AITIIP is developing innovative RTM tooling, ALM system for sustainable aircraft wing

The European HERON Project (Athens, Greece), led by the AITIIP Technology Center (Zaragoza, Spain), has developed a set of innovative technologies to produce the tools that will be used to manufacture a sustainable aircraft wing.

HERON focuses on modular design for resin transfer mold (RTM) tools, which facilitate innovative part heating and demolding strategies. It also develops the use of a hybrid additive layer manufacturing (ALM) system with high deposition rates. The project’s production environment reportedly features precise automated control with the aim of monitoring the entire industrial process in almost real time.

HERON’s methodology will be used to manufacture an aircraft wing demonstrator, which will be suitable to study the technical parameters and kinematic and aerodynamic properties of the wings.

Funded by the European Commission (Brussels, Belgium), the HERON project is focused on the tooling of a specific section of the wing in order to manufacture three of its parts: the leading edge, the torsion box and the trailing edge. AITIIP has developed a set of smart technologies for the design and manufacture of tools that combine ALM and machining processes to improve the aerodynamic and kinematic parameters of a wing in motion.

The purpose of the project is to make the aircraft consume less fuel in flight and reduce CO₂ emissions by 30%. In this regard, the technologies and tools developed at HERON seek to reduce the production cycle time by 30%. This, in turn, is projected to cut down manufacturing costs by 20%, energy consumption by 25% and environmental impact both in the production environment and in the air. View the project’s brochure for more information.

AITIIP is the coordinator of the project, with the British Alchemie and Aernnova Aerospace (Miñano Mayor, Spain) joining as collaborators. AITIIP is in charge of the technological development related to the manufacture of innovative tools and parameterization of hybrid additive manufacturing processes with a high deposition rate. Alchemie, for its part, leads the development of new polymeric materials for additive manufacturing.