Dutch parties from industry will work together to develop new technologies and tools to enable lightweight components for large aircraft to be produced in a commercially competitive manner.

Activities will cover the whole spectrum from material development and product design to production, certifiability, recycling and evaluation of the sustainability of thermoplastic composite products. These are around 10% to 15% lighter and 20% to 30% cheaper than current state-of-the-art products. The innovations will focus on minimising the environmental impact of the Gate-to-Gate phase, reducing it by at least 30% compared with current comparable products. To reduce drag, techniques will be developed for applying functional coatings and microstructures, with estimated fuel savings of approximately 2-5%. 

The work packages in the project are: 

• Development of thermoplastic composite technology for components for large aircraft.
• Development of thermoplastic composite technology for large and complex products for large aircraft.
• Development of thermoplastic composite technology for large complex composite products for large aircraft.
• Development of the plant of the future.
• ‘Smart structures’ with integrated systems.

SAM XL is involved in the Development of the plant of the future work package.