- 5 February 2007 -
Northrop Grumman tests processing techniques
US DEFENCE AND TECHNOLOGY company Northrop Grumman Corp is collaborating with the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing (NCAM) to develop and test new ways of producing large composite structures. The new processes could be employed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to create future space transportation systems.
The joint project was started in late December with a series of composite processing trials at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The trials used an automated fibre placement machine to characterise and evaluate the relationships between the physical and mechanical properties of laminates and a number of fibre placement and processing approaches.
The aim of the tests was to identify processing techniques to optimise the composites’ high performance properties and make them easier to form into very large structures. The results from the trials will provide the basis for a more extensive composites demonstration and test programme being planned for 2007.
“The research we’re doing to mature advanced fibre placement technologies is an important step in addressing unique manufacturing challenges related to space exploration,” says Bruce Brailsford, NCAM’s executive director.
NCAM is a partnership made up of NASA, the State of Lousiana Department of Economic Development, and the University of New Orleans that addresses the manufacturing requirements of space transportation systems.
Northrop Grumman Corp; www.northropgrumman.com
National Center for Advanced Manufacturing; http://ed.msfc.nasa.gov/ncam
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