Minister for Economic Affairs, Dr. Reinhold Mitterlehner, yesterday presented FACC AG with the nomination certificate for the National Prize for Innovation 2014. The company received this decoration for developing an integral wing box for aircraft using the new "MARI" (Membrane Assisted Resin Infusion) manufacturing process. A jury lined up FACC among the six most innovative companies in Austria.
"This new development represents a quantum leap in fiber composite technology. To have it recognized with this distinction is a great honor for our whole team and an acknowledgment of our intensive research efforts," says Walter A. Stephan, CEO of FACC AG, who accepted the award yesterday evening in the auditorium of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. "Innovations are an essential component in our success and a guarantee for FACC sustainably reinforcing its position of technological leadership. This ultimately serves to safeguard existing high-quality jobs and generate new ones at our domestic sites."
The National Innovation Prize is Austria's highest award for particularly innovative performance that meets the most exacting of demands in overall terms – microeconomic and macroeconomic, social and environmental. FACC was selected by a jury of experts as one of the six finalists for the award from a total of 510 projects that applied via provincial innovation competitions and of which 23 were nominated for the national prize.
Strong in research and innovation
In the sector of the lightweight composite components for international aviation FACC occupies a leading technological position. With investments at the amount of 20 % of the turnover in research and development as well as in the expansion of technology and infrastructure, the company fulfills this demand and secures its leading position in global competition. In cooperation with its customers and suppliers FACC develops tailor-made lightweight construction concepts and systems, which save on weight and fuel and increase efficiency in flight operations. In the frame of its research activities, in addition to international co-operations, FACC is also very intensely networked with research institutes on a national level and integrates a large number of domestic small and medium-size companies as suppliers, upstream businesses and service providers.
Manufacture of an integral wing box in „Out of Autoclave“ technology
The quintessence of the FACC innovation is a highly integral wing box for large aircraft that is manufactured entirely from carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFK) and using a newly developed infusion process. The advantages of this innovation are to be seen in considerable savings of costs, time and energy in the manufacturing process and improved product characteristics of the wing box. FACC is the first and only company anywhere in the world that has manufactured wing skins “in one shot” in combination with a newly developed infusion technology and without the use of an autoclave. As a result, the company occupies a pioneering technological position within the aviation industry and opens up for itself additional market opportunities in the field of primary structures – and that in the sector of fibre-reinforced plastic applications, a sector that is growing particularly strongly and has a particularly bright future.
MARI infusion process sets new standards
For the manufacturing of wing boxes from carbon fibres according to the current standard of technology, so-called “prepregs” (pre-impregnated fabrics) are taken, applied to a tool and cured in autoclaves by being subjected to high temperatures and pressures. Subsequently the reinforcement profiles (so called “stringers”), also made of CFRP and which have been cured separately, are positioned thereupon and connected mechanically using rivets, screws, etc.
The MARI infusion process developed and patented by FACC sets new standards in the integral construction method for primary structures of large-scale, complex geometry. The individual components are hereby no longer cured separately and then stuck or bolted together, but manufactured “in one shot”. In this new process the wing skin is assembled fully integral from dry semi-finished fibre components instead of prepregs together with their reinforcements, positioned in a tool and placed in a curing oven. After the entire component has been heated the resin, which has been treated likewise, is “sucked” through the component under vacuum.
The most significant advantage in the manufacturing of the wing box skins “in one shot” is to be seen in the fact that, thanks to the dispensing with the mechanical connecting elements such as screws or rivets, the weight of the component may be reduced significantly. This results in aircraft that are lighter and use less fuel. The concept of the wing box may be scaled down to any size and adapted to all sizes and types of aircraft. The new process also brings with it enormous cost saving potential in production. The usage of the curing ovens instead of the energy-intensive autoclaves for the curing of the components and the dispensing with the cooling process when storing the prepregs considerably reduce energy consumption.
About FACC
FACC AG is one of the world’s leading companies in the design, development and production of advanced fiber reinforced composite components and systems for the aviation industry. Their range of products reaches from structural components for the fuselage and wings to engine components to complete passenger cabins for commercial aircraft, business jets and helicopters. FACC is a supplier to all large aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer, Sukhoi, and COMAC as well as for engine manufacturers and sub-suppliers of manufacturers. In the 2012/13 business year FACC achieved an annual turnover of 433.9 million euros. The company employs a staff of around 2,600 employees in Austria.
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For additional information please contact:
Andrea Schachinger
Corporate Communication
Tel: ++43 (0) 59/616-1194
E-Mail: a.schachinger@facc.com