sections produced byautomated tow placement, a wide range ofsecondary structures, all utilising manual lay-up and autoclave cure. The efficiency of handlay-up had been optimised by use of laser plypositioning for ply and core location with alarge number of installations in use. This wasa common theme at all plants visited, bothlarge and small. Raytheon had considered off-load of manufacture to areas of lower labourcost but after poor experiences withmanufacture of wiring harnesses in Mexicohad not progressed this. There was someinterest in learning more about the potentialof vacuum-only RFI, and RTM processeswere in use for control surface manufacture.The general impression given, however, wasthat manually laid up prepreg combined withautoclave cure was likely to be the processchoice for secondary structure for theforeseeable future.

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6 LOWER COST SECONDARY STRUCTUREJohn Savage – Smiths Aerospace

It was a generally similar picture at SpiritAeroSystems where very large investmentswere being made in automated towplacement for the 787 primary fuselagestructure whilst, with assistance from laserply positioning, nacelle structure lay-up wasbeing done manually. Spirit, however, showedmore determination to develop lower costmanufacturing methods for futureprogrammes beyond 787, although with anemphasis on achieving this via automation.The acoustic properties of the componentwere achieved via perforated skins on ahoneycomb core. The perforation holes areformed and cured on a tool with pins, theprepreg forced over/around the pins. Therewere claimed advantages over the cure anddrill alternative. It was said that thinner skinscould be used as there was less fibredamage, and co-moulding the hole is lessexpensive than drilling on a specialist multi-spindle drilling machine.

One of the smallest companies visited was V System Composites, and here a lot ofinnovative work had been done ondevelopment and manufacture of lower costcomposites using out-of-autoclave processesincluding single-side tooling VARTM andclosed-mould RTM. A particular success wasthe forward pylon fairings for the Chinookhelicopter, which had been redesigned fromprepreg to a monolithic ribbed structurefabricated from dry fabric NCF and resininfused on a single sided tool. Cost savings inthe order of 40% over the original prepregstructure were claimed.

Despite this, and other successes ininnovative processes, V System Compositesstated that, of their rapidly growing turnover,around 75% is currently using standardmanually laid up prepreg, autoclave cured. A similar ratio was predicted in the future,which had led to the recent investment in anew large autoclave to support this. One ofthe reasons stated for the continued use ofprepreg and autoclave cure was conservatism

Figure 6.1 Chinook helicopter fairing produced byVARTM (photo: V System Composites)

amongst the bigger primes to accept thenewer materials and processes over tried andtested prepreg processes.

Goodrich Aerostructures produces a widerange of composite and metal bondedsecondary structures with all composite partscurrently being manufactured from prepregand autoclave cured. Goodrich has alreadytackled cost reduction by subcontracting themajority of its simpler components to the FarEast, notably Malaysia, and seems to havelittle interest in exploring out-of-autoclaveprocesses such as RFI, having concerns overthe structural capability and reliability of thisapproach. For more complex components itsstrategy is to move from manual prepreg lay-up to automated tow placement, stating it isinvesting heavily in this technology to supportits engine nacelle work on the Boeing 787.

The majority of the manufacturing at Boeing’svery impressive Frederickson plant is ofprimary structure including a semi-automatedprocess for fabrication of fabric prepreghoneycomb cored ribs is being utilised usinglay-up cells, combining laser ply positioningand rubber diaphragm vacuum presses forforming and consolidating plies includingthose over the honeycomb.

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The final company visited on the mission wasC&D Zodiac where virtually all of itsstructures business is being taken over by avery large contract to manufacture fuselageframes and shear ties for the Boeing 787. The shear ties are produced usingunidirectional tape, laid up manually to beginwith, although automated tape laying is beingconsidered for the future. The ties are thenCNC cut from this flat stack lay-up, vacuumheat formed and then autoclave cured.

Figure 6.2 Illustration of the shear ties and framemanufactured by C&D Zodiac for Spirit AeroSystems ofthe Boeing 787, Section 41

A more innovative process is being used forthe frames which are fabricated by RFI using adry carbon braid preform and resin film.Although in theory this process lends itself toout-of-autoclave curing, these parts are beingautoclave cured to meet Boeing requirements,and in fact C&D Zodiac is planning to doubleits autoclave capacity from three to sixvessels to provide capacity for this work.

In secondary and tertiary structures,autoclave cured woven prepreg is stillprevalent. Processes can be automated as faras computer controlled kit-cutting, pre-machined, pre-assembled lightweight cores,but the established production programmesseen during this mission still involve hand lay-up and autoclave cures. The main costreduction activity is subcontracting to lowerlabour-cost countries.

6.1 Summary

Mission objectives were to evaluateprogress in the uptake of out-of-autoclaveprocesses such as RFI for secondarystructures and the balance betweenautomation and manual processes. Strongevidence was seen of simpler componentsremaining as prepreg and autoclave cure butbeing subcontracted to areas of low-costlabour. For more complex structures therewas little evidence of any real move to out-of-autoclave processes with the majority ofparts still utilising manual lay-up of prepregs,albeit the process being optimised bywidespread investment in laser plypositioning equipment. For futureprogrammes the emphasis was very muchon major capital investment in facilities andprocess development to allow manufactureby fully automated processes such asprepreg tow placement and a continuedreliance on autoclave curing.

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‘Lower weight at an affordable cost’ is usuallyquoted as the main target for development ofcomposite material technology. However, newdevelopments that appear to meet this targetare rarely proposed for critical aircraft structureuntil the technology is considered to be‘mature’. Maturity means confidence that amaterial will process consistently, within awell-defined processing window, to give aflaw-free structure that will perform well withindesign requirements. This confidence is gainedthrough extensive coupon testing, processtrials, sub-element tests and experience fromproduction of less critical structures, aprocedure that can take five to 10 years.

It is not surprising, therefore, that themajority of materials and processes seen inproduction environments during this missionwere originally developed in the late 1980s orearly 1990s. The materials used for currentprimary structure (Boeing 777 empennage,Raytheon Premier 1 and Horizon 600composite fuselages) and the materials nowbeing proposed for the ‘all’ composite Boeing787 aircraft, are mostly prepregs cured at180°C in an autoclave. The prepregs beingused are tough, high glass transitiontemperature (Tg) epoxies with good damagetolerance, and are produced near theproducers of the hardware, in the USA,Europe, and Japan (Toray produces in theUSA near Frederickson, but plants are locatedelsewhere for other producers for the 787).

Cost savings have been achieved mainly byimprovements in automated lay-upequipment. Automated tape-laying (ATL)machines, used mainly for large flat or shallowcurvature components, are now capable oflaying 50-150 mm wide tapes at speeds of 15-20 m/min with minimum wastage. Automated

tow placement (ATP) machines, used forsurfaces with complex curvature, are nowreaching maturity that can place up to 30 x 3 mm wide tapes in one pass at speedsof 5-10 m/min, with consolidation pressuresup to 7 bar. In the production of fuselagesections, ATP machines are programmed tolay material around door and window cut-outs– again minimising wastage.

Such machines represent high capitalinvestment cost but are justified by laboursavings approaching 90% and time savingapproaching 80% compared to hand lay-up.The material formats required to feed thesemachines are 5-15% more expensive thanhand-lay material. Whilst the basic prepregsystem (resin and fibre combination) isconsidered to be mature technology, theindustry believes that material suppliers cando more to develop cost-effective materialsfor the manufacture formats needed forautomated processing.

Invar remains the material of choice for anymould tool used for lay-up. Even very largetools, such as the tool for the Boeing 787cockpit section, involve Invar sectionssupported by a frame. Carbon composite isfavoured for caul sheets, pressure intensifiersand cure tools that are not used for lay-up(such as the clam-shell outer tool used tocure the Raytheon fuselage sections). Ascomponents – and hence mould tools –increase in size, metal tooling has twoincreasing disadvantages:

• Physical mass, particularly for rotating toolsused with ATP machines

• High thermal mass which lengthensprocess times and curing costs

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7 AFFORDABLE COMPOSITE MATERIALS TECHNOLOGYRoger Francombe – Advanced Composites Group Ltd

The challenge for the composite materialsindustry is to develop either a damage-resistant composite material for tool surfaces,or a highly toughened primary structure resinmatrix capable of low-temperature cure. Therewas no evidence that such developmentshave yet occurred.

There were some advances. The Boeing 787fuselage frames and shear stiffeners willinclude a C-spar produced by RFI of a braidedcarbon preform. However, the film is thesame as used in the primary structureprepregs and the components will beautoclave cured. A proposal to use an out-of-autoclave liquid infusion process wasconsidered but discarded due to tooling costsand lower toughness performance. RFIprocessing of integrally stiffened 787 wingcovers has been proposed by a non-USsubcontractor – this is seen as very high risk,and would not be considered by a USsubcontractor. Empennage (vertical fin)covers will be made in Frederickson by co-bonding precured prepreg stiffeners to theprepreg skin using a film adhesive in anautoclave process. Front fuselage sectionsinvolve co-moulding of prepreg skins withuncured preshaped prepreg stiffeners.

A chopped, carbon-prepreg mouldingcompound was considered for the largenumber of small gussets that form a rivetedjoint between elements of the fuselageframes, but it lacked stiffness and stabilityand was replaced by press-moulded prepreg.

RTM has been a candidate process for theBoeing 787 main pressure bulkhead, but anumber of the Boeing engineers contactedduring this mission indicated that the RTMand VARTM resins currently approved toBoeing specifications will not achieve thelevel of toughness needed to be competitivewith prepreg processes in cost and weight.Nevertheless, there is no doubt that manysmaller detailed parts will be processed byRTM.

