Developments in the aerospace world, the point of origin for advanced composites and where they still find most use, repeatedly made headlines in 2008. Aircraft giant Airbus (Toulouse, France) delivered the first A380 superjumbo jet on Oct. 15, 2007 to Singapore Airlines. The company admitted in May 2008 that production delays will mean fewer deliveries over the next few years, and is in discussions with customers about revised delivery schedules. As a result, only eight A380s had been delivered as of Sept. 30, 2008, to Singapore Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Qantas.
With the help of lightweight composites (about 16 percent, by weight), the A380 is reported to have a fuel consumption of less than 3 liters per passenger per 100 km. The aircraft has a range of more than 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km) and a seat-mile cost 20 percent lower than the former largest aircraft, The Boeing Co.'s (Seatle, Wash.) 747. To date, total orders and commitments for the A380 stand at 192 from 16 customers (Airbus must build and sell more than 460 planes to break even).
Relaunched as the medium-capacity, long-range A350 XWB (Xtra Wide Body), the Airbus answer to Boeing’s midsized 787 is now slated to enter service in 2013 at a cost of $15 billion for its development, nearly three times the original estimate. The XWB replaces two previous designs for the A350, which was first introduced in 2005 but came under criticism from Airbus customers, who thought the plane fell short of expectations. Although the plane is running well behind the 787 in terms of entry into service, airline confidence in the product appears to be high: Airbus has picked up a total of more than 458 firm orders since the launch and predicts that the craft will have the lowest operating and seat-mile costs of any aircraft in its category.
While exact details aren’t yet known about how the A350 will be made, Spirit AeroSystems Inc. (Wichita, Kan.) announced on May 14, 2008 that it has signed a contract with Airbus to design and produce the Section 15 center fuselage frame section, a composite structure that will be approximately 65 ft long by 20 ft wide (19.8m by 6.1m) and weigh nearly 9,000 lb/4,082 kg. Spirit has committed to a new North Carolina facility to produce the structure. Speculation throughout the composites industry for the last year or so says that the fuselage itself will be constructed of carbon fiber panels, and won’t be tape wound like the fuselage on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. Partial confirmation of the panel design came in September at the IMTS show, in Chicago, Ill., where MAG Cincinnati (Hebron, Ky.) announced the sale of six VIPER fiber placement systems for automated fabrication of composite panels for the A350. Also, at least two European suppliers, KSL Keilmann Sondermaschinenbau GmbH (Lorsch, Germany) and Tajima GmbH (Winterlingen, Germany) have demonstrated the technical capability for weaving carbon fiber preforms in the shape of an aircraft window hole in a fuselage. Each admitted that there are no known plans to use such preforms in the A350, but acknowledged that the ability to produce the preforms has been discussed among some Airbus suppliers. Airbus, however, has yet to announce firm intentions for either the aircraft’s composite design or its fabrication methods.
In the wake of protracted delays in the A380 and A350 programs, Airbus has sold two of its facilities as part of its Power8 restructuring plan, designed to better distribute risk among manufacturing partners and ensure profitability. The Laupheim site in Germany, which produces primarily aircraft interior components, is now owned by a joint venture formed by Diehl Stiftung and Co. KG (Nuremberg, Germany) and Thales (London, U.K.), while the Filton, U.K. facility has been purchased by GKN Aerospace (Cowes, Isle of Wight, U.K.)
Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner continues to attract attention as it moves closer to first flight. The aircraft is 50 percent composite by weight — 100 percent composite on the “wet” or outer windswept surface — and is the fastest selling plane of its type in history, having attracted 894 net orders by Sept. 30, 2008. A seven-week strike by machinists in late 2008 prompted Boeing to reschedule the aircraft’s first flight, previously set for sometime in the fourth quarter of 2008, to early 2009. It became clear in late 2008, as Wall Street earthquakes sent shock waves through global financial markets, that the 787 program would experience further delays. A late December press release form Boeing pushed the commercial jet's first flight into the second quarter of 2009 and first delivery into the first quarter of 2010.
