The research project : ARCHES 4.2

STELIA Aerospace has recently invested several million of euros in the R&T project “ARCHES BOX TP”(2015-2017) within the platform CORAC, the French Strategic Advisory Board for Civil Aviation Research. This project, focused on deployment of High Performance Composite based on thermoplastic matrix,  is both a technology challenge, thanks to a much lower level of maturity than thermoset matrix composite) and an economic issue  because its global  application on  fuselage for the next single aisle aircraft generation (Low Cost High Rate requirement)  must be more competitive than last generation of metallic technologies. STELIA Aerospace has decided to develop a full thermoplastic generic & typical airframe demonstrator (thin skin, stringers & frames) to allow a first internal evaluation  in an real industrial environment. Both owner and design authority’ for the project, STELIA Aerospace has manufactured the skin with Automatic Fiber placement ( AFP : TP/carbon slit tape and lightning strike protection) and Out of Autoclave consolidation. STELIA Aerospace has used its own  in-house R&T means located in STELIALAB (Méaulte, FR) where final integration of all elementary parts has been finalized. STELIA Aerospace has selected active French suppliers in thermoplastic composites to bring complementary  technology bricks  : dynamic robotic induction welding of TP stringers, fast stamping of stringers and frames and  hybrid TP structure by over‐molding short fiber and long fiber.