Opportunities for Automation within the Manufacture of Future Commercial Aircraft Structures

摘要

The application of composite materials within aircraft structures has increased substantially over the last 25 years but as new aircraft platforms enter production during the next decade, with even higher levels of composite content, the production rates required will mean that automation the manufacturing process will be essential. This is bringing about something of a revolution in manufacturing in aviation. Material deposition continues to be the primary target for composite process automation but for future manufacture many other areas must be addressed. These include the successful automated manufacture of small, highly complex structures, automated non-destructive examination (NDE), robotic manipulation and assembly, effective tooling development and mould tool cleaning, out of autoclave curing, drilling and filling. Many of these areas are discussed in this paper and are the subject of intense research and development (R&D) but others still require substantial progress to be made in readiness for future composite applications.