INSCAPE (In situ manufactured carbon-thermoplast curved stiffened panel) main objective is to enhance the automated thermoplastic fiber placement process and machine to manufacture an in situ consolidated double-curved structure including in situ joining of stiffener and skin laminate. Taking the state-of-the-art into consideration, the proposed project will focus on using and enhancing the possibilities and advantages of automated thermoplastic Automated Fiber Placement (TP AFP) to create an efficient process to manufacture complex carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic aerospace structures. The sensitivity of the process leads to a mandatory 100% automation for reproducible, industrial production.

SWING project aims to develop a material/process/design solution for a shielding flap for hybrid laminar flow control on wings of large passenger aircraft. The project target is to develop an In Situ Consolidation thermoplastic process to outperform existing process in terms of structural and economic performance. Indeed, Hybrid Laminar Flow Concept will lead to more complexity in the structure of the wings and their accessories, and therefore an efficient process to manufacture flaps are needed to enable implementation of such system with an acceptable cost. From a technical point of view, several challenges stay on the development road : • Selection of a thermoplastic composite pre-impregnated tape that fulfil both the design, the process and the economic requirement. • Process parameter control strategy to guarantee in situ consolidation of composite with the nominal performance of the material for the targeted complex geometry • Efficiency of tape laying to match with the economic equation. Efficiency includes the maximum laying speed and the gestion of start and stop (loss of time, scraps…) • Assembly solution to create a closed wing section that include the ribs and possibly other reinforcement (for mechanical fastening, at trailing edge….). SWING aims at overcoming these challenges with significative achievement to allow the integration of the thermoplastic flap in demonstrator wings of hybrid laminar flow control. The Krueger flap develop inside the project will impact the CO2 emissions of the Large Passenger Aircraft demonstrator through two ways : by reducing the weight of the flap thus the fuel consumption and by allowing aerodynamics optimization.

ComMUnion enables productive and cost effective manufacturing of 3D metal/ Carbon Fibre Reinforced Thermoplastic (CFRT) multi-material components. ComMUnion will develop a novel solution combining tape placement of CFRTs with controlled laser-assisted heating in a multi-stage robot solution. High-speed laser texturing and cleaning will overcome the limitations of current joining technology to provide greatest performance joints. ComMUnion will rely on a robot-based approach enabling on-line inspection for layer-to-layer self-adjustment of the process. Moreover, tools for multi-scale modelling, parametric offline programming, quality diagnosis and decision support will be developed under a cognitive approach to ensure interoperability and usability. ComMUnion will address the following key innovations: - Texturing and cleaning based on high speed laser scanning for surface condition. - High-speed spatially resolved control of surface temperature profile. - Multi-scale metal/CFRP modelling, self-adaptive process control, and quality diagnosis based on multimodal active imaging. ComMUnion approach will decrease by 30% the consumption of titanium and boron steel, (costly alloys requiring critical materials). Besides, reinforcement of textured metallic surfaces with CFRT tapes will increase mechanical performance of multi-material components over 30% without cost increase. Manufacturing of two pilot-cases for automotive and aeronautics will demonstrate the scalability of the joining process. It will be possible trough a consortium with a strong involvement of industrial partners (73% of which 55% are SMEs). The outline of the business plan ensures the exploitation of the project results. With a target market of 2.000 companies and a fair estimate of 2% market penetration (5 years after the commercialization start), ComMUnion will result in 40M€/year incomes.