reinforcement

An innovative composite solution for cost-effective primary aircraft structures

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

By

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

competing materials and its material and technology reliability.

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

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

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

The right material and technology at the right place

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

Alternative composite technologies

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

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hygrothermal ageing.

HiTape Combining current technology advantages with increased cost effectiveness

Hexcels innovative proposal is to combine the benefits of automation and the cost effectiveness of infusion/ injection technologies with the high performance of latest-generation prepreg materials. The new proposal is the missing link between interesting but incomplete current LCM materials and latest-generation prepregs in term of performance-cost ratios. Performance in composites comes from straight, perfectly aligned fibres; HiTape is therefore a unidirectional tape. Made from Hexcels HexTow carbon fibre and combined with HexFlow infusion resin, HiTape matches the performance of the latest-generation UD prepregs. While offering the same overall inplane mechanical performance level as state-of-the-art prepreg materials thanks to the equivalent 60% fibre volume content achieved by vacuum infusion, another major innovation of HiTape is to improve the toughness of current composites made by LCM technologies.

Fig. 1: HiTape : Innovative composite route for cost-effective primary aircraft structures

for many years, and some are even used now for primary aircraft structures on a small scale. Hexcel has been a leader in the development of this technology through a large number of qualifications for HexForce reinforcements and HexFlow RTM6 resin. Woven fabrics and non-crimp fabrics (NCF), when combined with the appropriate resin infusion and injection process, can provide a positive performance/cost balance. Cost savings have been demonstrated in part design, function integration, less assembly time, and potentially fewer finishing operations. However, these materials do not fully

meet the mechanical performance requirements or the quality standards of primary structures due to the manual lay-up process of the dry preform. The emerging automated pick and place of woven or NCF materials can only be seen as a step toward the ultimate automated solution, combining a scrap-free process with optimum design possibilities. Despite the interest in higher deposition rates, major drawbacks of current NCF materials include a lack of design freedom, ply stop minimum thickness, high scrap levels, inadequate mechanical performance (in particular toughness) and microcracking after

Feature Aeronautics

Fig. 2: HiTape : Similar performance to latest generation prepreg

Fig. 3: HiTape : breakthrough in CAI

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reinforcement

With standard dry unidirectional tape, through-the-thickness resin permeability is a clear limitation for thick parts. Thanks to proprietary technology, HiTape is available in different versions enabling vacuum infusion of parts up to 30mm thick with a 58 to 60% fibre volume content.
Fig. 4: Hitape : 30mm thick panel IMA 12K/ RTM6 Vacuum infusion 58%FVC

prietary fuzz- and splice-free technology, greatly facilitates the preform manufacturing process, inducing fewer stoppages due to fibre breakage or equipment cleaning during lay-up. Moreover, the material does not use any carrier film, so the machines are simpler, not dependent upon room temperature or humidity for tack control, and therefore more efficient. In consequence, outputs of 50kg/h are anticipated depending on part design. In addition, the material does not require any refrigerated storage. Hexcel is working closely with several major OEMs to demonstrate the benefits of this material through various developments and demonstrator programmes. HiTape is a Hexcel registered trademark and the product is patented. n
More information: www.hexcel.com

To make high-quality parts, a fullycontrolled automated process is needed. Hexcel has worked closely with automated machine manufacturers to bring HiTape to the market with the maturity required using current conventional automated placement AFP or ATL machines. The tight width tolerance achieved with HiTape, associated with a pro-

Fig. 5: HiTape: ATL and AFP reinforcements

More information
HiTape combines the benefits of automation of dry preform manufacturing and cost-effectiveness of infusion/injection technologies with the high performance of latest-generation prepreg materials. This new unidirectional tape is available in different versions enabling vacuum infusion of parts up to 30mm thick with a 58 to 60% fibre volume content. This dry reinforcement is expected to allow outputs of 50kg/h depending on part design.

38 jec composites magazine / No80 April - May 2013