Spirit AeroSystems Develops New Composites Manufacturing Technology

Ad blocking detected

Thank you for visiting CanadianInsider.com. We have detected you cannot see ads being served on our site due to blocking. Unfortunately, due to the high cost of data, we cannot serve the requested page without the accompanied ads.

If you have installed ad-blocking software, please disable it (sometimes a complete uninstall is necessary). Private browsing Firefox users should be able to disable tracking protection while visiting our website. Visit Mozilla support for more information. If you do not believe you have any ad-blocking software on your browser, you may want to try another browser, computer or internet service provider. Alternatively, you may consider the following if you want an ad-free experience.

Canadian Insider Ultra Club
$500/ year*
Daily Morning INK newsletter
+3 months archive
Canadian Market INK weekly newsletter
+3 months archive
30 publication downloads per month from the PDF store
Top 20 Gold, Top 30 Energy, Top 40 Stock downloads from the PDF store
All benefits of basic registration
No 3rd party display ads
JOIN THE CLUB

* Price is subject to applicable taxes.

Paid subscriptions and memberships are auto-renewing unless cancelled (easily done via the Account Settings Membership Status page after logging in). Once cancelled, a subscription or membership will terminate at the end of the current term.

Spirit AeroSystems Develops New Composites Manufacturing Technology

PR Newswire

WICHITA, Kan., Dec. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Spirit AeroSystems [NYSE: SPR] announced today its Advanced Technology Centre in Prestwick, Scotland, has developed an improved method for manufacturing composite parts.

Spirit AeroSystems uses some of the world’s largest autoclaves to support the company’s composite fuselage business. The new intelligent heated tool technology can cure composite parts 40 percent faster and at half the cost without using an 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 percent 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.

On the web: www.spiritaero.com 
On Twitter: @SpiritAero

About Spirit AeroSystems
Spirit AeroSystems designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers. With headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia. The company's core products include fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components for the world's premier aircraft. Spirit AeroSystems focuses on affordable, innovative composite and aluminum manufacturing solutions to support customers around the globe. More information is available at www.spiritaero.com.

 

Spirit AeroSystems logo. (PRNewsFoto/Spirit AeroSystems, Inc.)

Cision View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spirit-aerosystems-develops-new-composites-manufacturing-technology-300571492.html

SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems

Copyright CNW Group 2017

Comment On!

140
Upload limit is up to 1mb only
To post messages to your Socail Media account, you must first give authorization from the websites. Select the platform you wish to connect your account to CanadianInsider.com (via Easy Blurb).