This investment is part of a digital capability acquisition program called iCAP for 10 new manufacturing technologies tailored to NCC requirements, with the goal of accelerating the development of composite manufacturing capabilities for different application areas . The iCAP program is funded by the British Aeronautical Technology Institute, UK-based local business partners and the High Value Manufacturing Ejection Project.
Relevant responsible person said that the goal is to transform composite materials technology from the field of academic research into the production environment.
To this end, over the past two years, a team of engineers, researchers, software architects, robotics experts, and composites experts has been exploring how digital technology can make composite parts easier to design and increase production speed and cost.
The aerospace sector is a major driver of demand for high-speed composite manufacturing. According to the data, with the current labor-intensive technology (man-made manufacturing), manufacturers can only produce 6 pairs of wings per month. However, to meet the demand for future single-aisle aircraft, productivity needs to be increased to 100 pairs per month. The goal of the plan is to develop a high-speed commercial aircraft wing structure manufacturing process that involves more automation, fewer parts, better parts integration structures, faster time cycles, faster structural inspections, and faster Tooling.
The new equipment includes a brand-new test line that will be used in the Wings of Tomorrow program. The high-speed deposition system includes two large industrial robots that automate the wing production process. The robot weighs 45 tons and 24 tons respectively, and can accurately measure, cut, pick up and place carbon fiber fabric fragments. A single 5-meter wide composite material strip can be laid accurately at a time, up to 20 meters in length, with the potential to reduce the number of fabric components required from about 100,000 to just 150, and reduce wing manufacturing time from one week to one day.
Once the fiber layers were laid, the wings were wrapped in vacuum bags and moved into a new curing oven up to 20 meters long equipped with large resin infusion tools. The wing was cured in a high temperature oven at 180 ° C within 8 hours.
New technologies not only help to rethink the manufacturing methods of aircraft wings, but also help bridge the gap between academic research and industrial (such as construction, oil and gas) applications.
A person in charge said that investing in 10 world-leading new composite technology capabilities will help designers develop wings and engines for future aircraft, identify new technologies for producing and storing energy, and change the way people build infrastructure.
Other technologies introduced include circular loom, the largest loom of its kind in Europe, which can automatically weave a single bundle of up to 288 high-strength carbon fibers for making hollow 3D structures such as pipes or aircraft rotors .
The new injection molding equipment has a horizontal 1700 ton press, the temperature and pressure that the injection cylinder can support are up to 420 ° C and 2000 bar, respectively, and the injection volume is up to 6,400 cubic meters. The purpose of injection molding is to enable mass production of composite parts.
Relevant responsible person said that the composite material injection molding technology is specifically used to rapidly manufacture mesh-structured thermoplastic composite materials. It combines laminate thermoforming and polymer injection molding in an automated process, so structural components have both high strength and comprehensive complex structural design features, and can be manufactured in a short time.
In order to perform non-destructive inspection (NDI) of parts, two 3-meter-high robots are used. They can work together to send ultrasonic waves through high-pressure water jets to scan the internal structure of parts. The system then measures the time it takes for the sound waves to pass through the part and alerts the operator in real time if any anomalies are found.