NCC demonstrates the potential to reclaim up to 80% of manufacturing waste up in aerospace with Fiber Patch Placement

UK’s National Composites Centre (NCC) has demonstrated in a case study that Fiber Patch Placement has the potential to reclaim up to 80% of dry fiber material from the earliest stages of aerospace manufacturing as alternative feedstock.

Background of NCC´s case study is a research program to explore improved manufacturing solutions for UK´s aviation industry regarding the viability of recycling dry carbon fiber manufacturing waste into feedstock for a secondary manufacturing process that can produce high performance components from shorter fiber material. Quite naturally, the researchers found FPP technology to be a great solution in that regard.

Cevotec supported the engineers of NCC in the first project phase by using our ARTIST STUDIO software to design the laminate for the demonstrator with the secondary feedstock patches sourced from cut-off waste during wing production.

While further research is ongoing, the NCC has already published a first case study on the potential that FPP presents for reclaiming manufacturing waste.

The case of using secondary feedback for FPP might sound familiar to our long-term newsletter subscribers. Indeed, in 2018 we have successfully demonstrated, together with Premium Aerotec, that AFP virgin tape left-overs (when changing tape spools) can be used as feedback to FPP. This development was honored with the JEC Innovation Award for sustainability. Read more about this story