Three years ago, at the JEC show in Paris, France, a team of enthusiastic aerospace engineers was on stage to be recognized for excellent achievement in the application of thermoplastic composites in the A340-500/600 program. As a material supplier I have the privilege of working with all major aircraft manufacturers. Although they all build aircraft, I see significant differences in the approach towards innovative solutions. The use of riveting in the assembly process of cars, ships and bridges would be seen today as a fall back into the middle ages. Aircraft manufacturers still buy expensive sheet material, damage it by drilling 2.5 million holes (A340) and subsequently try to repair this damage by putting little "pins" into these holes and flattening them out using hammers. These "repairs" can lead to crack initiation under fatigue load, which is one of the main threats for aircraft structures. Beyond any doubt, Airbus is spearheading using state of the art technology in new models to move away from riveting. Using a welding process to manufacture the fixed wing nose of A340 is a great example. A380 as well uses the welding process for over 50 meters of fixed wing leading edge in thermoplastic composite. Moreover, welding is used for large aluminium fuselage parts.
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