V System Composites is a new company thathas specialised in development of liquid resininfusion (LRI) solutions for complex-shapedcomponents, and has patented its ownversion of VARTM. Its main technology istooling and processing techniques and it hassuccessfully developed LRI components toreplace problem prepreg components inmilitary helicopter, aero-engine, UAV, missileand space applications. Using the widelyavailable epoxy formulations, LRI processingof a single component to replace anassembled complex prepreg has achieved upto 40% cost saving. V System Compositeshas also developed LRI processes for moreexotic high-temperature polymers such aspolyimide and phthalonitrile, and inorganicnanostructured polymers for hightemperature and fire resistance.

Film adhesive and core materials observedduring this mission have been standard formany years. Similarly the reticulation processesused for bonding precured perforated acousticskins in nacelle applications are well known. Itwas noted, however, that polyester peel ply isnow routinely used in the preparation ofcomposite surfaces for bonding. Once thepolyester peel ply is removed there is nofurther abrasion or cleaning. A study has beencarried out at University of Washingtonshowing the vastly improved consistency ofadhesive performance resulting from the use ofpolyester compared to nylon peel plies.Nonetheless, anti-peel rivets are still the normin any bonded joint.

The prepreg is single sourced, and Boeing isvery satisfied with consistency of qualityprovided by the supplier. The divestment ofmanufacturing sites such as Boeing Tulsa andBoeing Wichita (to Spirit AeroSystems) andthe subcontracting policy for major sub-assemblies will give freedom for otherorganisations to select other materials fornew components. The problem is up-frontexpense of database generation and materialqualification programmes.

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Wichita State University is playing animportant role in reducing the costsassociated with certification of new materialsfor aerospace use. The National Institute forAviation Research (NIAR) is part of theuniversity, and they, together with NASA andthe FAA, have set up a new organisationknown as the National Center for AdvancedMaterials Performance (NCAMP). Thisorganisation has a governing body consistingof NASA, FAA, the US Air Force (USAF), NavalAir Systems Command (NAVAIR) and industryrepresentatives.

NCAMP is responsible for developing,certifying and publishing design databases foradvanced composite materials. It will useadvanced analytical tools to reduce thenumber – and hence the costs – of coupontests, but the material supplier will still beexpected to meet the costs of certifying itsmaterial. Any component manufacturer mayuse the databases to certify components. Theonly requirement will be a reduced, singlebatch equivalency test programme to validatethe manufacturing site’s process conditions.This procedure is gaining support from thelarge aircraft companies.

7.1 Summary

It would be easy to conclude that USmaterials technology has not advanced veryfar during the last 10 years and that the realadvances have been in automated lay-upmachines, the size of the components nowbeing developed, and the scale of the newfactories being built to process them. InNorth America, however, R&D funding hasbeen directed towards development of out-of-autoclave curing processes, resin infusionprocesses, and integrated stiffenedstructures with one-stage cure. It wasconcluded from this visit that thesetechnologies are not quite mature enoughfor production of large civil structures andthat the overriding priority, for the Boeing787 at least, has been to fly the first aircrafton time.

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Figure 7.1 John Tomblin (NIAR, Wichita State University) discusses spar analysis

8 MOULD TOOL TECHNOLOGIESBrian Gilbert – INBIS Ltd

8.1 Single sided, metal tooling8.2 Single sided, composite tooling

8.2.1 Modular tooling8.2.2 Composite caul plates

8.3 Closed mould tooling8.4 Tooling automation8.5 Drivers for change8.6 Future technologies

8.6.1 Near term8.6.2 Mid term8.6.3 Long term

8.7 Summary

The mission delegates were shown a widerange of components being manufactured,including fuselage barrels, frames, tailplaneskins, spars, stringers, engine nacelles. Thehosts were generous in what the missiondelegates were allowed to see, and open indiscussion; often proprietary manufacturingmethods being shown for componentproduction. To respect this openness, and outof courtesy to the hosts, this chapter focusesmore on the technology approach rather thanspecific production details.

8.1 Single sided, metal tooling

The majority of tooling seen was traditionalsingle sided, metal tooling being used toproduce curved or complex-shapedcomposite components. The unidirectional,pre-impregnated composite plies were laid byhand, as were the structural additions such ashoneycomb panels. A typical component wasthe cockpit window frame for Raytheon’sHawker Business Jet made from a carbonfibre/epoxy resin combination. The tool’ssurface was machined Invar, selected for itslow thermal expansion properties, and had asubstantial steel backing structure in order tomaintain stability of the profile. For process

control, several thermocouples were attachedto the back face of the Invar. On completionof ply lay-up, the tool was vacuum baggedand then sent to the autoclave for heating to180°C (256°F) following a controlled curecycle.

An interesting variation of metal tooling wasthe moulds for the automatic tape layingmachines at Boeing (Frederickson) used formaking the 777 tailplane skins and spars. Thebasic configuration of Invar skin and steelbacking structure was the same asmentioned above but the tools were verylarge at 1.22 m (4 ft) wide and 10.98 m (36 ft)long. They were also much more heavily builtto allow them to withstand the heavycompaction forces imposed during the tapelaying process and to ensure that they did notflex when being picked up and moved by theAGVs.

Boeing (Frederickson) used 9.15 m (30 ft) longInvar mandrels to manufacture tailplane sparsin a hot press forming operation. A tape laid,uncured composite sheet, ranging inthickness from 8 mm at the root to 2 mm atthe tip, was laid over the mandrel. Themandrel was heated to a temperature justbelow the epoxy resin gelling temperature tosoften the composite material and allow it toconform to the moulding tool. It was thensent to the autoclave for full cure on themandrel.

8.2 Single sided, composite tooling

Metal tooling is very heavy, and to overcomethis Raytheon uses composite mould tools toachieve the smooth outer surface of itsBusiness Jet fuselages. Viper tow placementtechnology is used to lay up the fuselage

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barrel onto an aluminium mandrel. When lay-up is complete, a two part, clamshell,composite mould tool is placed over thealuminium mandrel and the halves boltedtogether. An inflatable bladder technique isused to transfer the uncured plies to theclamshell mould. The mandrel is thenremoved and the fuselage autoclave cured.

8.2.1 Modular tooling

Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita will bemanufacturing the Boeing 787 front fuselage.This 5.75 m (18.9 ft) diameter compositefuselage barrel has posed some interestingchallenges for the company. The main issue hasbeen how to achieve a smooth, well controlledouter profile in a cost-effective manner. Theingenious solution, which was developed jointlywith Boeing and the fuselage partners (Spirit,Alenia, KHI and Vought), has been to use amodular support structure to create a mandrelonto which is laid the composite skin. Theindividual modules seal against each other forvacuum integrity and also provide a toolinglocation for the precured stringers. Once theprocess of tow-placing the composite skin iscomplete, several caul plates are placed aroundthe fuselage to create a smooth outer profile.The assembly is then sent to the autoclave forhigh-temperature cure.

8.2.2 Composite caul plates

Components made using single-sided toolinghave one accurately formed, smooth face.The opposite face is typically overlaid withbagging materials and left free of anyconstraint to reduce the risk of profiledistortion during the cure process. There are many occasions, however, when a smoothsurface is required on the ‘bagged’ surfaceand this is often done using a caul plate. Toproduce smooth surfaces for larger areas,composite caul plates are generally used. Anexcellent example of this was seen at SpiritAeroSystems, and the only example notedduring this mission.

8.3 Closed mould tooling

Matched-metal tooling (also referred to asresin transfer moulding – RTM) is used toproduce complex-shaped compositecomponents that require accuratelypositioned, orthogonal mating faces(advantageous during assembly operations).The process is basically a plastic injectionmoulding technique but with the inclusion ofa composite preform placed into the mouldprior to injection of a resin matrix. The toolsare heated to speed up the productionprocess. V System Composites showed thedelegates a highly complex gearbox covermade using RTM in combination with otherprocesses. The component had been formedusing silicone mandrels, a salt mandrel andsome pre-impregnated composite material.The cover was made as a demonstrator partto show what could be achieved, and theresult was very impressive.

8.4 Tooling automation

The composites industry, and particularlyhigh-performance composites, is generallyregarded as a manually intensive process, butit was noted that some automation had beenimplemented. At Frederickson two exampleswere seen. The first was for rib manufacturewith a ‘manually assisted’ debulkingarrangement. This was a silicone bag onguide rails, needing only to be slid intoposition for use. The arrangement wassimple, easy to use and effective. The secondwas the use of AGVs to move, on demand,the heavy lay-up tools around the factory andinto the autoclave. The approach of using‘appropriate’ levels of automation wasrecognised to be a very effective formula.

8.5 Drivers for change

Much time and effort has gone intodeveloping the production environment tomake high-quality composite componentsusing single-sided metal mould tools in

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conjunction with autoclave cure. Having madesuch a large investment there is quite naturallya great reluctance to change. Indeed, thisproduction approach has much to commendit, such as tool durability and its adaptabilityfor the newer, lower temperature cureprocesses. Even so, reduced manufacturingcosts will increasingly be a major driver forchange. Strategies to achieve this includesimplifying the processing operations, usingless energy-intensive cure processes, andimproved tooling. Process simplification couldbe achieved by creating preforms through plystacking, removing the need for tool cleaning,or by introducing automation. The adoption oflower cure-temperature resin systems, lighterweight tooling and out-of-autoclave methodswould also help reduce energy costs. Suchchanges by themselves would not, however,be sufficient to initiate a swing away fromsingle-sided metal tooling for mainstreamitems. This means it is likely to be thedominant mould technique for some time.

The manufacture of mould tools is asignificant part of the production costs forcomposite components especially whenevery composite part is different. There areinstances when this tooling cost has beenthe deciding factor when choosing betweenaluminium and composite parts. The need toreduce the number of tools, and thereforecost, is immense. The cost reduction could beachieved through different mould materials,using common components or features(which may allow the use of modular toolingto make a family of components) or perhapsincreasing the functionality of a component,thereby reducing the number of toolsrequired. The modular tooling used by Boeingfor the 787 fuselage is therefore a significanttechnological step towards the acceptabilityof the modular technique.

