At this week’s Paris Air Show (June 17-22), Arkema and Hexcel are showcasing a PEKK/carbon thermoplastics component developed as part of the Helues project, funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs and supported by the German Aerospace Centre.

The complex structural component for an overwing emergency exit door has been produced using a one-step forming and injection overmoulding technology with HexPly unidirectional (UD) carbon fibre-reinforced Kepstan PEKK tapes and Kepstan PEKK injection moulding compounds. This integrated approach enables the rapid creation of a fully formed, structurally complex component, including reinforcing ribs and functional elements, in less than two minutes.

The demonstrator directly replaces a traditionally assembled door structure with a single, integrated part, reducing component count and assembly steps by up to 90%. Early-stage testing has confirmed excellent material bonding between the  moulded ribs and thermoformed laminates, even under complex process parameters.

Thermoplastics technology offers aerospace OEMs advantages in terms of dramatically shortened cycle times – from hours to minutes – greater design flexibility, weight savings and recyclability.

“The Helues demonstrator is a milestone in aerospace thermoplastic composites,” said Hexcel Aerospace Europe president Thierry Merlot. “By eliminating autoclaves and enabling functional integration in a single step, thermoplastics are opening the door to truly scalable aircraft production.”

With the commercial aviation sector preparing for a future defined by high-rate production and more automated, sustainable assembly lines, thermoplastics are gaining momentum as a material of choice. By reducing reliance on energy-intensive autoclaves and enabling robotic manufacturing processes, solutions like the Helues component demonstrate how composite innovation can unlock both performance and production scalability for the next generation of aircraft.

www.hexcel.com

www.arkema.com