Liquid Composite Moulding (LCM) techniques are becoming more and more interesting for aircraft manufacturers due to their advantages against traditional prepreg-autoclave processes (reduction of waste, energy and waste toxicity and economic benefits).

The two steps that are involved in the LCM process are first the production of a dry fibre preform and secondly the resin injection. The focus of this project is on the development of advanced production methods for dry fibre preforms. Technical requirements for a preform are:

• Geometrical tolerances and dimensional stability
• Near Net-shape
• Geometrical complexity to form integral shapes
• Possibility to combine multiple sub-preforms to bigger preforms
• No negative influence on the permeability

The currently available consolidation techniques are stitching and binding. Stitching techniques are low energy consumption, but are limited to non-complex shapes. Novel stitching processes have been developed that enable the processing of 3D preforms by means of one side stitching techniques. Further optimization is needed to enable the processing of complex, integral structures. The consolidation of very complex preforms is possible using binding techniques. However, binding shows environmental drawbacks, mainly contamination due to organic volatiles and heating energy, which is needed for the binder activation. Thus, a need for improvement is clear.

For the environmental and economic improvement of the consolidation techniques new techniques will be developed based, on one hand, on novel 3D robotic stitching and, on the other hand, on the use of low temperature activation thermoplastic veils and ultrasonic binder. A demonstration phase will follow, consisting of the manufacturing of different scaled preforms representing skins, stringer and spars sections. Therefore, the braiding technology will also be used to manufacture integral and cost-effective parts. Impregnation tests will then be performed to evaluate the permeability of the obtained preforms. The objective is to be able to scale the techniques to automated serial manufacturing of big preforms (up to 8x3 m).

As agreed upon among the Topic Manager (IAI), the Coordinator (USTUTT) and the Consortium Partner (Tecnalia), May 1st has been chosen as a fixed starting date.