There are many drivers to encourage a movetowards automated production ofcomposites. In the first instance, risingproduction rates, combined with improved

consistency of product quality, could wellencourage the move. Secondly, shortage ofskilled labour is increasingly becoming anissue, and this may be aggravated with evermore stringent health and safety legislation.These factors could well encourage theadoption of automation. Despite theforegoing it is recognised that there aredifficulties in automating existing productionprocesses and that any changes would bestbe implemented during the design stage offuture components. By way of example, out-of-autoclave processes would be easier toincorporate into an automated productionsystem, perhaps utilising integrally heatedtooling for in-situ curing.

8.6 Future technologies

Based upon discussions with the missionhosts, and some personal reflection, thefollowing comments are put forward with aneye to the future. The comments below relateonly to a mould tools perspective and it isrecognised that many other influences existin production scenarios.

8.6.1 Near term

The vast experience gained to date withsingle-sided metal tooling, combined with thehuge investment in materials and autoclaves,means that this processing technology will bearound for many years to come. Recentlymuch progress has been made in reducedtemperature cure (120°C), out-of-autoclavematerials and this could provide one routetowards lowering manufacturing costs.However, mainstream aircraft production isunlikely to be an early adopter of thetechnology, despite being used to make manyprototype aircraft. It is more likely that non-aerospace applications will be in thevanguard. Metal tooling is suitable for out-of-autoclave/lower temperature cures, and dueto its sheer robustness, single-sided toolingwill still be appropriate. Closed mould toolingwill be increasingly used to make accurately

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formed parts, especially as the capability formaking dry, composite 2-D and 3-D preformsimproves. The technique of combining severalprocessing techniques to make a component,such as silicone mandrels, greatly enhancesthe range of applications for this technology.

8.6.2 Mid term

The drive to reduce manufacturing costs isanticipated to lead to the development of alower tool count than currently required toproduce composite components. In the firstinstance, designers might move towardscreating a family of components that havemany common features, perhaps a commonheight but varied in length. This would allowmodular ‘block’ tooling to be utilised, thusrequiring fewer tools overall and providingsome production flexibility. For the productionof ‘thin skin’ items, reconfigurable toolingmay emerge whereby the mould tool surfacecan be reformed to a new profile. Theprecedent for this is the ‘pogo stick’arrangement used for machining metal skinstructures. Such tooling would not betransportable, and the lower processingtemperatures of new materials would almostbe a prerequisite. Higher performance itemswould most likely need a freestanding post-cure.

8.6.3 Long term

The logical extension to reducing the cost ofmould tools would be to have none at all.Although no technologies to achieve thiswere noted during the mission, one way todo this could be to used preformed, curedcomposite beams and sheets, but this wouldof course impose design restrictions on therange of parts made. For greater structuralfreedom a rapid-tooling prototype approach isneeded. The vision is to ‘extrude’ a structuralcomposite to form the part, and local heatingwould ensure the exudate retains its formand allows the part’s section to be built up.

8.7 Summary

The majority of applications seen during themission used the traditional approach ofunidirectional carbon fibre, pre-impregnatedwith epoxy resin, cured at elevated pressureand temperature in an autoclave. Thematerials were developed for use withsingle-sided tooling and it became obviousduring the tour that over the years manyincremental steps have been taken toimprove the processes. This experienceenables the routine production of high-quality composite components.

The mission delegates noted that their hosts seemed to be poised in readiness forcomposites technology to move forward –something that was reflected in the 787modular tooling and the ‘RTM pluscombination’ technique. Technologicalprogress, however, is slow, as it is in the UK,with two of the restraining factors being thehigh level of investment in currenttechnology and thus a reluctance to change,and the high cost of process certification forthe aerospace industry.

Overall it appears from a tooling perspectivethat the two countries have equivalentcomposites capabilities.

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9.1 Introduction9.2 Use of composites today in civil

aircraft manufacture9.3 Cost opportunities through

process change9.4 Observations9.5 Summary

9.1 Introduction

The vast majority of aerospace compositeprimary and secondary structures inproduction today are cured using autoclaves.This processing method of temperature andhigh pressures has been driven by thechemistry of the systems approved for use inaerospace products to produce parts with therequired mechanical properties. In the drivefor lower cost manufacture, removal of thehigh-cost autoclave has been one of thegoals. This has resulted in the development ofnew resins and fibre structure and anexploration into lower temperature, lowerpressure cures. The application of thesematerials and processes, however, has notresulted in wide-scale use of thetechnologies. One of the objectives of themission was to explore how far thesealternative methods had been or was plannedto be adopted, how production flows werebeing managed and whether cost reductionsin real terms were being achieved.

9.2 Use of composites today in civilaircraft manufacture

Composites are widely used today inaerospace secondary structure and aregaining use in primary structure for the nextgeneration of civil aircraft. Leading and trailingedge panels, nacelles, thrust reversers,

horizontal and vertical tailplanes,undercarriage doors, flap leading edges andmoveable leading edges are some of themajor application areas of secondarystructure. Both Airbus and Boeing haveintroduced these components in the drive forlower weight (replacing the centre boxstructure on the VTP of the B777 saved 1,000kg). In primary structure the A380 includes acomposite wing box, keel beam, wingbeams, belly fairing, VTP and HTP. Figure 9.1attempts to give an indication for the use ofcomposites today.

The next generation of aircraft is beingdesigned with all composite fuselages andmain wing spars, wing skins and wing boxes.Despite the attraction of the cost-savingpotential of ‘out-of-autoclave curing’, all theseparts and secondary structure are going to becured in newly procured autoclaves. Thereason is clear. The time and cost required todevelop and qualify new materials andprocesses has not yet caught up with thelaunch programmes of new aircraft.Components need to be produced to meetthe current requirements and these cannot bemet, with consistent quality and at productionrates, with the new techniques. While greatstrides are being made in the back rooms ofthe industry, if the next generation of single-aisle aircraft is launched before theseprocesses are proven, then the sametechnologies as today will be used in thehighest volume sector of the aircraft industry.

9.3 Cost opportunities through processchange

The processing improvements will come fromcombinations of:

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9 LOWER COST MANUFACTURING IN COMPOSITESChris Webborn – St Bernard Composites

1 Lower cost materials2 Lower cost processes3 Moving production to lower cost

economies

Lower cost materials may be delivered in twoways, the epoxy system and the carbon form.These aspects are covered in Chapter 7.

Lower cost processes can be achieved bychanging the basis of the process or improvingthe process itself. The basis of the process

relies on chemistry changes and consolidationto deliver properties equivalent to those seentoday from the autoclave. Even when this isachieved, and today it is not in a full productionsense, the real cost savings will only be madeif the autoclaves are not in the business modelin the first place, otherwise their depreciationwill continue to feature in the cost. Supplierswithout autoclaves will therefore be, almost bydefinition, new to the composites industry andwill have to obtain all the necessary approvals.

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Figure 9.1 Current applications of composites in aerospace

Section Airbus Boeing OtherWingbox A380

A400MB787

Wing beams A350A380

B787

Wing skins A350A400M

B787

Fuselage A380 tail section B787 RaytheonBelly fairing A380 Hawker 4000VTP A320

A340A380A350A400M

B787B777/h

Horizontal stabiliser A340A350 Spain

B737 Limited EditionB787B777

Nacelles A340, A380 B787Reversers A340 Aircelle

A380 AircelleA350 Goodrich

B787 Spirit

Reverser details A320 Reverser doorsA380 Gutter fairingA340 Reverser doorsA380 Reverser doors

Flap track fairings A320A340A380

Wing panels A320A340A380

B777

Rear pressure bulkhead A340-600 A380

Keel beam A340-600A380

J nose – LE and ribs A340-600 A380

Floor beams A340-600

The other aspect to low-cost processes is theapplication of LM. Taking cost out of anexisting process using the various toolsavailable today is helping manufacturersachieve the cost-down targets set by theircustomers. In some cases the savings can belarge. However, with time it becomes moreand more difficult to win substantial savings.

When the process can no longer be changedto deliver the saving, the lower costeconomies can save on labour cost butusually at a material cost premium. The costof transferring work into the lower costeconomies has generally beenunderestimated. The amount of time toachieve the transfer, and the managementand technical support needed, are generallyfar more than originally planned. There is,however, a momentum today that will not bereversed. Even the aircraft manufacturers arebeing driven to have assembly lines in thesecountries and put in high-tech production aswell as the parts with high labour content.

9.4 Observations

As would be expected at Boeing there hadbeen considerable investment in low-costproduction. A good example was seen atFrederickson, where the B777 VTP and HTPsare made, of a well thought out productionprocess and flow. As with all manufacturingthis is rarely achieved on day one but hasbeen developed and improved with time.Today the production consists of tape-laidskins, tape-laid panels for the spars, precured‘I’ ribs, water jet trimming, automatedultrasonics and various assembly operations.

The composite production moves down theshop in a straight line, moving the baggedskins on AGVs, into the autoclave. Theautoclaves open both ends, with one end inthe clean room. The part enters the autoclavefor the clean room and after the cure leavesat the other end to take it into tool strip andwater jet trim. Final assembly is conventional

with all the ribs joined by riveting brackets.The ‘black metal’ approach is recognised asnot ideal, and getting engineering resource tofocus on these issues while there are somany new aircraft projects is a problem forthe industry at large. To get the best fromcomposites the design needs to reflect thecapabilities offered by the process and thematerials and include integral functionalitywherever possible. Only then will compositesbegin to deliver the cost benefit toaccompany the weight savings. Majorcomposite components were being bought infrom as far as Australia and Israel, clearly on acost-competitive basis, although offset oftenfeatures in the choice of a chosen supplier.

