Teijin Limited announced that its carbon fiber materials Tenax Dry Reinforcements (DR) will be used for the wing spoilers of Airbus A320neo.
The highly automated Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) process developed by Spirit AeroSystems Inc, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of aircraft structural components, will incorporate Tenax Dry Reinforcements Non-Crimp Fabrics (DRNF) and Tenax Braided Fibers (DRBF) to form skins and stiffeners while maintaining existing product interfaces, allowing direct replacement of all final spoiler components.
Tenax DRNF and Tenax DRBF have been developed for resin infusion and resin transfer molding processes, which can offer higher productivity and component integration than conventional autoclave molding.
Tenax DRNF is made of bundled carbon fiber filaments which spread out in one direction in multiple layers and different angles, depending on the structural requirements of the final component. The fabrics have excellent fiber orientation that achieves better mechanical properties than conventional woven fabrics, as well as properties equivalent to aerospace-grade thermosetting unidirectional prepreg. Tenax DRBF are applied within the spoiler component structure to act as cavity fillers, and these materials have been qualified individually by Airbus specifically for this application.
The combination of Tenax DRNF and Tenax DRBF reaches the Spirit AeroSystems criteria for aircraft component production, such as effective process ability, productivity and cost efficiency. A320neo spoiler components will be manufactured at the new high-volume production facility of Spirit AeroSystems in Prestwick, Scotland.
Teijin is intensively accelerating development of mid- to downstream applications for aircraft, such as cost-effective carbon fibers with higher tenacity and higher tensile modulus intermediate materials, including Tenax Dry Reinforcement carbon fiber materials, carbon fiber thermoplastic unidirectional pre-impregnated tape (Tenax TPUD), carbon fiber thermoplastic consolidated laminate (Tenax TPCL) and thermoset prepreg. The company intends to further strengthen its carbon fiber and intermediate material business as a leading solution provider for aircraft applications, targeting annual sales in this field in excess of US$900 million by around 2030.