With the completion of the frame integration in the STUNNING thermoplastic composite fuselage our team has executed the last ultrasonic spot welds in this project!
The frames were joined to the composite fuselage using frame clips. The joint consists of 8 spot welds per frame clip to attach the frames to the skin/stringer using our ultrasonic spot welding end-effector. This process step required more than 1600 individual welded joints that were manufactured with our automated welding process.
The success of frame integration demonstrates the potential of ultrasonic welding for assembly of large thermoplastic composite structures and paves the way for future industrial adoption of the joining process. Our team will use the lessons learned from this production process to achieve the final goal of a completely autonomous sub-assembly process.