At Spirit AeroSystems, Wichita, the nearest tosingle-piece flow was seen: a lean productionline for the manufacture of thrust reversers forthe B737. The line had been laid out in aclassic U with materials entering at one endand finished parts leaving at the other. Onentering the factory all materials andcomponents were taken to where they wouldbe used, leading to an efficient processminimising the movement of employees, fork-lifts and trucks. Honeycomb core was all cuton site using five- and seven-axis ultrasonicknives. The cores were preformed beforekitting into the lay-up area. The moulding wascarried out using laser ply positioning to speedup the process and to provide an assurancethat the plies and cores were positionedcorrectly and in the right order.

The acoustic properties of the componentwere achieved via perforated skins on ahoneycomb core. The perforation holes areformed and cured on a tool with pins, theprepreg forced around the pins. Advantagesover the cured laminate and drill alternativewere claimed to be the use of thinner skins,as there was less fibre damage, and co-moulding of the hole is less expensive thandrilling on a specialist multispindle drillingmachine.

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At Goodrich Aerostructures, Riverside, thereverser for the A320 V2500 engine variant isproduced. The technology is based aroundmetal bonding of aluminium skins, perforatesand honeycombs. The treatment isundertaken in-house, with phosphoric andchromic anodise processes being used. Thebonding system is via a Henkel Hysolprimer/adhesive. The facilities at Riverside aremuch larger than the current work requiresand so it was clearly challenging to rationalisethe production into the right-sized area.

Some interesting concepts had been applied tothe bottleneck areas of curing and machining.Cures were scheduled to the autoclaves usinga bus timetable approach. Specific cures wererun on certain days, at set times, to aprogramme that met customer demand. Thesewere published well in advance.

All other production was geared to delivery tothe autoclave of the parts for that cure. This

enabled autoclave capacity to be optimisedusing the inherent flexibility of the upstreamprocesses – material cutting, treatment, kittingand lay-up. In this way the autoclaves werealways run full. The double-sided tools for thelarger parts at high production rates improvedmachine uptime by eliminating set-up time.

In the kitting area even bagging materialswere kitted. Goodrich has found two keyimprovements since introducing this system.Firstly, just the right amount of material isused rather than allowing operators to ‘guess’how much material to pull off the roll.Secondly, the skilled lay-up operators are ableto spend their time on the tools rather thanwandering around cutting bagging kits. Theprinciple was found to work so well inpractice that the supplier of the baggingmaterial now supplies the pack in kit form.

Regarding the current thinking on the idealmanagement structure for manufacturing in

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Figure 9.2 Mission delegates with host Paul Oppenheim (3rd from right) and Malcolm McLean (1st left) andBeverly Xu (3rd from left), British Consulate-General Los Angeles, at V System Composites

the US aerospace industry, a recurrentcomment concerned the adoption of ‘leanleadership’ to accompany the other leanprinciples already accepted. This means theminimising of the layers of hierarchy in anorganisation; a ‘horizontal’ structure isdeemed the most efficient. An example wasquoted at Goodrich where there are only twolayers of management between the GeneralManager and the shop floor within the facilityseen at Riverside.

The drive for cost savings can not beachieved through in-house improvementsalone. As with many manufacturers in thedeveloped economies, once the leanmanufacture has taken the product as far asthe cost base allows, the next cost jump is tolower-cost economies. Goodrich has targeteda number of detail parts to be subcontractedto Malaysia and China.

In the future Goodrich sees greater use oftape laying for smaller parts, through towplacement for cylindrical parts, reversers,nacelles, and tape laying for flat panels toconvert to wing components, doors etc.

In the smaller companies visited – V SystemComposites and C&D Zodiac (NorthwestComposites) – technologies had beendeveloped to produce parts via RTM (in factHyper-VARTM™). In the case of V systems avery complex rotor-bearing housing saved bothcost and weight by changing from aluminiumstructure to a one-piece RTM moulding.However, to provide meaningful sales for thebusiness the decision was taken to install anautoclave and pursue the more traditional partsrequired by the market. In Zodiac, the B787spars were formed using preforms and were tohave been RTM cured; however, because ofthe stage of the process development and theneed for integrity and rate of parts production,additional autoclaves were on order for thelong-term production curing of the parts.

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9.5 Summary

A variety of production processes were seenduring the mission. It became clear that theindustry is generally at a similar level oftechnology as in Europe. It is thought thatAirbus is more advanced in certain areas (wingbox, VTP, HTP) and Boeing in others (fuselage).However, the drivers for the industry are thesame and the solutions are similar.

The chemistry of the materials and theprocesses to cure them cannot be changedwithout extensive qualification, and a newaircraft programme launched today would usecurrent technology. Any new process mustdeliver to the industry parts that can be madeat rate and consistently to the required qualitystandards. Conflicting drivers exist where thereare ‘invested interests’ in current technology,and legacy programmes will not change themethod of manufacture. This suggests that theindustry will generate a new breed of suppliersthat will move into the new technologies,either as a spin-off from an existing business oras a start-up, in a low-cost area.

LM is helping companies drive down theircosts but this will only take the industry sofar. The next cost jump is destined to be in adifferent geography.

There seems to be an emerging business modelthat relies on technical development and newproduct introduction in the developed economiesand volume production in low-cost areas.

There is also, however, a move to establishhigher technologies in these low-cost areasto satisfy technological requirements inreturn for aircraft orders. While the industry isbuoyant there is sufficient capacityrequirement to keep everyone busy. Whenthe downturn comes, as it will, getting thebalance of cuts right will be the challenge.Retaining the know-how where it is neededand establishing partnerships for productionwithout losing the foundation of theknowledge base is key.

10.1 Processing and qualification10.2 Programme and response

timescales10.3 Design communication10.4 Summary

10.1 Processing and qualification

The primary purpose of the mission was tostudy reduced-cost composites technologiesand their current status in the manufacture of aerospace structures in the USA. A complementary view of these activities,however, can to be made from theperspective of the non-aerospace user; out-of-autoclave processes, in particular, havingbeen widely accepted across a range of otherindustries in recent years. Considering this,the foremost impression gained was thatconventional composites processes are stillvery much the first choice for airframeconstruction; the majority of the companiesvisited were seen to be increasing theirinvestment in autoclaves for the processingof prepreg materials, or in one instance, resinfilm infusion (RFI) of a braided preform.

It is accepted that, for aircraft structural design,optimum mechanical properties are always theprimary aim and the manufacturing processeschosen are oriented towards their delivery.Conventional pressure-cured prepreg-basedcomposites are the understood best route toachieving this. In the composites world outsideof aerospace, by contrast, lesser – or morevariable – mechanical performance is oftenreadily accepted if a manufacturing methodchosen will result in a faster rate of productionor a reduction in the part-count in an assemblyoperation. An example of this thinking wouldbe the integration of a number of elements tomake up one moulded part.

The reluctance to avoid too much integrationfor reasons of structural certification – aswitnessed on the Boeing 777 co-bonded finskin/stringer at Frederickson where ‘chicken’fasteners are also required in the bonded jointto eliminate any potential for peeling action,although the joint is fully acceptable forprimary load transfer – still results in the‘black metal’ approach being the preferredone. No examples of paste-adhesive joiningwere observed for similar reasons. In otherindustries, where certification is achieved bydifferent means (eg final componentperformance alone), more adventurousmanufacturing methods are often acceptedas the norm. A clear conclusion, from theseobservations, is that bonding by itself is notyet acceptable for primarily-loaded joints. Anychange in this situation will be noted withinterest over the coming years.

Materials qualification in the aerospaceindustry is a complex process. The time andexpense involved offer a significant deterrentto changes in materials type being made attoo frequent an interval. Boeing, the missionlearnt, had qualified a new prepreg for the787 programme in one year which, given thefull scope of the testing involved, is regardedas being very fast. This situation was clearlyapparent from the mission visits during whichvery few variations on accepted – and mature– prepreg types were seen (the exception tothis would be V System Composites wherethe nature of the work concerned prototypingand development). By comparison, in othercomposites industries, there is fasteracceptance of new types of materials and theexploitation of what they have to offer. In themotorsport sector it is common for a newprepreg to be used in production afteraccelerated coupon testing, selected

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10 A NON-AEROSPACE PERSPECTIVEBrian O’Rourke – WilliamsF1

component checks and manufacturing trials,often within a few months of its release bythe supplier.

The work being done at NIAR at Wichita StateUniversity on the AGATE programme, whichaims to simplify the process of materialsqualification and establish a national databaseprimarily for the general aviation industry,should encourage composites use byorganisations that currently find the qualifyingprocedure an obstacle. An initiative within thisprogramme is the concept of a ‘super-sourced’ material for which a common supplyform is agreed (fibre type, matrix proportion,weave style) and a database of performanceestablished together with a ‘map’ of theinfluence of processing variables upon it.

10.2 Programme and response timescales

Aerospace programmes, in keeping with theirscale and complexity, dictate protractedtimescales when compared to those in otherindustries. Of interest was to understand whatresponse times the host companies consideredacceptable for new design requirements.Goodrich Aerostructures (Riverside) stated that,from definition to completion of firstcomponent, it would be currently 16-18 monthsfor a new nacelle assembly. The expectations atboth Boeing and Spirit, for the 787 programme,are that the planned delivery dates for themajor composites assemblies in late 2007 willbe met. Given the novelty of the methodsdescribed and the complexity of thecomponents witnessed, this will be animpressive achievement, although, clearly, thecurrent status is the result of trial work overseveral years.

The matching of development activities tointended implementation dates is seen to beof immense importance to the acceptance ofcomposites technologies for the future. A newtechnique not being ready for a programmestart could consign it to ‘back-burner’ status

for some time thereafter. This was witnessedat C&D Zodiac, where part of the 787fuselage frame, originally intended for RTM,was using autoclaved RFI laminate due to theprogress of events. However, the newprocesses developed for the fuselage of the787 programme, using multi-axis CNC tape-placement machines, could – it wasconfidently predicted at Spirit AeroSystems –easily be applied to any other new programmelaunch that took place after 2007. Theimplication was that the initiation of a futuregeneration single-aisle aircraft would see thecomposites processes carry directly acrossand be the method of choice from now on.

