Own development model for Integrated Management of Technological Innovation.
Zero-defect manufacturing of composite parts in the aerospace industry
In the aerospace industry very high quality standards have to be met. For the manufacturing of carbon fibre parts this is currently solved through extended end-of-line inspection in combination with re-work processes to deal with defective parts. Also, in-situ visual inspection is used for quality control, which is currently causing huge productivity losses during lay-up and has become a real bottleneck in carbon fibre parts manufacturing. ZAero project will provide a solution by developing inline quality control methods for the key process steps: automatic lay-up (dry fibre placement and automatic dry material placement) and curing.
VISIT WEBSITEZero defect manufacturing has always been a key topic in the aerospace due to high safety requirements. Currently, this is achieved through extended end-of-line quality control using X-Ray, ultra-sound or visual inspection. 25% of the manufacturing costs of high-end aerospace components relate to end-of-line quality and defect management. This project aims at the development of inline quality control methods for carbon fibre parts production (CFRP) and a decision support system.
The methods and systems developed in this project will lead to savings of about 150M€ per year if implemented in the series production of the A320neo carbon wing covers. However, they will also solve the problem that quality control, especially visual inspection, cannot keep up with the increase of productivity. Such in-situ visual inspection procedures have become a real bottleneck that reduces productivity by 30%-50%.
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