Digital twins for more sustainable and safer aeronautical components

CIDETEC Surface Engineering’s experience with 3R composites will enable the development of an eco-efficient manufacturing strategy.

CIDETEC Surface Engineering has been developing 3R (reprocessable, repairable and recyclable) technology for almost a decade. This composite’s high performance makes it suitable for a sector with high requirements such as the aeronautical sector, where it is essential to certify production standards. Given the complexity of integrating the different components that make up the manufacturing process, technology becomes a good ally.

The GENEX project will develop a new comprehensive digital-twin framework based on improved computational models, incorporating interdisciplinary knowledge of aircraft components with manufacturing and repair processes. The aim of this project is to obtain the optimised production of composite parts, enable continuous aircraft operation and improve composite repair processes to ensure safety.

A new digital-twin framework will be implemented on a common IIoT platform integrating the models developed and data acquired, providing a bi-directional data flow and enabling the implementation of a holistic and global data management methodology to create, capture, share and re-use the acquired knowledge appropriately throughout the aircrafts’ lifecycle.

CIDETEC’s Polymers and Composites unit will work on the GENEX project with the aim of using its own proprietary 3R technology to develop a new thermosetting resin (called 3R resin) with customised Tg. This resin, with integrated fibre-optic sensors (FOS), will be used in advanced impregnation processes for the manufacture of carbon-fibre-reinforced composite tapes. This development will enable a manufacturing strategy to support the eco-efficient manufacture of new composite-based parts for the aeronautics sector.

The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program under Grant Agreement Nº 101056822.