Non-comment comment on the NMA
Dr. Greg Hyslop, CTO of Boeing, was keynote speaker at SAMPE 2019 (Charlotte, N.C., U.S.) on Tuesday. He addressed materials, process and airspace management challenges that the aerospace industry faces (read here for CW's full report here on his message).
During Q&A, I asked Hyslop to comment on Boeing's New Midsize Aircraft (NMA, or 797). He replied, first, by saying that he could not comment as the plane has not yet been officially launched. Then, he began commenting on the NMA. He suggested first that the 2019 Paris Air Show (July 17-23, Paris, France) will be the location of Boeing's next announcement regarding NMA. He also said that Boeing wants to "build" the first 100 NMAs virtually, before beginning physical assembly, adding that the NMA plant "will be an amazing production facility."
This was echoed later in discussions, during SAMPE, with several companies involved in aerocomposites manufacturing. According sources, Boeing has plans to build a new greenfield facility in or near Seattle for NMA manufacture and assembly. Further, Boeing reportedly has been polling its supply chain monthly for capacity assessments, in anticipation of an NMA official launch.
Assuming the NMA comes to fruition, still unknown is where and how composites will be deployed on the aircraft. Signals from the aerocomposites community suggest that Boeing will favor established, reliable, proven, low-risk materials and processes. This means that major structures (wings, wing box, fuselage) will be fabricated from autoclave-cured thermoset prepregs using, mainly, automated fiber and tape placement processes. This is not to say that out-of-autoclave materials will not be deployed on the NMA. Thermoplastic composites, which are already replacing some primary thermoset composite parts — clips and brackets — on the 787, likely will be expanded into larger parts on the NMA, including channels, stiffeners and beams.
So, as Dr. Hyslop instructed during his keynote, “I suggest you go to the Paris Air Show.” CompositesWorld will be there and will keep you posted on what we learn. #aerospace #composites
COO at Kane Robotics-Aerospace Manufacturing focused | Composites Manufacturing SME | A&D Industry Advisor & Consultant
5yNo real surprises on the use of autoclaved cured thermosets for the primary wing and fuselage structures - especially considering the autoclave capacity at the Everett Wing Center. Thermoplastics will likely show up (and be limited in size) on any part that can fit into a heated hydraulic press so that matched metal mold tools can be used to "stamp" the parts. The use of very exciting and promising welding processes for joining parts "stamped" from matched mold tools is probably too aggressive for the 7K7 (i.e. the single aisle pressure bulkhead demonstrated by Premium Aerotec).