A conceptual layout of bonding jig have been developed and agreed with Topic manager. Necessary ancillary equipments (vacuum cup, pneumatic Cylinders, enflatable tubes) have been defined and procured or fabricated. Then calibration and set up of different devices have been performed on test bench, Finally a subscale jig suitable to bond a subscale wing box provided by Topic manager, has been designed and fabricated.
Using this jig after a series of simulated bonding necessary to set up all the relevant parameters, the subscale box has been bonded. In this phase fiber optic sensor for structural Health Monitoring have been embedded in the bond line in support of a task of OPTICOM project also if this was not included in the WIBOND gap.
After dimensional inspection the subscale box will be structurally tested and then returned to IAI for final.
In parallel full scale jig design is progressing.