Xenia collaborates with Politecnico di Milano team on competitive composite drone production

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) developer Xenia Materials (Mussolente, Italy) announces that it has contributed to the success of Nyx, an innovative aircraft designed by Fly Mi - Euroavia Milano, the student association of engineers and designers from the Politecnico di Milano (The Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy) founded in 2022. The project is reported to represent how collaboration between industry and academic institutions can lead to industry advancement.

For the academic year 2023-2024, Fly Mi decided to participate in its first international competition, The Air Cargo Challenge, held in Germany in July 2024. Held in Europe, the aeronautical engineering student competition challenges its teams to design and build a radio-controlled aircraft that is able to fly with the highest possible payload according with the rules established in the competition regulations. The team’s score is determined by the part’s demonstrated performance and technical quality of the project.

Faced with the rules and restrictions imposed by the competition which vary each edition, the Fly Mi team developed and built Nyx, a drone crafted from composite materials that is 1.5 meters long with a wingspan of 3 meters.

To meet the project’s high demands, Xenia Materials stepped in, supplying its Xecarb 40-C20-3DP, a 20% carbon fiber-reinforced polycarbonate specifically designed for the additive manufacturing market. Xenia says this material was essential in the creation of the molds used for laminating Nyx’s wings and control surfaces, which are crucial for the drone's flight capabilities.

“With its low CTE values, the material provided by Xenia significantly reduced issues related to thermal shrinkage during the design phase, enabling us to produce higher-quality parts,” says a student who took part in the project. “Furthermore, the absence of permanent deformations in the molds after use, along with the resistance of internal surfaces to release agents, allowed us to repeatedly laminate the movable surfaces and test various internal configurations to find the best solution.”

The engineers’ feedback reflects how Xenia’s material ensured the reliability and performance needed for the ambitious project: “We partnered with Xenia Materials to meet the demanding performance standards of our project,” says M.H., serving as president of the Fly Mi Euroavia association at the time. “The lightness, recyclability and ease of handling the molds were key advantages, complemented by the increased sustainability of the process, adding significant value to our work.”

As a result, Xenia reports that it will be continuing its collaboration with the Fly Mi team for its 2025 project. This directly aligns with the company’s dedicated program for collaboration with universities, research centers and institutes of technology, the Academic & Research Support Program.