High-temperature, flame retardant, recyclable and low environmental footprint composite material for aerospace industry.

Project Information

C-PREG 400

Grant agreement ID: 101144824

DOI

10.3030/101144824

Project closed

EC signature date 25 January 2024

Start date 1 February 2024

End date 31 May 2026

Funded under

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Total cost

€ 3 508 625,00

EU contribution

€ 2 456 037,50

Coordinated by

NANO-TECH SPA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - C-PREG 400 (High-temperature, flame retardant, recyclable and low environmental footprint composite material for aerospace industry.)

Reporting period: 2024-02-01 to 2025-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In order to address the current challenges and limitations facing the aerospace equipment sector, Nano-Tech has developed a disruptive, industry first and patented prepreg that is heat and flame resistant and stable at high temperatures. This technology is already adopted as a composite material by most of the Formula 1 teams and by some supercar manufacturers. The project aims to bring this technology from F1 and supercars to civil aerospace, tackling most of the unsolved problems that this sector is facing. Within this project Nano-Tech will take the relevant certifications needed in order to operate in the aerospace sector, develop new materials in order to match the requirements of the sector and gain further knowledge in order to develop new inorganic based material for civil aerospace applications.

The intended end users of this technology are aerospace components manufacturers, who are responsible for producing equipment and parts applied in aircraft interiors and high-temperature environments. Nano-Tech will initially focus on addressing the secondary structures segment, which includes interior panels, doors, seats, luggage racks, and air ducts. This segment is characterized by a lighter certification process. Then, Nano-Tech will expand its focus to primary structure manufacturing, involving nacelles, high-temperature ducts, and the like.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the first 12 months the project foreseen the implementation of core technical activities with the aim to improve the technology developed so far and to find the product configurations that best fit the foreseen applications. Being the prepreg made of matrix and reinforcement the right combination of those two have to guarantee the fulfilment of the requirements set by our potential customers.
In particular we developed a new high Tg and flame resistant matrix leveraging our background know-how in order to fit the curing time and temperatures already used in the aerospace interior manufacturing business with the guarantee to exceed the FST (Fire and Smoke Toxicity) requirements. This development has led to the filing of a new patent in 2024.
Moreover we had to find what combination of fibres and how those affect the overall mechanical properties of the composite. With our potential customers we finally agreed on the most commonly used fibres, weave style and fabric areal weight already used in the manufacturing of interiors.
Thanks to the work done in WP3 we have started collaboration with important players in the aviation business with the aim to develop at least two demonstrators of our technology. The demonstrators will be fully developed and tested during 2025 reaching a TLR 4 to 5.
One demonstrator will be a composite battery case for an electric powered airplane, while the second will be a composite fire barrier. During the first 12 months Nano-Tech has conducted the official audit for the obtainment of the EN 9100 certification that will be officially granted between M13 and M14.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The new material developed has matched the aerospace requirements in terms of: time and temperature of processing, Fire and Smoke toxicity, Heat release rate and vertical flammability becoming a suitable candidate for the substitution of phenol based composites components in aeronautic interiors. The impact can be huge. Aircraft interiors can become safer for passengers in case of a fire event. Moreover the production of the components itself is safer if compared to phenol based composites one. Those objectives are matched without changing the production means and processes already used in the industry. Future tests will assess the degree of recyclability of the new material and the results could lead to a globally greener aircraft industry.
To have obtained the EN 9100 certification makes Nano-Tech eligible to become a supplier of primary aerospace companies. To further increase the capabilities of our quality management system we will apply also for NADCAP (National Aerospace and Defence Contractor Accreditation Program). Those certifications will further increase trust in Nano-Tech by our prospect customers. On the technical side we will work on extending the characterization of the final product configurations and with the testing of the demonstrators. The delivery of the demonstrators and the success of its testing will boost the adoption of our technology in the market. Nano-tech will also work on scaling up the production process lowering the product cost in order to be more aligned with what the market is able to pay.

C-PREG 400

Pre-Peg

Nanotech company