A project to improve the assembly of thermoplastic composites in aeronautics

 The SCRATCH project is a continuation of the SPECTRA project, which focused on welding thermoplastic composites for aeronautics. The objective is twofold: to increase production rates while reducing the assembly costs of composite components, a key challenge for the competitiveness of the aeronautics industry.

The project aims to develop a conduction welding solution for aerospace-grade thermoplastic composites. 2 industrial case studies have been selected, presenting complementary geometries and technical challenges.

The approach will consist of testing, evaluating and optimising this technology on these 2 configurations in order to better understand its potential and limitations.

The SCRATCH project will pursue several areas of development:

• Exploring the performance and limitations of the process according to the geometries studied,
• Implementing precise monitoring for better welding control,
• Optimising the management of clearances during assembly,
• Developing suitable tools based on advanced thermal simulations.

Towards widespread use of conduction welding for high-performance thermoplastic composites

The expected advances will pave the way for wider industrial integration of conduction welding for high-performance thermoplastic composite materials. In particular, they will enable new applications to be considered for complex parts requiring excellent mechanical strength.

The technological building blocks developed by the SPECTRA and SCRATCH projects will contribute to the deployment of this technology on new geometries, thereby strengthening innovation in the field of advanced materials.