10.3 Design communication

Figure 10.1 Laserguidanceequipment for plyplacement(courtesy GoodrichAerostructuresGroup)

Another interest, from the perspective ofnon-aerospace industry users, is in thecommunication of design intent to themanufacturing group and how this is mostdirectly – and efficiently – achieved. Since theactivities witnessed were from the production‘end’ of the process, it was difficult to judgethis completely. It was clear, also, that thecompanies visited were volume-producers ofaerospace parts and that a repeating series ofroutine production operations was beingwitnessed. In such circumstances theinformation provided for the operators wasseen to take the form of a written procedurecontaining lists of detailed instructions;‘drawings’, as such, were not seen. The useof laser-projection of ply boundary positionsupon mould tools was widespread wherehand lay-up laminating techniques remainedand, in these instances, the instructions forply selection and application were given by

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the controlling computer. Traceability of theply stack was seen to be connected to thisprocess by the use of bar-code readers insome examples.

The difference, in these respects, betweenvolume-production aerospace activities andthose of an organisation dealing withprototyping – or small-scale production ofcomplex parts such as motorsport – is clear.The link between design and production is, ofnecessity, much closer within the smallerorganisation, and information may have to beconveyed in a more complete form; aseparate production-engineering function notexisting between them in many cases.Boeing Frederickson does not currently useFiberSim; however, it was confirmed thatsoftware such as FiberSim exists throughoutthe aerospace industry in the USA and isused for ply flat-pattern development, laserprojection and automated tape-laying as wellas managing design information. V SystemComposites makes use of the capabilitywithin the laser projector’s software toreverse-engineer the ply boundaries into thesystem’s memory.

The choice of materials used for mould tooling,again, reflected the scale and longevity of thecomponents observed. Overwhelmingly,moulds were built from metallic materials –particularly Invar – for reasons of durability,despite long fabrication timescales, weight andenergy requirements. Composite tooling – ofthe prepreg type – was not judged to besuitable in most instances, an obviousexception being the two-part female ‘clam-shell’ mould for the fuselages built atRaytheon. The contrast to the motorsportindustry in this regard was rather stark as, withthe latter, the timescales involved andgeometric complexity expected mean that norealistic alternatives to composite prepregtooling are thought to exist; in effect all partsbecome ‘rapid prototypes’ when compared tothe examples seen.

Similarly, the final operation of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) was simplifiedas much as possible for the volume-production case. The processes seen all usedan ultrasonic technique, mostly through-transmission but with some pulse-echo, thegeometry of the parts being simple and,hence, suitable. The approach was, in effect,‘go’ or ‘no-go’ to the detection of defects,with other methods only being employedwhen questions were raised by a resultbeyond these options. Components of moresevere curvature or complex construction, asencountered elsewhere, would requiredifferent – or additional – techniques.

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10.4 Summary

Out-of-autoclave composites processesaimed at reducing manufacturing costs havebeen adopted and readily accepted inindustry outside of aerospace. Theimpression gained through visits on themission is that, whilst much expenditure hasbeen directed towards the development ofthese in the USA, the majority of workwithin aerospace is still reliant on‘conventional’ prepreg, metal tooling andautoclave techniques. Considerableinvestment was witnessed to have beenmade in these ‘known’ processes and it isclear that they are, still, regarded as themost reliable and best for structuralperformance.

Seen in the context of the objectives of themission – reduced-cost manufacture – it isconcluded that efficiency combined withperformance has been judged to best comefrom greater automation of existingmethods; the extent to which this had beentaken was impressive indeed. Theappearance is of a clear divide betweenaerospace primary structural components incomposite materials and those of theautomotive and other sectors, particularly interms of new materials qualification andacceptance. In comparison to themotorsport industry, as an example, thereluctance of aerospace – for respectedcertification reasons – to embrace primarystructural bonded connections limits thescope for component complexity withregard to integration. It would seem that, forcommercial airliner construction at least,‘black metal’ assemblies will continue forsome time to come.

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Education is undertaken in a similar mannerto the UK with education that may continueup to degree level and then onto PhD andpostgraduate level.

The National Institute for Aviation Research(NIAR) at Wichita State University works veryclosely with industry undertaking appliedresearch, 70% of which is related tostructures and 56% related to composites.No lecturing is given. NIAR is advised by anIndustry Advisory Board that consists of theseveral large American aircraft manufacturers(Raytheon Aircraft Co, Bombardier Aerospace,Cessna Aircraft Co, Spirit AeroSystems andBoeing Co).

R&D at NIAR covers all stages of aircraft life,from concept, development, mostcertification and use, including ageing aircraftand crashworthiness (becoming moreimportant). Some fuels research is carried outat the institute but no other engine orpropulsion work. A significant investment hasbeen made in the Aircraft Structural Testingand Evaluation Center (ASTEC) at NIAR,which has a large facility, including a low-speed wind tunnel with an underfloorbalance, for full-scale testing of non-metals as well as metallic structures.

Expertise has been developed in testing,which is undertaken for 70% of US states.Research tends to be reactive such as thestudy and detection of known problems oftenhidden under multilayer structures, butproactive research is also carried out, such asstudying ageing aircraft, when funds areavailable for development. Currently there area number of such projects running, forexample studying the composite horizontalstabiliser of the 737, the wings of the T34

trainer and tail cracking of the C5 supportingthe FAA. Seventy per cent of the FAA’scomposite material research is beingundertaken at NIAR (involved in FAR – parts23, 25, 27 and 29). The facilities arecontinually assessed and upgraded whenneeded. NIAR’s 2 x 3 m low-speed Beechwind tunnel is in the process of an $8 million(~£4.4 million) upgrade.

Figure 11.1

NIAR full-scalecomponent test(courtesy NIAR)

NIAR also recently upgraded itscrashworthiness sled, which is used for bothanalytical and experimental work. There arealso facilities, which weren’t shown, toundertake virtual aerodynamics. There is agreat emphasis in undertaking work toindustrial test standards and working veryclosely with industry. This was also seen atUniversity of Washington where Boeing has asignificant influence and at Delaware andNorth Carolina State Universities during theHYBRIDMAT 4 mission. These institutes’Centers of Excellence are more comparableto the German Fraunhofers, withdevelopment close to commercialisationemphasised, rather than the R&D of the UK,which is more research-oriented and guidedby the constraints of the funding bodies.Some of the newer UK universities, formertechnical colleges, are taking up this gap andare successfully interacting with industry on amuch smaller scale than these Americaninstitutes.

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11 EDUCATION AND TRAININGSue Panteny – National Composites Network

NIAR has set up a Center of Excellencefunded by NASA, known as NCAMP (NationalCenter for Advanced Materials Performance).It aims to continuously monitor materials bypreparing an initial design database,evaluating process variables, establishing arobust process envelope and validatingmaterial and process changes. NCAMPcanvassed industry and five prepreg systemswere selected for the initial generation of apublic database. Although this initial databasewas government funded, material supplierswill now pay for further databases. It willreplace the Mil handbook 17. It has thesupport of many OEMs including NorthropGrumman, Lockheed Martin, Sikorski, Belland smaller businesses and general aviationcompanies. NIAR is keen to extend the useof this materials database, by sharing itworldwide, and is looking for global support,especially from Europe.

Aircraft manufacturers in Wichita define theresearch areas which are investigated, forWichita State University, the University ofKansas and Kansas State University (such asLM principles). The Wichita Area TechnicalCollege has benefited from Wichita being acentre of excellence for compositemanufacture. At the instigation of Raytheon itrecognised the difficulty being experienced byaircraft manufacturers in getting a trainedworkforce and has put on a course that willbenefit not only Raytheon but also the otheraircraft manufacturers in the Wichita areasuch as Cessna and Spirit AeroSystems.

At V System Composites 40% of theworkforce are degree engineers, many fromNorthrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin andother major aerospace companies in the USAthat were involved in the VARTM and RTMprocesses. Twenty-five per cent of theengineers are serving in engineering,manufacturing, design and analysis work. V System Composites consciously ensuresthat there is a balance of young and old staff,with experienced composite workers and

young trainees. It has a close relationshipwith universities, with a small business grant(a fifth of total turnover) being used for R&Dwork, with the University of Delawareamongst others. V System Composites hasdeveloped an in-house software analysisprogram that is used in componentmanufacture design. Companies, as in theUK, have developed a flat organisationstructure for composites manufacture.

At Goodrich Aerostructures, as in othercompanies, an undergraduate will often beemployed part time for the last year or two oftheir course and will normally be employedfull time when their course has ended.Currently, Goodrich is finding that there is ashortage of trained staff, with the upturn inaircraft manufacture, but are benefiting withthe return of past employees that left whenbusiness was not so good a decade ago.With an eye to the future, these employeeswere helped to find employment in advancedcomposites manufacture with othermanufacturers in the area that did notspecialise in aerospace composites. With thedownturn in these other markets beingexperienced at the moment, many of theexperienced performance compositesprocessors are returning.

Currently the University of Washington haseight Centres of Excellence in aviation,including the Center of Excellence forAdvanced Materials in Transport AircraftStructures (AMTAS), where there is matchedgovernment funding for a consortium ofacademic institutions, aerospace companiesand government agencies. The University ofWashington in Seattle serves as the leadacademic institution for AMTAS along withthree affiliate academic members, includingWashington State University, and has elevenmain industrial partners including Boeing, BellHelicopters, Zodiac and materials supplierssuch as Cytec, Hexcel and Toray. It is part ofthe FAA Joint Advanced Materials andStructures Center of Excellence (JAMS)

44


which comprises AMTAS along with theCenter of Excellence for Composites andAdvanced Materials (CECAM) led by WichitaState University.

