Wing of Tomorrow ribs: One-shot, thermoplastic, OOA consolidation
Cost-competitive thermoplastic rib. As part of the Wing of Tomorrow program, GKN Aerospace’s U.K. and Netherlands locations teamed up to design a thermoplastic composite rib using out-of-autoclave (OOA) manufacturing processes that are cost-competitive and mechanically equivalent to a traditional aluminum rib. Photo credit, all images: GKN Aerospace Airbus’ Wing of Tomorrow (WOT) program, launched in 2015, has spent the past six years exploring more cost-competitive, higher-throughput material, manufacturing and assembly technologies for single-aisle commercial aircraft wings (see CW’s...
Source: compositesworld.com