Boeing took the unprecedented step of outsourcing all 787 production, with the exception of the vertical tail, while coordinating the design of all the components in-house with a three-dimensional digital design program. For example, automated tape laying methods are used to fabricate the fuselage as one-piece barrels. The work is performed by four partner suppliers — Spirit AeroSystems, Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Toyko, Japan). Vought Aircraft Co. (Dallas, Texas) and Alenia Aeronautica (Rome, Italy). The latter is a partner with Boeing in Global Aeronautica LLC in Charleston, S.C. (Boeing purchased Vought’s 50 percent interest in Global Aeronautica in early 2008). A long list of global partner suppliers send completed parts to Boeing’s assembly facility in Everett, Wash. and the planes eventually will be integrated and assembled in a six-day process, says the company. Airframe parts are shipped to Everett in three Dreamlifters, converted 747 freighters that can hold the fuselage barrels, wings and wingbox components.
The principal composite material supplier for the program is Toray Composites America (Tacoma, Wash.), which is providing TORAYCA epoxy prepreg material for the aircraft’s structural parts in unidirectional tape and woven fabric formats that incorporate T800 carbon fiber. According to Mark Jenks, VP of development in charge of the 787 program, the biggest M&P challenge so far in the 787 program involved the diminished availability of its smallest components, fasteners. First recognized in 2007, the problem has since been addressed and is improving.
Regional jet OEMs also are increasing their use of composites. For example, Bombardier’s (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) new CSeries family of 100- to 149-seat, single-aisle aircraft, relaunched in July 2008 at the Farnborough Air Show, will be 20 percent composite, including the center and rear fuselage, tail cone, empennage and wings. The wings will be produced at the company’s Belfast, Northern Ireland location (the former Shorts aviation facility). Sixty CSeries planes have been ordered by Lufthansa. In Asia, a new 70- to 90-seat regional jet is under development by Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp., part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI, Tokyo, Japan). Launched in early 2008, the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) will be the first regional jet to adopt composite materials for its wings and vertical fins on a significant scale. Takashi Ishikawa, the aviation program director for JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tokyo, Japan) confirmed that the MRJ design team is experimenting with out-of-autoclave vacuum infusion for the wing structure to reduce cost. Mitsubishi Aircraft recently signed an agreement with JAMCO Corp. (Tokyo, Japan) under which JAMCO will participate in the design of the aircraft’s carbon/epoxy ailerons and spoilers. Type certification of the new aircraft is expected in 2012, notes Ishikawa.
Meanwhile, business and general aviation aircraft sales increased in the first half of 2008, as reported by the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. (GAMA, Washington, D.C.). Billings for business jets, specifically, were up more than 39 percent through July 2008 as compared to 2007, representing 663 new planes. Somewhat paradoxically, according to analysts at UBS Investment Research (New York, N.Y.), business jet flight activity — takeoffs and landings — was down 11 percent in July 2008 compared to a year earlier, which may indicate the growing impact of the current “challenging” economic environment, says Dan Hubbard, senior VP of communications at the National Business Aviation Assn. Inc. (NBAA, Washington, D.C.). The uptick in sales figures may indicate aircraft orders from BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) that, given more time, also will slow, suggests Hubbard. Nevertheless, composites continue at the forefront of noncommercial GA jet craft: Bombardier announced a new all-composite Learjet 85 in late 2007, with composite components slated to be fabricated at the company’s Querétaro facility in Mexico. Hawker Beechcraft’s (Wichita, Kan.) Hawker 4000 super-midsized business jet was delivered to the first customer in June 2008. The 4000 has a 6-ft/183-cm diameter carbon/epoxy fuselage barrel made in an automated tape laying process. Embraer’s (São José dos Campos, Brazil) Phenom models, launched in May 2005 and fabricated with about 20 percent carbon/epoxy composites, have attracted 800 orders and should be certified by the end of 2008. Even metals-centric Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. (Savannah, Ga.) will produce its new Gulfstream G650 heavy business jet with more composites than it used in previous Gulfstream models, but they will be confined mainly to secondary structures. According to some sources, the horizontal stabilizer, elevator and rudder, winglets, wing fixed trailing edge, wing-to-fuselage fairing, engine cowlings, engine pylons and rear pressure bulkhead will be composites.
