Daher applies expertise in thermoplastic composites with production of aircraft wing rib for flight testing

Daher has designed and built its first-ever thermoplastic composite wing rib, applying the company’s expertise with this technology for increasingly complex airframe components produced – offering aircraft manufacturers lightweight solutions that are alternative, or complementary, to metallic and more traditional thermoset composite parts. The thermoplastic composite rib, to be displayed for the first time at this month’s Paris Air Show, is sized for a business jet and will be incorporated in a test wing box constructed during 2018 as part of the Composite Aircraft of the Future platform led by the French Civil Aviation Research Council (CORAC). Daher has focused on innovation since the company’s inception and continues to enhance its expertise in the design, industrialization and manufacture of thermoplastic parts for the aerospace industry. This includes the filing of patents and the development of design and technology capabilities that allow it to create complex parts and offer different materials that can reduce production costs. In addition to their lighter weight, parts made from thermoplastic composites are more resilient and provide recycling potential not possible with other materials.