technology report 04
technology report 04
technology report 04
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INDUSTRy<br />
Making airplanes fly<br />
Infrared heat helps prevent structural faults in aircraft components<br />
Air passengers can happily do without inflight<br />
turbulence or bad weather during landing. They want<br />
to be able to rely on the safety and reliability of the<br />
aircraft. This is facilitated if the components on board<br />
have been processed using infrared heat.<br />
Aircraft will have to withstand a wide range of stresses,<br />
not just gusts of wind and storm rainfall. They also have<br />
to be as light as possible to save fuel, and remain just as<br />
safe for the passengers. Composite materials are increasingly<br />
being used for the structural components of aircraft.<br />
A number of large volume aircraft are composed of up<br />
to 50 percent composites, including the fuselage. This<br />
facilitates significant weight savings, which in turn allows<br />
for improved efficiency in fuel consumption. Infrared heat<br />
is utilized in the processing of composite materials, and<br />
can help to prevent structural faults in high-quality aircraft<br />
components.<br />
Fiber-reinforced plastics<br />
Fiber-reinforced plastics are modern composite materials.<br />
These consist of modern plastics such as polyphenyl sulfide<br />
(PPS), polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and epoxy resins (EP),<br />
into which carbon or glass fibers have been embedded. The<br />
fibers make the component strong and rigid, while the plastic<br />
matrix is able to absorb the energies generated. Many highly<br />
loaded automobile components, such as steering column<br />
tubes that are exposed to high torsion forces and elements<br />
for side-impact bars, are manufactured from these<br />
composites. Infrared systems are used in manufacturing<br />
such modern components, because these can heat the<br />
materials quickly and uniformly, thus shortening processing<br />
times.<br />
16<br />
An example of an application for Heraeus infrared emitters<br />
is illustrated below.<br />
Infrared emitters optimize the quality of aircraft parts<br />
made from composite materials<br />
A Heraeus Noblelight infrared heating system at a GKN<br />
Aerospace facility close to Bristol contributes to avoiding<br />
structural and microstructural faults in aircraft components.<br />
The infrared system was built in close cooperation<br />
with GKN Aerospace engineers, for use on composite components<br />
that will later be used in the supporting structure<br />
of the wing of the Airbus A350 XWB. GKN Aerospace is a<br />
leading global supplier of airframes and components for<br />
a wide range of aircraft suppliers and general contractors.<br />
When manufacturing the rear wing spars for the Airbus<br />
A350 XWB, a prepreg carbon composite tape is applied<br />
in multiple layers over a mandrel to form the required<br />
shape and is then preheated with infrared under vacuum.<br />
Prepregs are multilayered pre-impregnated composite<br />
materials that are shaped over profiles in special molding<br />
tools, before they are then fully cured in autoclaves.<br />
Like laminated wooden boards<br />
Many layers of thin sheets of wood glued together produce<br />
particularly stable layered wooden boards, known as laminated<br />
boards. In exactly the same way, individual layers<br />
of composite are joined together to produce stable aircraft<br />
components. The difficulty lies in the fact that the layers<br />
can shift or get kinked relative to one another, producing<br />
<strong>technology</strong> <strong>report</strong> Issue 4 | 2013
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