Thermoplastic Composite High Rate Fuselage Manufacturing Demonstrator

Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., has designed and built a thermoplastic composite fuselage manufacturing demonstration article as part of the Hi-Rate Composites Manufacturing (HiCAM) project. Compared to previous demonstration articles, this one is larger (1.2 m x 2.6 m) and features additional complexity that will be present in the next commercial composite aircraft such as thickness tailoring and compound curvatures in the fuselage skin. Skin thickness ranges from 7 mm to 2.5 mm which is thicker than any existing demonstrators consolidated using vacuum bag only. All together this is a large structurally complex demonstration article being used to prove manufacturing readiness of several technologies including laser heated Automated Fiber Placement, Automated Stiffener Forming, stamp forming, Co-Fusion, and induction welding. In collaboration with HiCAM partner companies, comprehensive evaluation criteria were established as goals to demonstrate MRL 4. Evaluation criteria include dimensional requirements on: laminate thickness variation, feature position, and surface profile tolerances on interface surfaces. Additional evaluations include Non-Destructive Inspection, coupon mechanical testing, and photomicrographs to verify the internal composite laminate structure. The material is based upon work supported by NASA under award No 80NSSC22M0194, any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.