Hexcel Exhibits Latest Composite Technologies at Seoul Airshow 2005

Hexcel is exhibiting at the Korea Aerospace and Defence Exhibition (Seoul, October 18th- 23rd) to promote its latest composite technologies for the aerospace industry and support its sales activities in the region.

On the stand Hexcel will be showcasing its range of composite materials – from carbon fibre and fibre-reinforcements, through to prepregs and honeycombs.

Hexcel will promote its latest core material, HexWeb HRH-36 which is a high performance non-metallic honeycomb core with improved thermal stability and smooth cell wall finish. It can be readily heat-formed to help produce complex components and offers similar mechanical properties to Korex core as well as comparable moisture pickup. It is offered in a wide range of densities, suitable for most composite sandwich applications.

Hexcel is also promoting HexPly M50, the new self-adhesive prepreg system for aircraft honeycomb sandwich parts. This self-adhesive prepreg bonds directly to the honeycomb, thereby eliminating the need for additional adhesive layers between the prepreg skin and the core. Hexcel state that weight savings of up to 10% are achievable by eliminating the adhesive film. Cost savings result not only from the reduced material count but also from the removal of adhesive lay-up operations. The use of HexPly M50 with carbon fabric reinforcements gives peel strengths equal to, or better than, sandwich panels with adhesive plies, as there is excellent fillet formation at typical resin content.

HexMC is Hexcel’s new high performance carbon fibre/epoxy moulding concept, designed for the press moulding of composite parts. Hexcel will display an aircraft window frame demonstrator part moulded in HexMC. Hexcel suggest that the high carbon fibre volume content combined with aerospace qualified epoxy resins opens up opportunities for more aerospace parts to be made from composites in lieu of metals. HexMC is suitable for large volume production of complex 3D high performance parts, allowing for thickness variations, sharp angles, ribs, stiffeners and co-moulded inserts.

Stand exhibits include an Airbus A380 door hinge arm manufactured by Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH using Hexcel’s HexForceTM G926 carbon fibre woven fabric and HexFlow RTM6 resin. The door hinge arm is manufactured using Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) technology. Manufacturing the part in composites brings joint benefits of weight reduction (each part weighs only 7.8Kg) and better thermal insulation of the aircraft interior. It results in greater comfort in the area close to the doors due to less heat loss. There are 16 door hinge arms on each A380 aircraft. Composite door hinges are already in use on other Airbus models for emergency doors.

The composite engine air intake duct for the Tiger helicopter will also be on display. This is manufactured by Daher Lhotellier Aerotechnologies using Hexcel’s new HexPly M42 prepreg with G939 carbon fibre reinforcement. HexPly M42 is a new self-adhesive and self-extinguishing prepreg. It is a high impact resistant, 180°C curing epoxy system that is self-adhesive on honeycomb and has a continuous service temperature of 120°C in wet conditions.

Publication Date: 14/10/2005

WWW Link: http://www.hexcel.com

WWW Link: http://www.seoulairshow.com

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