Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCVThe joint project HEMERA, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy within the framework of the Aviation Research Program LuFo VII-1, aims at the development and validation of high-rate CFRP manufacturing processes for large, single-curved, and stringer-stiffened fuselage panels. The focus is on the prototypical manufacturing of these panels from thermoset CFRP. The overarching goal is to make fiber composite materials accessible for future high-rate production of more than 70 aircraft per month while achieving significant weight reduction potential. By the end of the project, the technological maturity of the processes is to be increased and their suitability for series production demonstrated.
HEMERA – High Rate Manufacturing Technologies for Single Curved Panels
Revolutionizing lightweight CFRP aerostructures
To achieve the ambitious climate goals in aviation, future aircraft generations must be built significantly lighter and manufactured in a more sustainable way. Existing manufacturing processes for large, stringer-stiffened fuselage shells require an optimization in terms of speed, costs, and energy-consumption for targeted production rates of over 70 aircraft per month. Conventional fiber composite construction methods do not currently fully exploit the lightweight potential of CFRP structures. There is a lack of industrialized, highly automated process chains that enable resource-efficient and low-tolerance manufacturing of CFRP panels within the required tact time.
High rate manufacturing technologies for single curved panels
The work within the consortium includes the following activities: Design Requirements, High-Rate Stringer Production, High-Rate Skin Production, and Test and Validation. The central key technologies are the development of a continuous stringer production process and innovative, convex lay-up tools (male moulds), which allow for the integration of the stringers already during skin lay-up at a high degree of automation. The technological feasibility, cost efficiency, and sustainability of the process chains will be validated through accompanying structural tests and the manufacturing of large components (validators).
Contributions of Fraunhofer Institutes
Within the joint project »HEMERA«, the participating institutes Fraunhofer IGCV and Fraunhofer IFAM focus on applied research of high-rate preforming technologies and shape-adaptable tools / foil support cores for continuous and release-agent-free production of stringer preforms. These preforms are subsequently used for integrated skin manufacturing and co-cured with the outer shell. Furthermore, the application of inline-capable and AI-supported quality assurance concepts for CFRP lightweight structures will be investigated. The processes and technology bricks to be developed, will be validated on laboratory scale by production of increasingly complex test samples. In collaboration with the project partners scalability and transfer to industrial application will be assessed.