AMTAS will address safety and certificationinitiatives for existing, near- and long-termapplications of composites and advancedmaterials for large transport commercialaircraft. Funding is helped by the SBIR grantfor small businesses. Many of the smallcompanies visited, especially during theHYBRIDMAT 4 mission, work closely withuniversities and rely on the SBIR funding,which is 100% at the early stage, to enablecontinued R&D to be viable. This is differentfrom the UK where EU regulations are inforce and funding can only be sought up to amaximum of 75% for far-from-marketresearch and 50% for nearer-to-market butnot commercially viable development. As inthe USA, close-to-market development in theUK is expected to be undertaken using onlycommercial funding.

45


Figure 11.2 In discussion with Alan Prichard (Boeing)at University of Washington

11.1 Summary

US universities are noticeably more involvedwith industry than those in the UK, not onlyin the R&D undertaken but also in the day-to-day solving of technical issues for acompany, as witnessed at NIAR. This isseen in the UK on a much smaller scalewith the testing and analysis services thatmany universities now provide.

As in the UK, there is a shortage of qualifiedengineers and trained technical staff. TheUS universities are addressing this issue byworking closely with industry to put oncourses specific to industrial requirements.This should be considered for the UK. The US Government is aiding its industrysignificantly with its research programmesand centres of excellence that have beenset up in the composites and aerospacesector between universities and industry.The Faraday Partnerships and TechnicalCentres of Excellence being set up by theUK Government are steps in the samedirection and, with the amalgamation intoKnowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs),should have enough ‘critical mass’ to makea difference.

The companies and academic institutionsvisited in the USA are justifiably proud of theirR&D and the implementation of theirinnovative solutions developed for compositeapplications. There is currently under way amarked increase in confidence, and business,in the design and manufacture of carbon fibrecomposite structures in the USA. Thetimescale for the development of the Boeing787 is driving massive investment inmanufacturing capability. Whilst many of theprocesses and practices are similar to thosein Europe, programmes such as the Boeing787 supported by Spirit AeroSystems,Raytheon and others are leading the way incomposite applications for the nextgeneration of civil aircraft.

The main drivers for carbon fibre compositesinclude mass reduction, part reduction,complex shape manufacture, reduced scrap,improved fatigue life, design optimisation andimproved corrosion resistance. Constraints arematerial and processing costs, damagetolerance and repair, dimensional tolerance,and conservatism due to uncertainties of anew and sometimes variable material. Thedrivers and constraints appear little changedfrom the findings of the last DTI Global WatchMission on aerospace composites, that tookplace in 1998, but there is far greaterenthusiasm for composites introduction.Composite designs are becoming lessconservative with the greater knowledge andunderstanding that is being gained throughfurther testing, greater experience, morematerials data and the ability to modelmaterials, processes and performance that arebeing developed and continuously improved.

The extremely rapid development ofstructures for the Boeing 787, combined with

the shortage of composites materials andprocess engineers and concerns overmaterials performance, process reliability,damage resistance and tooling cost, havediminished the drive towards the replacementof prepregs by lower cost technologies. Torealise the replacement of prepreg for highlyloaded structure, it is clear that substantialresearch effort has to be focused on materialsperformance improvement for preforming andinfusion processing technology.

It would be easy to conclude that USmaterials technology has not advanced veryfar during the last 10 years and that the realadvances have been in automated lay-upmachines, the size of the components nowbeing developed, and the scale of the newfactories being built to process them.However, NASA and FAA investment inmaterials and structural testing at NIAR isremoving the barriers of performance andrepair uncertainty and reducing the barrier tonew materials introduction by smallercompanies such as Raytheon.

The mission team found a wide range ofmanufacturing, assembly and automationmethodologies in use, from legacyprogrammes such as the Boeing 737fuselage, to the very latest generation Boeing787 fibre-placed composites fuselage, thatclearly demonstrate the changes andadvances in materials, manufacturing andassembly methods, along with the latest thattechnology has to offer in automation andmachine tool control.

Many of the companies visited haveimplemented the principles and culture oflean manufacturing (LM) and statisticalprocess control (SPC), in common with many

46


12 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

European countries. LM is helping companiesdrive down their costs but with diminishingreturns. Innovative solutions to reduce costand maximise efficiency were evident in theapproaches taken by companies suchRaytheon, Boeing and V System Compositeswith their applications of innovative toolingand component unitisation to reduce thenumber of detail parts and minimiseassembly operations.

Mission objectives were to evaluate progressin the uptake of out-of-autoclave processessuch as resin film infusion (RFI) for secondarystructures and the balance betweenautomation and manual processes. Anemerging business model is one that relieson technical development and new productintroduction in the developed economies andvolume production in low-cost areas. Strongevidence was seen of simpler componentsremaining as prepreg and autoclave cure butbeing sub-contracted to areas of low-costlabour. For more complex structures therewas little evidence of any real move to out-of-autoclave processes with the majority ofparts still utilising manual lay-up of prepregsalbeit with the process being optimised bywidespread investment in laser plypositioning equipment. For futureprogrammes the emphasis was very much on major capital investment in facilities andprocess development to allow manufactureby fully automated processes such as prepregtow placement and a continued reliance onautoclave curing.

The majority of applications seen during themission were of composite materials usingunidirectional fibre, pre-impregnated withepoxy resin, cured at elevated pressure andtemperature in an autoclave. The materialswere developed for use with single-sidedtooling, and over the last 10 years manyincremental steps have been taken toimprove the processes. This experienceenables routine production of high-qualitycomposite components.

The host organisations seemed poised inreadiness for composites technologies tomove forward – something that was reflectedin the 787 modular tooling and the ‘RTM pluscombination’ technique. Technologicalprogress is slow, as it is in the UK, with tworestraining factors being the high level ofinvestment in current technology and the highcost of process certification for the aerospaceindustry.

A variety of production processes were seenduring the mission. It became clear that theindustry is generally at a similar level oftechnology as in Europe, and from a toolingperspective that the two countries haveequivalent composites capabilities. It isthought that Airbus is more advanced incertain areas (wing box, VTP, HTP) and Boeingin others (fuselage) but the drivers for theindustry are the same and the solutions aresimilar.

The chemistry of the materials and theprocesses to cure them cannot be changedwithout extensive qualification, so that a newprogramme launched today would usecurrent technology. Any new process mustdeliver to the industry parts that can be madeat a similar or faster rate and consistently tothe required quality standards. Conflictingdrivers exist where there are ‘investedinterests’ in current technology, and legacyprogrammes will not change the method ofmanufacture. This suggests that the industrywill generate a new breed of suppliers thatwill move into the new technologies, eitheras a spin-off from an existing business or as astart-up, in a low-cost area.

The US universities visited were seen to beheavily involved with industry, not only in theR&D undertaken but also in the day-to-daysolving of technical issues for a company, aswitnessed at NIAR. This is seen in the UK ona much smaller scale with the materialstesting and analysis services that someuniversities now provide.

47


As in the UK, there is a shortage of qualifiedengineers and trained technical staff. The USuniversities are addressing this issue byworking closely with industry to put oncourses specific to industrial requirements.This should also be considered for the UK.For example, in the UK there areapproximately 25 students training intechnical textiles per year, with only a few ofthose specialising in compositereinforcement. The growing interest andrequirements of 3-D woven reinforcements inaerospace composites should be encouragingmore courses in this area to sustain thecomposites textile industry and provide thespecialists required.

The EC has funded a number of large wellknown aerospace composites programmessuch as TANGO and ALCAS. In contrast, itwas considered surprising, given theambitious timescales of Boeing’s 787composites development, that there was littleinformation available on US Governmentfunded large structural demonstratorprogrammes. However, the US Governmentis aiding its industry significantly with itsresearch programmes and centres ofexcellence that have been set up jointlybetween universities and industry in thecomposites and aerospace sectors.

There are many similarities in the programmesand work being carried out in North Americaand the UK and, on balance, technologydevelopment is similar between the UK andthe organisations that were visited.

Non-autoclave processing is generallyregarded as the future for composites asaerospace has invested heavily in currenttechnology and so is understandably reluctantto change. Rather than using the newtechnologies, modifying an existing process,where much experience exists, is seen aspreferable before using on an aircraft. Non-aerospace industries would use compositesbut it is an expensive exercise when

experience is lacking. It is recommended thatinvestment is made in several areas toaddress this, perhaps through fundedprogrammes to develop low-cost processingtechnologies with non-aerospace companies.

Investment should be made in automatingthe composites production process to helpretain composites manufacture in the UK,starting with designing compositecomponents for automated assembly,including flexible mould tooling concepts andcomposites design for componentdisposal/disassembly.

In collaboration with NIAR, it isrecommended that the NCN looks at how amaterials performance database can be setup for UK and European manufacturers, usinga greater range of materials than covered byAGATE. This will allow smaller companies toenter the aerospace composites supply chain.

Above all it is recommended that researchsupport, courses and training are funded,with guidance from industry, to cater for thecurrent and future workforce needs andprovide for the sustainability of a growingadvanced structural composites industry.

48


Appendix AACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The delegates found the mission veryrewarding and enlightening. Given the factthat some of the UK and US companies arecompetitors, the openness with which wewere received at every venue was very muchappreciated. Equally impressive was theknowledge and enthusiasm of our hosts andtour guides and the quality of the productsand facilities.

• We would like to extend our deepestthanks to the companies that we visitedfor their openness and generoushospitality, without which this report wouldnot have been possible.

• We would like to thank in particular fortheir hospitality KayLene Haug (BusinessRetention Specialist) and Patrick French(Director) of the Greater Wichita EconomicDevelopment Coalition (GWEDC) whoorganised our stay at Wichita sosuccessfully and held an evening receptionfor us with the local aerospace businesses.We also wish to thank Randi TveitaraasJack, Trade Development Division of theKansas Department of Commerce, for thesponsorship and hosting of the eveningreception and hospitality during our stay inWichita.

• We would like to thank Brian Conley(Deputy Vice Consul General), MalcolmMcLean (Vice Consul Science andTechnology) and Beverly Xu (Science andTechnology Assistant) at the BritishConsulate-General Los Angeles for theirhelp with transport and their support withour visits to V System Composites andGoodrich Aerostructures.

