Stelia Aerospace Composites has bought a new Cincinnati Charger (
www.fivesgroup.com) Small Flat Tape Layer (SFTL), which will soon be shipped to the company’s plant in Salaunes, France.
It will be used for the lay-up of composite components for Airbus, and it is one of three recently sold to European Airbus suppliers. Steve Albers, composites product manager for Fives Cincinnati, said: “The Cincinnati SFTL has enjoyed wide appeal in Europe because of its compact size, productivity and wide range of capabilities, despite strong competition in that region.”
The Cincinnati SFTL is a bed-type machine that features a simplified yet versatile tape head and an integral vacuum lay-up table. The SFTL platform has been designed for the production of long, narrow, flat parts such as spars, stringers, beams, flaps and skins. It is designed and built using proven modules and technologies from larger Cincinnati tape layers (the most widely used tape layers in the aerospace industry).
Offered in two models, the Cincinnati SFTL produces laminates up to 1.4m wide on the standard machine, and 3.2m on the wide version. Moreover, either model can be configured with additional bed and vacuum table modules to
increase the maximum laminate length in 1m increments to optimise the machine size for the customer’s facility.
Both models fit easily into low bays and can be installed on a flat floor without special foundations.Mr Albers says the new-generation tape head on the Charger SFTL is designed for laminating and compacting layers of carbon/epoxy tape. It allows for the fast and simple side loading of tape rolls up to 300mm wide and 650mm in diameter with a minimum of change-over time. The head also features tape-flaw detection, an integrated ultrasonic laminate cutter, and laser trace inspection.
Meanwhile, it has been announced that Thyssen Krupp Aerospace and Airbus subsidiary Stelia Aerospace will be continuing their close co-operation; over the next six years, Thyssen Krupp Aerospace will handle the complete supply chain management for aluminium products for Stelia’s locations in France and Tunisia.
This will encompass planning, materials processing and just-in-time deliveries. The company will also supply Stelia’s sub-contractors.