Victrex says that thermoplastic composites will be developed over the next few years to meet demand for over 35,000 new aircraft required within the next 20 years.
According to Victrex, thermoplastic composites offer multiple advantages, including very short production times and low overall costs, compared to their thermoset counterparts. A typical thermoplastic composite part can reduce the manufacturing time by 20-30% compared to metals or other polymer materials.
‘Victrex well positioned to help accelerate the conversion from thermosets to thermoplastics,’ said Jakob Sigurdsson, Victrex CEO. ‘The company is partnering with aerospace OEMs and research centers, in particular around its VICTREX AE 250 composites product family and related technology, enabling aircraft manufacturers to drive high throughput, while still meeting safety, quality and environmental requirements,’ he said in a press release.
‘Supply chain and capacity are important criteria for increasing the amount of thermoplastic composites in future aircraft programs,’ said Tim Herr, director aerospace at Victrex. ‘When using high-performance polymers, the initial costs for thermoplastic composites may be much higher. However, when we consider total costs, the equation immediately looks much different.’
This story uses material from Victrex, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
