Hexcel has become the main partner of General Atomic Aviation Systems (GA-ASI) to develop and produce carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic parts, which will be used in GA-ASI's UAV/Remote Control Aircraft (RPA) ) Complex structure on the system.
Hexcel's HexAM process produces strong, lightweight and complex components. It is said that using HexAM technology, Hexcel and GA-ASI have produced several complex geometrical parts. These parts are either expensive or cannot be produced by traditional compounding, molding or machining methods, such as internal mold line (IML), Outer mold line (OML), pipes and manifolds. Through additive manufacturing, complex geometric shapes and design freedom can be achieved, and the manufacturing process can be simplified to improve the performance and operability of the UAV system.
Hexcel said that carbon fiber-reinforced polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) has mechanical and thermal properties that are very suitable for UAV/RPA systems. In addition, the company has also developed bonding methods for large structures, broadening the components that GA-ASI can use Application space. This cooperation will continue to promote new applications of HexAM technology. Based on the solid foundation of material performance testing, the cooperative team is now able to achieve rapid production from prototype development to new technology application on the GA-ASI system.