On Tuesday, April 7, GKN Aerospace (Isle of Wight, U.K.) is holding a groundbreaking ceremony at the site for its new composite production facility near Filton, U.K., where A350 XWB spars will be manufactured using HexPly prepreg from Hexcel (Dublin, Calif.).
In 2008 Hexcel was awarded the biggest contract in its 61-year history to supply primary structure prepreg for the Airbus A350 XWB. Since the announcement, Hexcel says it has continued to forge a stronger partnership with customer GKN Aerospace, which is responsible for the development and supply of the A350 XWB spar and fixed trailing edge assemblies.
As part of the contract, Hexcel will supply GKN with HexPly carbon fibre/epoxy prepreg in the form of unidirectional tape. The HexPly prepreg is in an optimized form for automated fiber placement processing, an innovative composite production technique that will be used to manufacture the A350 XWB spars, reducing labor time and minimizing production costs.
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Industry News
Hexcel on hand for GKN groundbreaking
GKN's new composites facility in Filton, U.K., will produce spars for the Airbus A350 XWB using Hexcel's HexPly prepreg carbon fiber.
