ManufacturIng. ng of Thermoplastics

Transcription

1 Development and INnovation for Advanced ManufacturIng ng of Thermoplastics Mid-Term Achievements of work by Patrice LEFEBURE _ EADS CCR (patrice.lefebure@ eads.net) C. QUINQUIS _ A-F, S. KASCHEL _ A-D, R. AVILA DOMINGUEZ _ A-E, M. BUCKLEY _ A-UK, C. COIFFIER- COLAS _ D. Av, H. SIBOIS _ Eurocopter, G. LAMPEAS _ LTSM Patras, B. PEREZ Magallon _ CIDAUT, U. SPELZ _ ACM, H. RUCKDÄSCHEL LPW Bayreuth, J. LEE _ I.C, R. SCHLEDJEWSKI _ IVW Kaiserslautern. & 1

2 FP6 STREP DINAMIT Program Duration: 36 month from 2004/02/01 Budget: 3.6 Meuros contract :AST3-CT Consortium: 13 partners Co-ordinator ordinator UNIVERSITY of PATRAS 2

3 Content Interests of High Performance Thermoplastic Composites for aeronautics structure. Objectives of the DINAMIT program Main Achievements of works Conclusion 3

4 Interests of H.P Thermoplastics High Performance Thermoplastic Composite materials are soon used for manufacture of aeronautical structures. Compared to Thermoset resin Fibres systems, many advantages such as: Good Impact behaviour. Fire resistance. Low moisture absorption. capabilities of Storage at Room Temperature. Welding capabilities. Potential recycling capabilities. Great interest for potential Fuselage applications! 4

5 Interests of H.P Thermoplastics Today, restrictions for application to design and manufacture of aerospace structures Thermoplastics are furthermore generally restricted to simple geometry parts and limited dimensions, due to the current technological limitations. Material costs, and the global production costs remain high Relative Prices of Carbon fibres prepregs Hexcel M21/T800 Hexcel M21/T700 Cytec 977-2/HTS Cytec APC2/AS Price/kg

6 Interests of H.P Thermoplastics Temperatures of consolidation > 350 C Manufacturing costs drastically increase! Specific Industrial facilities and consolidations costs Ancillary products Thermoset Thermoplastic Relative Prices of ancillary products Sealant Vessel Breather fabric Peel ply Release film

7 DINAMIT PROGRAM OBJECTIVES Main objectives of the project : Reduction of the prohibitive material costs. Min. 20% reduction hoped.(/very limited number of references) Reduction of the associated forming-consolidation costs. Due to high temperature of processes. Development of rapid, flexible, low cost processes for structure assembly. 7

8 ACHIEVEMENT OF THE OBJECTIVES Objectives achieved by: The development of low cost H.P thermoplastic composites for aeronautical application: New TP blend /Carbon prepregs, Carbon/PEKK prepregs evaluation, Evaluation of new multiaxial Thermoplastic Fabrics, New material for In Situ Consolidation processes. The development of enhanced forming-consolidation processes for skins and substructures In situ consolidation processes & high speed automatic lay down process for manufacture of double curvature parts, Continuous Forming and Roll-Forming technologies for TP contoured profiles, low pressure injection process, enhanced Diaphragm forming technique coupled with IR heating. The development of new welding processes : In-situ welding process, Feasibility study of Laser welding Including laser treatment of surfaces for preparation to welding. The development of a cost optimisation tool for innovative materials and processes 8

9 ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORK Development of TP blends products (by LPW, Airbus D, Eurocopter) Specifications elaborated from references = PEEK based materials. Formulation of 4 TP blends from this diagram. Resin Characterisations set up. PES decreased media resistance cost reduction brittle behaviour 2 blend formulations chosen for UD & Fabric impregnation: Blend 1: best performances. Blend 2: most suitable for forming consolidation processes. 30% resin cost reduction is hoped (Victrex source) PEEK PEI brittle behaviour cost reduction increased glass transition Reference: LPW BAYREUTH First Carbon Fabrics/ blend are consolidated. Mechanical tests on UD and Fabrics tapes to be set up 9

