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Cheaper, Lighter, Safer Composite Materials for Aircraft Interiors

Objective

The aim of the IntAir project is to refine the materials and upscale the manufacturing process for a new generation of aircraft interior composites that are cheaper, lighter and safer than the toxic, carcinogenic materials that are currently used.

To meet the strict fire and weight requirements for aircraft interiors, the current solution is to use a fire-resistant composite made of phenolic resin with glass fibre reinforcement. However:

- Phenolic parts are expensive due to long moulding times and need several hours of manual finishing.

- The poor surface finish means that filler is needed, adding to the component weight

- Phenolics have a poor health and safety footprint, as they emit toxic and carcinogenic materials during processing

As a direct substitute for phenolic, this project focusses on a composite using polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA), which gives cost, weight and safety benefits over phenolics:

- A 34% reduction in moulding cycle time, and a 70% reduction in manual finishing, giving a 58% cost reduction over phenolics

- PFA gives a significantly improved surface finish, reducing the use of filler by 70% and reducing average component weight by 4%

- PFA composites are non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, eliminating health & safety concerns from the workplace

Testing by prospective customers has shown that PFA composites can meet aircraft interior standards for mechanical and fire performance. However, the development has so far been limited to simple formulations on small-scale, prototype equipment which does not yet give the accuracy or scale needed.

The overall objective of this project is therefore to improve the processability, optimise the properties and upscale the production process of PFA composites for aircraft interiors. Addressing these 3 issues will enable significant improvements in part cost, component weight and worker safety compared to phenolics, and will allow the material to be commercialised on aircraft manufacturing programmes.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

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Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

IA - Innovation action

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-FTIPilot-2016

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Coordinator

COMPOSITES EVOLUTION LIMITED
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 825 562,50
Address
1A BROOM BUSINESS PARK, BRIDGE WAY
S41 9QG CHESTERFIELD
United Kingdom

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
East Midlands (England) Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire East Derbyshire
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 575 125,00

Participants (4)

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