A350
Airbus ramps up A350-1000F freighter developments, manufacture
Widebody freighter brings enhanced fuel burn, CO2 emissions and economics compared to other offerings, in addition to adding volume, range and payload.
Grace Nehls
Senior Managing Editor, CompositesWorld
PEEK vs. PEKK vs. PAEK and continuous compression molding
Suppliers of thermoplastics and carbon fiber chime in regarding PEEK vs. PEKK, and now PAEK, as well as in-situ consolidation — the supply chain for thermoplastic tape composites continues to evolve.
Read MoreMaterials & Processes: Composites fibers and resins
Compared to legacy materials like steel, aluminum, iron and titanium, composites are still coming of age, and only just now are being better understood by design and manufacturing engineers. However, composites’ physical properties — combined with unbeatable light weight — make them undeniably attractive.
Read MoreMaterials & Processes: Resin matrices for composites
The matrix binds the fiber reinforcement, gives the composite component its shape and determines its surface quality. A composite matrix may be a polymer, ceramic, metal or carbon. Here’s a guide to selection.
Read MoreMaterials & Processes: Fabrication methods
There are numerous methods for fabricating composite components. Selection of a method for a particular part, therefore, will depend on the materials, the part design and end-use or application. Here's a guide to selection.
Read MoreFACC supplies 1,000th composite translating sleeve shipset for Airbus A350
Maximum investment in development and production of the lightweight components supports lower fuel consumption and significant reduction in CO2 emissions for the A350 family.
Read MoreDesigning for automated composites manufacturing of low-volume aerostructures
The commercial aerospace industry is heavily focused on design for efficient high-rate manufacturing, but there is still need for automated, affordable fabrication of low-rate aerostructures.
Read MoreAirbus reports widebody market recovery, production ramp-up progress
Nine-month 2023 earnings detail a 12% increase in consolidated revenue from 2022, meeting 2023 delivery targets and increased production rates for Airbus A350 widebody aircraft.
Grace Nehls
Senior Managing Editor, CompositesWorld
Composite-metal joining, braided preforms enable next-generation aircraft design
Collins Aerospace invests in new joining, preforming and infusion techniques to target aircraft design needs for reduced weight and lower-cost manufacture.
Read MoreAirbus delivers first A350 completed in China
More efficient fuel burn, a carbon fiber fuselage and wings and a quiet cabin take A350 orders well over 900.
Read MoreAdapting composites 3D printing to evolving needs
Continuous fiber printing pioneer increases print cell options, size, hybridization and simulation capability for expanded applications.
Read More175 composites editorials and counting
This is my 175th CW editorial. That’s 104,322 words. I created a word cloud to celebrate.
Read MoreAirbus updates single-aisle aircraft production plans
Per its expectations for a 2023-2025 commercial aircraft market recovery, Airbus confirms a rise in A320, A220 and A350 production rates.
Read MoreAxillium to support, manage U.K.’s ASCEND program
Innovation management partner Axillium explains its role in development of the Aerospace and Automotive Supply Chain Enabled Development (ASCEND) program launched in the U.K. in March 2021.
Read MoreParis Air Show orders bring aerospace industry back on track
The air show’s success was guided by nearly 1,266 order and option announcements from Airbus, Boeing, Embraer and others, indicating supply chain progress.
Grace Nehls
Senior Managing Editor, CompositesWorld
The evolution of the commercial aerospace landscape
Following the grounding of the 737 and the downturn caused by the pandemic, Boeing finds itself a distant second to Airbus. What should it do?
Read MoreAirbus releases 2020 orders and deliveries
The company reports 383 new orders and 566 deliveries in 2020 across all market segments.
Read MoreAFP tow steering comes of age, Part 1: Current state
It used to be enough that AFP systems could precisely and quickly place and cut multiple tows to build complex aerostructures. Now, fabricators need those tows steered, and the tighter the radius, the better.
Read MoreComposite aerostructures in the emerging urban air mobility market
In the not too distant future, point-to-point, limited-distance, piloted and autonomous air travel for people and cargo will be the norm. Composites will make it possible.
Read MoreComposite Bonding & Repair Benefits and Solutions
Film and paste adhesives, wet peel-ply and potting compounds enable the aviation industry to utilize advanced materials that contribute to lightweighting, more efficient designs, and improved sustainability.
Read MoreUpdate: Lower wing skin, Wing of Tomorrow
Airbus is evaluating several advanced composites technologies as part of its Wing of Tomorrow program. Among these is liquid resin infusion of the lower wing skin, being developed by Spirit AeroSystems.
Read MoreAirbus selects Airborne to supply automated ply placement system
The pick-and-place system with software-driven automated will be the first in Airbus facilities, enabling highly efficient and flexible dry fiber preform manufacture for A350 structures.
Grace Nehls
Senior Managing Editor, CompositesWorld
Strata delivers 100 shipsets of inboard flaps for Airbus A350-900
Strata assumes fabrication and assembly duties for inboard flaps production and plans to incorporate HDF and ATL machines into the process.
Read MoreComposites 4.0: Digital transformation, adaptive production, new paradigms
An evolving landscape of automation, sensors and AI software is not an end, but a means to achieve the cost, quality, efficiency and agility required for future manufacturing.
Read MoreHigh-rate, automated aerospace RTM line delivers next-gen spoilers
At Spirit AeroSystem’s Prestwick facility in Scotland, a glimpse of the future of aerocomposites manufacturing in a resin transfer molding line for A320 spoilers.
Read MoreZAero project update
The 2019 final review demonstrated integration of an automated CFRP process chain: AFP inline inspection and rework, cure and resin flow sensors, part performance prediction and a decision support tool for line operators.
Read MoreNarrow UD tapes to bridge the ATL-AFP gap
Automated tape laying and automated fiber placement are similar, but not the same. Can narrow tapes provide a middle ground with advantages of both processes for next-gen aircraft?
Read MoreReading tea leaves: The outlook for aerospace
The coronavirus pandemic promises to wreak havoc on the aerospace composites supply chain, but it’s not too soon to start thinking about how a post-pandemic commercial aerospace market will evolve.
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