Spirit AeroSystems’ Advanced Technology Centre in Prestwick, Scotland, has come out with an improved method for making composite parts. Spirit AeroSystems uses some of the world’s largest autoclaves to support its composite fuselage business. The new heated tool technology cures composite parts 40 per cent faster and at half the cost with no autoclave.

In collaboration with the University of Strathclyde and the Scottish Innovation Centre for Sensor and Imaging Systems (CENSIS), Spirit developed an intelligent heated tool for curing composite components. The new technology can cure composite parts 40 per cent faster at half the cost and supports a wide range of composite components across industries, from wind turbine blades to the next generation of composite aircraft.

"Instead of curing components at a standard temperature for hours at a time, we can now tailor the cycle time to match individual part geometries," Stevie Brown, lead engineer at Spirit's Advanced Technology Centre in Prestwick, explained. "The autoclave has been a bottleneck in manufacturing lines, and removing it will reduce cycle times for components, cut production costs and decrease energy consumption."

Typically, high-performance composite materials are layered on a specially formed surface, or tool, and then placed in an autoclave, where a combination of heat and pressure accelerate the hardening of the material. Spirit's new technology introduces an intelligent, multi-zone heated tool, removing the need for an autoclave. The tool enables complete control of the curing process through real-time monitoring and feedback.

CENSIS supported the collaboration with funding and provided project management expertise. The University of Strathclyde provided technical support and developed the control algorithm and software for the intelligent tool. The collaboration will continue through 2018, and Spirit has already begun applying the technology in research and manufacturing projects. (SV)