Smaller general aviation aircraft continued to enjoy strong sales in 2008 as well, with composites-intensive designs leading the way. Cirrus Design Corp. (Duluth, Minn.) was responsible for 26 percent of the total piston aircraft deliveries in 2007, and its aircraft sport all-composite airframes. The company’s single-engine jet, the Vision SJ50, was well received at the 2008 EAA Airventure air show in Oshkosh, Wis. and the NBAA show in Orlando, Fla. Published sources hint that the company is moving toward an all-carbon fiber design for the jet, rather than glass, for better performance. And, Cessna Aircraft Co. (Wichita, Kan.), previously an aluminum advocate, now finds itself a composite fabricator after the firm’s acquisition in late 2007 of Columbia Aircraft (Bend, Ore.). Cessna is continuing production of Columbia’s brands, now dubbed the Cessna 350 and Cessna 400. The Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) segment of the general aviation market also is enjoying tremendous growth, with a slew of new models for sale, many from Europe, and most if not all made with composite materials.
On the military front, Lockheed Martin (Bethesda, Md.), partners Northrop Grumman, BAE SYSTEMS, GKN Aerospace Services and a host of subcontractors are continuing work on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) contract. An F-35A successfully flew from Fort Worth, Texas, to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Oct. 1 to begin expanded flight testing. First production deliveries of the fighter jet are expected in 2010. Lockheed Martin and Alenia Aeronautica announced on Sept. 25 that they have signed a contract for initial production of F-35 wings at a total value of more than $15 million (€10.5 million). The contract is the first of a series supporting Alenia Aeronautica’s long-term activities within the JSF program, under which Alenia is slated to produce more than 1,200 wings.
Aerospace giant European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV’s (EADS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) composites-intensive A400M military transport aircraft continues to be plagued by delays, the latest announced in September 2008. The company confirmed that the first flight of its heavy-lift cargo plane, originally intended to take place before the end of 2008, will be postponed because of the unavailability of the propulsion system — EADS currently faces fines as a result. The massive military transport plane will replace C-130s and C-160s in Europe. Its composite structures include 18.3m/6-ft composite wing spars designed and tape layed by GKN Aerospace as well as vacuum-infused upper cargo doors.
Space flight is certainly looking more interesting these days with the ascent of many commercial entities that are eager to cash in on both passenger flights and potential scientific ferry missions. Perhaps the best known of the civilian space companies is Virgin Galactic (Las Cruces, N.M.), which plans to transport paying passengers to space via SpaceShipTwo, an eight-passenger vessel that will be airlifted into the upper atmosphere for launch by a mother ship, dubbed WhiteKnightTwo. Both are being designed and built by Scaled Composites LLC (Mojave, Calif.). The latter was unveiled in July 2008 as the world’s largest all-carbon composite aircraft. Space flights are scheduled to begin in the next few years. Watch for competitors vying for the Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 million payoff for the first privately funded robotic lunar craft that can send data back to Earth. At least 10 teams reportedly will compete.
The booming unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market continues to expand with hundreds of designs competing for both military and civilian contract dollars worldwide. While UAV wingspans range from commercial airliner-sized down to palm-sized micro flyers, the small, long-loiter “tactical” UAVs — those that support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) — are becoming key components of military and homeland security missions.
UAVs were the fastest-growing segment of the aerospace sector in 2008, with a worldwide value of more than $3.4 billion (USD). More than 40 countries have gone on record as producing at least one UAV airframe, and nearly 1,000 systems exist today, worldwide.
Composites are the material of choice for UAV airframes, regardless of size. High strength-to-weight, limited radar signature and signal transparency are the main drivers. Because pilot or passenger risk isn’t an issue, UAV designers have a wider range of design possibilities open to them to meet specific mission objectives.
One of the more noteworthy of many pieces of 2008 UAV news concerned the unveiling of Aurora Flight Sciences’ (Bridgeport, W.Va.) solar-powered UAV, the Odysseus. Together with its project partners, the company was awarded a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Vulture program to develop a craft that could potentially stay aloft for up to five years at high altitude. Aurora also makes parts for Northrop Grumman’s high-altitude UAV, the Global Hawk. Unmanned rotorcraft also are part of the mix: The German Ministry of Defense (MoD) recently selected the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) CAMCOPTER S-100 UAV system from Schiebel (Vienna, Austria) for its Navy fleet. CAMCOPTER is fabricated with carbon/epoxy prepregs from Advanced Composites Group Ltd. (ACG, Heanor, Derbyshire, U.K.).