The current push to incorporate thermoplastic and theoretically recyclable carbon fibre structures into aircraft components is well represented in the selected projects of the finalists in the aerospace categories of the 2025 JEC Composites Innovation Awards.

Each year, the awards celebrate outstanding achievements and collaborative efforts within the composites industry. Over the past 27 years, the programme has engaged more than 2,100 companies worldwide, recognising 258 organisations and 670 partners for their breakthroughs and impactful partnerships. The awards focus on projects that demonstrate strong partner engagement across the value chain, technical complexity and significant commercial potential.

The winners of the JEC Innovation Awards 2025 will be revealed during the JEC World 2025 Premiere to be held on January 13th in Paris and live online.

MFFD

Among selected aerospace finalists, Airbus Operations in Germany has led a CleanSky2 funded consortium of 12 European organisations in a project to develop a full-scale demonstrator of a single aisle commercial aircraft fuselage section made from thermoplastic composites.

More than 40 different technologies have been developed and real size parts manufactured and assembled during the project. Technologies have been deliberately set up in a competitive environment to maximise learning and push existing boundaries.

As a result, the consortium has delivered the MFFD –

multifunctional fuselage demonstrator – an 8 metres x 4 metres tunnel made from thermoplastic composites that if adopted, would result in a CO2 emissions reduction of between 180-540kg for a single flight.

EGV

Chase GmbH of Austria and partners have taken a hybrid moulding approach in their development of an exit guide vane (EGV) also made from high-performance thermoplastic composites.

EGVs are characterised by their complex geometry and high production volume and are specifically designed for aerodynamic purposes and used in a large number of aircraft engines.

A technology demonstrator was realised by combining Victrex LMPAEK unidirectional tapes and a short fibre-reinforced PEEK compound. The four-stage production includes specifically developed tooling solutions and the  pick-and-place stacking of a tailored tape ply stack, with direct forming by 3D consolidation, CNC machining and local injection overmoulding.

The key benefits are a significant reduction in component weight, an efficient automation-supported process chain and product corrosion and heavy hail impact resistance.

Prepreg seat legs

Prepreg fibre structures aiming to replace current commercial metal seat leg designs have been produced by Taiwan’s Bonny-Surewin Worldwide and its partners.

The production of the carbon composite seat legs is cost-effective due to a rapid curing process and fewer components, minimising maintenance needs. A one-shot manufacturing process combined with a multi-mould design further decreases production costs.

The key benefits are weight and manufacturing cost savings, in addition to low maintenance requirements.

FibreLINE

In new processes, the UK’s Loop Technology has developed its FibreLINE system for the high-rate manufacturing of composite structures. It provides end-to-end automation for preforming, significantly accelerating the production rate of carbon fibre and other composite components.

FibreLINE cuts, sorts and sequences carbon fibre material before shaping and placing it onto a mould where it is inspected, heat staked and made ready for the next stage of production. One configuration of FibreLINE has FibreFORM at the centre – a pick and place end-effector that can form large pieces of material into the required 3D complex shape and place it extremely precisely, while managing shear forces to ensure no damage is done to the fibres.

FibreLINE is characterised by a high deposition rate and is highly accurate and repeatable, modular and scalable.

Tail plane

Using LMPAEK unidirectional fibres with a thermoplastic matrix, Daher of France has developed a process for manufacturing a horizontal tail plane with no fixation on its aerodynamic surface. The viability of this technology for torsion boxes has been proven in mechanical testing.

Automated fibre placement (AFP) was employed to manufacture optimised spars and skins and layup flat blanks that were then turned into ribs and stiffeners using the proprietary Direct Stamped process. The stiffeners were assembled by co-consolidation to obtain a self-stiffened skin.

The parts were assembled by induction welding to obtain a closed box with a resulting improvement of aerodynamic surface, as well as weight savings.

Alternative to autoclave

Finally, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and partners in Japan have developed a continuous press process for the fabrication of large-scale thermoplastic stiffened panels.

This involves complex skin/stiffener thickness changes and the use of high-stability hollow stiffeners to reduce flow time and enable high-rate production.

The process combines variable temperature distribution in the moulds and a progressive feeding of a movable lower mould against a fixed upper mould, along with the simultaneous welding/integration of stringers during skin consolidation. Benefits include the faster production of stiffened panels compared to autoclave processes, no need for large presses and the single-step joining of multiple stringers to the skin, with stable quality.

www.airbus.com

www.chasecenter.at

www.bonnyworldwide.com

www.looptechnology.com

www.daher.com

www.jec-world.events