Genesis of your product. why and for whom?

AEC developed a Composite Vertical Tail Plane fitting, partnering with AERNNOVA, to demonstrate a hybrid 3D woven and NCF carbon fiber preform in a highly loaded joint for aerospace applications. This fitting was developed for a fully composite rear fuselage for commercial aircraft.

Benefits for the final customers?

The application enabled a fully composite rear fuselage. This system provides a significant weight reduction compared to a metallic baseline design. The use of composites in this application will also reduce end-user life cycle costs with fewer maintenance and inspection costs.

The product : materials and processes

AEC fabricated the VTP fitting using a combination of carbon fiber 3D woven preforms and non-crimp fabrics in conjunction with a resin transfer molding process using epoxy resin. The 3D woven/NCF preforms were designed and manufactured by AEC utilizing their proprietary 3DCS design suite and weaving systems to allow a unique multi-material integrated structure.