COMPINNOV TP2 project promotes use of thermoplastics in aerospace

After 3 years of R&D, COMPINNOV TP2, a €1.4 project that brought together a team of around 10 people from the IRT Saint Exupéry (Toulouse, France) research institute, alongside key partners Airbus, Aviacomp, Hutchinson and IRT Jules Verne, ended in 2023. The project delved into high-performance thermoplastic composite semi-finished products, aiming to give a better understanding of the links between prepreg materials and manufacturing processes.

The COMPINNOV TP2 project is framed within the French aerospace industry. Many of these aerostructure applications currently use metallic materials and thermoset composites. However, constantly innovating, the French aerospace industry has been interested in thermoplastic materials, which offer a number of advantages in terms of processability (weldability, increased production rates, etc.), reprocessability, recyclability, performance (resistance to impact, aggressive fluids, etc.) and logistics (storage at ambient temperature, etc.).

COMPINNOV TP2 — and another project, METEOR — focused on the development of materials and processes for high-performance unidirectional (UD) thermoplastic prepregs for out-of-autoclave (OOA) consolidation. In particular they:

• Developed a methodology for the development, characterization and consolidation of high-performance thermoplastic prepregs;
• Provided building blocks for understanding the relationship between materials and processing for various industrial processes used in the manufacture of aerostructures (stiffeners, cover, beams, etc.);
• Improved the capabilities (versatility, productivity, etc.) of the IRT Saint Exupéry’s thermoplastic prepreg development line.

In this field, the project activities were based on the IRT Saint Exupéry’s expertise in the development of tailor-made prepregs and the knowledge of the industrial members (Airbus, Aviacomp and Hutchinson) on their production processes (automated fiber placement/AFP, welding, thermostamping, pullforming, etc.). Within the framework of the IRT Materials Alliance, the project also drew on the skills and resources of the IRT Jules Verne around its induction welding platform.

Though this project has ended, IRT Saint Exupéry says that its skills and resources in thermoplastic materials will once again be deployed in the INTREPID project, which aims to improve understanding of material/process interactions in the context of hybridization between in-situ AFP thermoplastic processes and additive manufacturing. Moreover, the impregnation line at IRT Saint Exupéry supports studies on the development of new thermoplastic prepregs in the following ways:

• Materials: Increasing maturity, evaluation of innovative fiber/matrix combinations, development of new recycled, bio-sourced and functionalized materials, etc.
• Processes: Evaluating/developing impregnation, process and quality control technologies, etc.

“The development of a methodology for developing, characterizing and consolidating thermoplastic prepregs OOA has enabled us to gain a better understanding of the interactions between semi-finished products and processing methods,” Grégory ERB, COMPINNOV TP2 project manager, says. “This support, coupled with our prepreg functionalization capabilities, can be offered to any manufacturer wishing to improve the added value of its finished products based on a given fiber/matrix combination and processing method. The overall aim is to promote the use of thermoplastic materials in the French aerospace industry.”