Research institutions and companies are collaborating to enable the production of lightweight aircraft. The innovative technologies focus on the machining of thermoplastic composites.
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:
SAM XL is involved in the Development of the plant of the future work package.
This project has received funding from the “Subsidieregeling R&D Mobiliteitssectoren (RDM)” by the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland.
Find more information at www.luchtvaartintransitie.nl (in Dutch).
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