MANUFACTURING OF PRIMARY AIRCRAFTSTRUCTURES WITH VACUUM ASSISTED RESININFUSION (VARI)

摘要

The liquid resin infusion (LRI) process has proved its high potential for enhancingnfusion production efficiency, especially in terms of reducing manufacturing cost of CFRP partsfor aerospace applications. Therefore, the Institute of Structures and Design of theGerman Aerospace Center (DLR) in Stuttgart developed the Vacuum Assisted ResinInfusion process (VARI). Various test parts and 9 m long CFRP C-spars demonstratedimpressively the potential of VARI for a cost effective, reliable, robust, and reproduciblehigh quality manufacturing process. However, commercial production required furtherdevelopment steps in handling techniques of non-crimp fabric and automated processcontrol. The solutions will be outlined in the paper, as well as new developments inprocess monitoring with advanced capabilities for quality control are described. Due tothese results a closed related LRI process, the Modified Vacuum Infusion process (MVI),was developed in collaboration between Airbus Deutschland GmbH and the GermanAerospace Center in Stuttgart. Airbus Deutschland will produce C-spars and ribs of theAirbus A 380 vertical tail plane using the MVI process. A brief description of theintroduction in the production line will finish the paper.