• We would also like to acknowledge thesupport of the DTI Global Watch Service,particularly Harsha Patel, in theorganisation and funding of this mission,and to thank the numerous individuals atDTI and their agents for their work behindthe scenes.

49


Appendix BHOST ORGANISATIONS

Boeing CoFrederickson176th St E SeattleWA 98124USAT +1 206 655 9921www.boeing.com

Bill GerryProgram Manager, Boeing TechnologyVentures, Global R&D [email protected]

Goodrich Aerostructures Group8200 Arlington Avenue Riverside CA 92503-1499USAT +1 951 351 5400www.aerostructures.goodrich.com

Mike JacobsManager, Research & [email protected]

National Institute for Aviation Research(NIAR),Wichita State University1845 Fairmount WichitaKS 67260-0093USAT +1 316 978 3456www.niar.wichita.edu

Prof John TomblinExecutive Director, [email protected]

Raytheon Aircraft CoPO Box 85WichitaKS 67201-0085USAT +1 316 676 7111www.raytheonaircraft.com

Bill JonesDirector, Manufacturing [email protected]

Spirit AeroSystems IncPO Box 780008MC K 12-04WichitaKS 67278-0008USAT +1 316 526 9000www.spiritaero.com

Don BlakeDirector, Industrial Cooperation, Office of the Chief [email protected]

V System Composites Inc1015 East Discovery Lane AnaheimCA 92801-1147USAT +1 714 678 2740www.vsystemcomposites.com

Paul OppenheimVP Programs & Business Development [email protected]

50


Center of Excellence for AdvancedMaterials in Transport Aircraft Structures(AMTAS), University of WashingtonFAA Center of Excellence 143F Mechanical EngineeringBox 352600SeattleWA 98195-2600USAT +1 206 685 6665www.me.washington.edu/faculty/tuttle

Prof Mark TuttleDirector, [email protected]

C&D Zodiac Inc (formerly NorthwestComposites) 12810 State AvenueMarysvilleWA 98271USAT +1 360 653 2211 www.zodiac.com

Jason ScharfProduct Development [email protected]

British Consulate-General Los Angeles11766 Wilshire BoulevardSuite 1200Los AngelesCA 90025-6538USAT +1 310 477 3322www.uktradeinvestusa.com

Brian ConleyDeputy Consul-General and Consul (Trade)[email protected]

Greater Wichita Economic DevelopmentCoalition (GWEDC)350 W DouglasWichitaKS 67202USAT +1 316 268 1133www.gwedc.org

KayLene Haug Business Retention Specialist [email protected]

Kansas Department of Commerce,Trade Development Division1000 S W Jackson StreetSuite 100TopekaKS 66612-1354USA T +1 785 296 3481www.kansascommerce.com

Randi Tveitaraas Jack International Development Manager [email protected]

51


Advanced Composites Group LtdComposites HouseSinclair CloseHeanor Gate Industrial EstateHeanorDerbyshireDE75 7SPUKT +44 (0)1773 763 441www.acg.co.uk

Roger Francombe Group Product Manager and EuropeanAerospace Market Sector [email protected]

BAE Systems plcAerospace and Defence EquipmentSamlesburyLancashireBB2 7LFUKT +44 (0)1254 812 371www.baesystems.com

Roger DuffyEngineering Manager for Product [email protected]

Cranfield UniversityBuilding 88 Materials DepartmentSchool of Applied SciencesCranfieldBedfordshire MK43 0ALUKT +44 (0)1234 750 111www.cranfield.ac.uk www.cranfield.ac.uk/sims/staff/millsa

Andrew MillsHead of Composites Manufacturing [email protected]

DTI Global Watch ServicePeraPera Innovation ParkMelton MowbrayLeicestershire LE13 0PBUKT +44 (0)1664 501 551www.globalwatchservice.com/itp

Cliff YoungInternational Technology Promoter (ITP) – Manufacturing Industries, North [email protected]

52


Appendix CMISSION TEAM AND ITP CONTACT DETAILS

INBIS LtdClub Street Bamber BridgePrestonLancashirePR5 6FNUKT +44 (0)1772 645 000www.inbis.com

Brian GilbertSenior Consultant and Project [email protected]

National Composites Network (NCN)Granta ParkGreat AbingtonCambridgeCB1 6AL UKT +44 (0)24 1223 891 162www.ncn-uk.co.uk

Sue PantenyTechnology [email protected]

Smiths AerospaceKings AvenueHamble-le-RiceHampshireSO31 4NFUKT +44 (0)23 8045 3371www.smiths-aerospace.com

John Savage Technical Authority – Composites [email protected]

St Bernard CompositesSaberhouse Lynchford Road Farnborough HampshireGU14 6JE UKT +44 (0)1252 304 000 www.stbernard.co.uk

Chris WebbornManaging [email protected]

WilliamsF1GroveWantageOxfordshireOX12 0DQUKT +44 (0)1235 777 700www.williamsf1.com

Brian O'RourkeChief Composites Engineer [email protected]

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Appendix DLIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page Caption

F.1 4 Boeing Aeronautical Laboratory soon after completion in 1917

F.2 4 Mission team standing in front of the historic Boeing Aeronautical Laboratoryat University of Washington with Professor Mark Tuttle (Director, AMTAS) andAlan Pritchard (Boeing); L-R: Brian O’Rourke, Chris Beck, John Savage, RogerDuffy, Cliff Young, Andrew Mills, Brian Gilbert, Roger Francombe, ChrisWebborn, Mark Tuttle, Alan Pritchard, Sue Panteny

1.1 9 Advanced composite fuselage for the Boeing 787

2.1 14 Jason Scharf (C&D Zodiac) showing Chris Webborn the quality of Zodiac’smouldings

3.1 16 Brian Gilbert (R) with Mark Tuttle (Director, AMTAS) at University ofWashington

4.1 18 Boeing 787 forward fuselage demonstrator

4.2 19 V System Composites innovative open and closed reinforced structures,moulded in one step

6.1 25 Chinook helicopter fairing produced by VARTM

6.2 26 Illustration of the shear ties and frame manufactured by C&D Zodiac for SpiritAeroSystems of the Boeing 787, Section 41

7.1 29 John Tomblin (NIAR, Wichita State University) discusses spar analysis

9.1 35 Current applications of composites in aerospace

9.2 37 Mission delegates with host Paul Oppenheim (3rd from right) and MalcolmMcLean (1st left) and Beverly Xu (3rd from left), British Consulate-General LosAngeles, at V System Composites

10.1 40 Laser guidance equipment for ply placement

11.1 43 NIAR full-scale component test

11.2 45 In discussion with Alan Prichard (Boeing) at University of Washington

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55


Appendix EGLOSSARY

~approximately

≈approximately equal to

<less than

%per cent

£pound sterling ≈ $1.8 (Jun 06)

$US dollar ≈ £0.54 (Jun 06)

3-Dthree-dimensional

ACGAdvanced Composites Group (UK)

ACTadvanced composite technology

AFIaffordable feature integration

AGATEAdvanced General Aviation TransportExperiments (programme, NASA, USA)

AGVautomated guided vehicle

AMTASCenter of Excellence for Advanced Materialsin Transport Aircraft Structures (University ofWashington, USA) – part of JAMS

APUauxiliary power unit

ASTECAircraft Structural Testing and EvaluationCenter (NIAR, Wichita State University, USA)

ATLautomated tape laying

ATPautomated tow placement

autoclaveA closed vessel for application of pressureand heat, used for processing compositematerials

barUnit of pressure = 105 Pa

BMIbismaleimide

B-stage Intermediate stage in the polymerisationreaction of thermosets, following whichmaterial will soften with heat and is plasticand fusible; also called resistal; the resin ofan uncured prepreg or premix is usually in B-stage

ºCdegrees Celsius

CACalifornia (state, USA)

CAIcompression after impact

CAPRIcontrolled atmospheric pressure resininfusion

carbon fibreAn important reinforcing fibre known for itslight weight, high strength and high stiffnessthat is commonly produced by pyrolysis of anorganic precursor fibre (often polyacrylonitrile(PAN) or rayon) in an inert atmosphere

caul plates/sheetsSmooth metal or composite plates, free ofsurface defects, of the same size and shapeas the composite lay-up, which are used indirect contact with the lay-up during thecuring process to transmit normal pressureand temperature and provide a smoothsurface on the finished laminate

CECAMCenter of Excellence for Composites andAdvanced Materials (Wichita State University,USA) – part of JAMS

CFRPcarbon fibre-reinforced plastic/polymer

CMCComposite Manufacturing Center (Boeing Co,USA)

CNCcomputer numerical control – This refersspecifically to the computer control of machinetools for the purpose of (repeatedly)manufacturing complex parts in metal as wellas other materials, using a program written in anotation conforming to the EIA-274-D standardand commonly called G-code; CNC wasdeveloped in the late 1940s and early 1950s bythe MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory

CO2

carbon dioxide

compositeA homogeneous material created by thesynthetic assembly of two or more materials(a selected filler or reinforcing elements andcompatible matrix binder) to obtain specificcharacteristics and properties

DLFdirect line feed

DTIDepartment of Trade and Industry (UK)

ECEuropean Commission

empennageThe rear part of an aircraft, comprising the fin,rudder and tailplane

epoxyA thermoset polymer containing one or moreepoxide groups and curable by reaction withamines, alcohols, phenols, carboxylic acids,acid anhydrides and mercaptans; animportant matrix resin in composites andstructural adhesive

EPSRCEngineering and Physical Sciences ResearchCouncil (UK)

EUEuropean Union

ºFdegrees Fahrenheit

F1Formula One (motor racing)

FAAFederal Aviation Administration (USA)

fabricationThe process of making a composite part ortool

56


57


FARFederal Aviation Regulation (USA)

ftfoot = 0.3048 m

GWEDCGreater Wichita Economic DevelopmentCoalition (KS, USA)

