Technologies

Novel mould development

RECOMET IMPEX will design and manufacture all tools needed to manufacture the whole tailcone and its components (infusion tools, trimming, assembly and control tool) taking into account tool modularity, surface treatment, process monitoring issues and issues related to infusion, fibre placement and through thickness reinforcement.

A low cost composite mould will be the priority but will have to comply with fibre placement, infusion and through thickness reinforcement processes. The mould will also have to move in order to allow a maximum degree of freedom during fibre placement.

A critical design point will be the development of a tool able to support Z reinforcement. This is due to the fact that a suitable surface is required to avoid breakage of the Z reinforcement needle. The key technological innovation will be in the utilization of a composite tool for fibre placement and for the integration of many tail cone structure parts like stringers and frames. This constituent integration approach is considered to reduce the manufacturing cost of a composite tail cone by reducing manufacturing steps.

An additional task will assess the surface treatment of the mould in order to reduce the time of the release agent operation during the manufacture of a composite part and which will also increase the life of the tool.