10 ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORK Evaluation of New multiaxial TP products (A-F, LTSM) Main interests: lay up time saving, formability at room temperature Formability tests performed on 4 PEEK based NCF products Carbon/peek commingled fibres Peek between each dry ply SUPPLIER PORCHER (NCF from SAERTEX) SAERTEX (fibres from COMFIL) HEXCEL (fibres from SCHAPPES) HEXCEL (fleece) HEXCEL (towflex) Drape-ability tbd excellent excellent excellent possible SAERTEX plate Consolidation of plates Mechanical tests in progress for comparison of the TP NCF to APC2/AS4 (reference) 10

11 ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORK Processing evaluation of UD PEKK/C tapes (IC, A-UK) A Major results PEKK/C tapes seem available for aeronautical application. No major effect of the processing method. But no real cost reduction on the manufacturing cost today. 11

12 ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORK New technology developments for first ply lay-up on complex geometry (by Dassault Aviation and EADS CCR) DAv developments: Adhesive technology Glass fabric + adhesive on tooling Specific first ply: PEEK/Carbon tape + adhesive EADS CCR Developments Vacuum technology Specific double curvature tooling First ply maintained with vacuum 12

13 ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORK Automated cost effective Technology for TPs d.c. panel manufacture (by EADS/CCR) Consolidation into oven Automatic lay down of 1 inch width APC2/AS4 tape With max speed of the head displacement Determination of the Process window completed: Max head speed. Pressure. Temperature consolidated APC2/AS4 Panel 13

14 Benchmarking on ISC Process (IVW) Influence of process parameters : heating source, velocity, consolidation force, material nature (CYTEC PEEK/Carbon tapes) Main results: ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORK material nature and heating method seems to have the most influence for ISC process (validation with peel tests) Infrared heating system for the diaphragm process (LTSM) Temp. Vs Time Temperature [^C] Time [s] 5 mm Thick Process simulation (strain distribution) Thermal analysis for optimisation of the Infra red heating 14

15 ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORK Continuous forming of contoured profiles (ACM) Process parameters optimised for C/PEEK Z stiffeners manufacture TP roll forming developments (Airbus UK) Thermoset roll forming machine upgraded with a specific Infrared preheating system Development a TP RTM process (EADS CCR) Materials: TICONA PPS pellets and PORCHER Carbon fabrics Drastic Problems of PPS oxidation at high temperature 15

16 ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORK Laser developments for TPs assembly (CIDAUT,( Airbus CIDAUT, Airbus-E, Eurocopter) LASER WELDING Feasibility Welding tests performed with a YAG laser source (transmission mode) on PEI, PPS, PEEK, PEKK Carbon or Glass fibre parts. laser welded Pei/GF with PEKK/CF CF/PPS Welded joint Laser treatment of surfaces before welding Compared Processes by measurements of surface energy and mechanical shear properties after treatments o Manual sanding ( standard industrial process) oyag laser source (tripled 355 nm) odiode laser (810 nm) Weldability of TP GF components demonstrated, but critical process for TP CF tapes: limitation to thin components Tests in progress, but Laser Treatments seem soon more adapted to TP parts than for TD 16

17 ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORK Cost effective Analysis (LTSM Patras) Cost Estimation Tool main Characteristics Easy accessibility by the user Friendly interface Fully parametric Divides the process into sub-processes Extracting graphs It can be modified any time Input Sub Process 1 COST DRIVERS Sub Process 2 CER CER CER CER CER K1 COST DRIVERS K2 TOTAL COST K total Sub Process 3 COST DRIVERS K3 K4 Sub Process 4 COST DRIVERS K5 Sub Process 5 COST DRIVERS OPTIMIZATION Material supply Preparation of the tool Preparation of the material and closing Heating Output Cost analysis flow chart Final Part Forming Opening, Demolding, consolidation rework, inspection and cooling storage Diaphragm forming Process chain 17

18 Industrial Applications CONCLUSION To Increase the level of HP Thermoplastic Composites on Aerospace structures. Impact on civil or military projects. Applications on the next generation of Aircrafts or Helicopters Fuselages with new materials and enhanced technologies. Costs Impacts Today it is hoped a minimum 20% Materials cost reductions in the 2 or 5 years after the end of the programme. New TPs technologies could induce 20% to 30% manufacture cost reduction with: Automation of the TPs processes. Increase of the importance of high Performance Thermoplastics in aerospace structures. Flexible welding technologies. Efficient Cost effective tool needed for help to the design of aerospace composite structural parts 18

19 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The DINAMIT consortium acknowledges the grant of the European Community for the FP6 DINAMIT STREP Project (Contract No. AST3-CT ). 19