NOVEL ONE-SHOT MANUFACTURING CONCEPT FOR COMPOSITE BOX STRUCTURES

摘要

This paper presents the study of a novel "cellular core" tooling concept. The process enables the manufacture of complex "one-shot" composite box structures using established materials and processes. A suitable target component was identified and a design study conducted. The established design for the target component is a complex metallic fabrication, which is labour intensive to produce. The resulting composite component gave an estimated weight saving of 45% and an estimated cost saving of 17%. Several manufacturing demonstrators were produced which showed that the basic concept is viable, but needs further refinement. It is anticipated that the use of this technology will allow the exploitation of the benefits of composite materials, whilst also meeting challenging cost targets.