HTPhorizontal tailplane

HYBRIDMAThybrid materials

I&Rinterchangeable and replaceable

injection mouldingMethod of forming a plastic to the desiredshape by forcibly injecting the polymer intothe mould

InvarA 36% nickel-iron alloy that has the lowestthermal expansion amongst all metals andalloys from room temperature up to ~230°C;it is ductile, machinable, easily weldable andresists stress corrosion cracking; the averagecoefficient of thermal expansion of Invarbetween 20-100°C is <1.3 x 10-6 °C-1

ITPInternational Technology Promoter (network,DTI)

JAMSFAA Joint Advanced Materials and StructuresCenter of Excellence (USA) – comprisingAMTAS and CECAM

KanbanA just-in-time manufacturing process in whichthe movements of materials are recorded onspecially designed cards

kgkilogram

KHIKawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd (Japan)

KSKansas (state, USA)

KTNKnowledge Transfer Network (UK)

Lleft

laminateA product made by bonding together two ormore layers of material or materials; primarilymeans a composite material system madewith layers of fibre reinforcement in a resin;sometimes used as a general reference forcomposites, regardless of how made

LMlean manufacturing

LRIliquid resin infusion

mmetre

matrixThe material in which the fibrereinforcements of a composite system areembedded; thermoplastic and thermosetpolymer resin systems can be used, as wellas metal and ceramic

minminute = 60 s

MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)

mmmillimetre = 0.001 m

Nnewton – unit of force = kg m/s2

NASANational Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration (USA)

NAVAIRNaval Air Systems Command (US Navy)

NCAMPNational Center for Advanced MaterialsPerformance (NIAR, Wichita State University,USA)

NCFnon-crimp fabric

NCNNational Composites Network (UK)

NDEnondestructive evaluation

NIARNational Institute for Aviation Research(Wichita State University, USA)

NWAANorth West Aerospace Alliance (UK)

OEMoriginal equipment manufacturer

Papascal – unit of pressure = N/m2

PANpolyacrylonitrile

POPost Office

polymerA very large molecule formed by combining alarge number of smaller molecules, calledmonomers, in a regular pattern

polymerisationA chemical reaction in which the molecules ofmonomers are linked together to form polymers

preformA preshaped fibrous reinforcement formed bydistribution of chopped fibres by air, waterflotation or vacuum over the surface of aperforated screen to the approximate contourand thickness desired in the finished part;also, a preshaped fibrous reinforcement ofmat or cloth formed to desired shape on amandrel or mock-up prior to being placed in amould press; also, a compact ‘pill’ formed bycompressing premixed material to facilitatehandling and control of uniformity of chargesfor mould loading

prepregReady-to-mould material in roll formcomprising a reinforcement (which may becloth, mat, or paper) pre-impregnated with aspecially formulated polymer (resin) andstored for use; the fabricator lays up thefinished shape and completes the cure withheat and pressure

psipound per square inch – unit of pressure =6,895 Pa = 0.06895 bar

QAquality assurance

QEDMquality engineering data management

QMquality management

Rright

R&Dresearch and development

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59


reinforcementAn advanced fibre in unidirectional wovencloth or complex textile format that is used toimpart mechanical strength in the polymermatrix

resinA blend of prepolymers/monomers of mixedmolecular weight, with a specific softeningpoint and functionality; used to formulate aprepreg matrix, resin film or liquid infusionresin

RFIresin film infusion

RIresin infusion

RTMresin transfer moulding – a process in whichcatalysed resin is transferred into an enclosedmould into which the fibre reinforcement hasbeen placed; cure normally is accomplishedwithout external heat; RTM combinesrelatively low tooling and equipment costswith the ability to mould large structural parts

ssecond

SBIRSmall Business Innovation Research – one ofthe programmes run by the Office ofTechnology of the US Small BusinessAdministration to strengthen and expand thecompetitiveness of US small high-technologyR&D businesses in the federal marketplace.The Office of Technology also assists inachieving the commercialisation of the resultsof both the federal R&D programmesmandated by the Small Business InnovationDevelopment Act of 1982, the Small BusinessResearch and Development EnhancementAct of 1992, and the Small BusinessInnovation Research Program ReauthorisationAct of 2000.

Since its enactment in 1982, as part of theSmall Business Innovation Development Act,SBIR has helped thousands of smallbusinesses to compete for federal R&Dawards. Their contributions have enhancedUS defence, protected the environment,advanced healthcare, and improved the abilityto manage information and manipulate data.An American SME, a company of up to 500employees, can qualify for an SBIR grantprovided it is American-owned, independentlyoperated, for-profit and a principal researcheris employed by the business.

The eleven funding federal departments andagencies allocate a percentage of their R&Dspend each year to small businesses anddesignate topics. Following submission ofproposals, agencies make SBIR awards basedon small business qualification, degree ofinnovation, technical merit, and future marketpotential. Small businesses that receiveawards or grants then begin a three-phaseprogramme.

Phase I is the start-up phase. Awards of up to$100,000 (~£56,000) for approximately sixmonths support exploration of the technicalmerit or feasibility of an idea or technology.

Phase II awards of up to $750,000(~£420,000), for as many as two years,expand Phase I results. During this time, theR&D work is performed and the developerevaluates commercialisation potential. OnlyPhase I award winners are considered forPhase II.

Phase III is the period during which Phase IIinnovation moves from the laboratory into themarketplace. No SBIR funds support thisphase. The small business must find fundingin the private sector or other non-SBIR federalagency funding.

SMEsmall or medium sized enterprise

SPCstatistical process control

Ttelephone

Tg

glass transition temperature – thetemperature at which an amorphous polymer(or the amorphous regions in a partiallycrystalline polymer) changes from a hard andrelatively brittle condition to a viscous orrubbery condition

thermosetA material that will undergo a chemicalreaction caused by heat, catalyst etc, leadingto the formation of a solid; once it becomes asolid, it cannot be reformed

UAVunmanned aerial vehicle

UKUnited Kingdom

US(A)United States (of America)

USAFUnited States Air Force

VARTMvacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding

VIvacuum infusion

VPVice President

VTPvertical tailplane

WAWashington (state, USA)

WIPwork-in-progress

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Grant for Research and Development –is available through the nine English RegionalDevelopment Agencies. The Grant for Researchand Development provides funds for individualsand SMEs to research and develop technologicallyinnovative products and processes. The grant isonly available in England (the DevolvedAdministrations have their own initiatives).www.dti.gov.uk/r-d/

The Small Firms Loan Guarantee – is a UK-wide, Government-backed scheme that providesguarantees on loans for start-ups and youngbusinesses with viable business propositions.www.dti.gov.uk/sflg/pdfs/sflg_booklet.pdf

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships – enableprivate and public sector research organisations to apply their research knowledge to importantbusiness problems. Specific technology transferprojects are managed, over a period of one tothree years, in partnership with a university,college or research organisation that has expertise relevant to your business.www.ktponline.org.uk/

Knowledge Transfer Networks – aim to improvethe UK’s innovation performance through a singlenational over-arching network in a specific field oftechnology or business application. A KTN aims to encourage active participation of all networkscurrently operating in the field and to establishconnections with networks in other fields thathave common interest. www.dti.gov.uk/ktn/

Collaborative Research and Development –helps industry and research communities worktogether on R&D projects in strategicallyimportant areas of science, engineering andtechnology, from which successful new products,processes and services can emerge.www.dti.gov.uk/crd/

Access to Best Business Practice – is availablethrough the Business Link network. This initiativeaims to ensure UK business has access to bestbusiness practice information for improvedperformance.www.dti.gov.uk/bestpractice/

Support to Implement Best Business Practice– offers practical, tailored support for small andmedium-sized businesses to implement bestpractice business improvements.www.dti.gov.uk/implementbestpractice/

Finance to Encourage Investment in SelectedAreas of England – is designed to supportbusinesses looking at the possibility of investingin a designated Assisted Area but needingfinancial help to realise their plans, normally in the form of a grant or occasionally a loan.www.dti.gov.uk/regionalinvestment/

Other DTI products that help UK businesses acquire andexploit new technologies

Global Watch Information

Global Watch Online – a unique internet-enabled service delivering immediate andinnovative support to UK companies in theform of fast-breaking worldwide business andtechnology information. The website providesunique coverage of UK, European andinternational research plus businessinitiatives, collaborative programmes andfunding sources.Visit: www.globalwatchservice.com

Global Watch magazine – distributed freewith a circulation of over 50,000, this monthlymagazine features news of overseasgroundbreaking technology, innovation andmanagement best practice to UK companiesand business intermediaries.Contact:[email protected]

UKWatch magazine – a quarterly magazine,published jointly by science and technologygroups of the UK Government. HighlightingUK innovation and promoting inwardinvestment opportunities into the UK, thepublication is available free of charge to UKand overseas subscribers.Contact:[email protected]

Global Watch Missions – enabling teams ofUK experts to investigate innovation and itsimplementation at first hand. The technologyfocused missions allow UK sectors andindividual organisations to gain internationalinsights to guide their own strategies forsuccess.Contact:[email protected]

Global Watch Technology Partnering –providing free, flexible and direct assistancefrom international technology specialists toraise awareness of, and provide access to,technology and collaborative opportunitiesoverseas. Delivered to UK companies by anetwork of 23 International TechnologyPromoters, with some 8,000 currentcontacts, providing support ranging frominformation and referrals to more in-depthassistance with licensing arrangements andtechnology transfer.Contact: [email protected]

For further information on the Global WatchService please visitwww.globalwatchservice.com

The DTI Global Watch Service provides support dedicatedto helping UK businesses improve their competitivenessby identifying and accessing innovative technologies andpractices from overseas.

Printed in the UK on recycled paper with 75% de-inked post-consumer waste content

First published in July 2006 by Pera on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry

© Crown copyright 2006

URN 06/1217

hybridmat 3 mission report2 - university of washington

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