Proposal to include Hidria in FLEXCRASH project (101069674), which aims to develop a flexible and hybrid manufacturing technology based on applying surface patterns by additive manufacturing onto preformed parts. Aluminium alloys have been selected as the optimum material to build high performance structures, addressing both lightweight and environmental sustainability. They provide better recyclability, affordability (low CRM content), and costs than other material alternatives that would need complex developments for joining, recycling, and manufacturing. The property tailoring capacity offered by hybrid manufacturing will permit to develop a new type of crash-tolerant structures with outstanding performance under a wide range of impact angles and unexpected crash conditions. Structures will be defined according to the collision parameters identified by the different mixed traffic scenarios. Such tailored structures are the ideal solutions for dynamic active safety devices that allows displacement of crash structures to optimally face an imminent crash. Considering that the frontal crash is the most common (70%), a front-end structure has been chosen as demonstrator to validate the manufacturing developments, the modelling approach and the testing methodologies. The flexibility of the proposed technology will facilitate its transferability to other safety-related structures in vehicle’s locations with higher risk for passenger’s injuries while decreasing the number of materials and processes used to manufacture a crash structure. Simplify supply chain will turn into 20% manufacturing costs saving and reduce the risk of disruption. Virtual testing with improved reliability, validated by crash tests, will be used to propose new testing configurations, looking at the next step towards standardization. The application of Flexcrash solutions to the whole BiW offers a lightweighting potential up to 20% with improved safety (toward 50% less injuries and fatalities).

Validation at full size level of CFRP windows frame manufacturing process (Thermoplastic) and fabrication of 2 shipsets for Regional Aircraft Fuselage barrel on-ground demonstrators. Moreover, an industrial and cost evaluation based on a pre-defined production business case is requested including hypotheses of high volume automated solutions

The objective of the project is to develop new ways to implement quality validation of aircraft products in a more efficient manner, reducing non-recurring costs, reducing the need of man-hours and the involvement of manipulation by an human operator, reducing lead times and flexibility of the processes, through minimization of test means dependency trying to maximize the usage of the current Aircraft computers, and implementing new concepts for the automation of quality and validation tests on the aircraft, through artificial vision and robotic collaboration.

SMART-LAYUP activities described in the present proposal will contribute to develop and validate an advanced process of hybrid materials automated lay-up for manufacturing of regional aircraft composite fuselage which allows a significant reduction of the overall production costs and manufacturing flow. After a developmental phase to be performed at MTORRES site, the innovative process and related machine will be validated and costs assessed through the execution of dedicated lay-up tests and fabrication of fuselage demonstrators at Topic Manager plant.