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| Wingbox demonstrator manufactured using iCOMAT’s Rapid Tape Shearing (RTS) process and Solvay’s CYCOM® EP2190 unidirectional prepreg |
Solvay is partnering with Bristol, UK based start-up iCOMAT who has developed Rapid Tape Shearing (RTS), a truly disruptive material deposition technology that will revolutionize the design and manufacture of composite parts, answering the industry’s need for lighter and more cost efficient composite structures.
RTS is the world’s first industrial manufacturing process that enables defect-free steering of wide composite tapes, enabling precise tailoring of the fiber orientation at any point of a composite material part and providing unprecedented levels of structural efficiency. This means less material deposited enabling lighter and more cost effective parts than ever before.
Steering makes it possible to control fiber orientation during forming, reducing forming-induced defects and improving structural performance. By combining RTS-made steered blanks with Solvay’s Double Diaphragm Forming (DDF) technology and rapid curing prepregs, reduced part weight and takt time can be achieved, providing the composite industry with solutions to achieving high volume part production.
Solvay and iCOMAT will work together to accelerate RTS’ commercial exploitation using a new RTS pilot manufacturing cell to be operational in 2024 at Solvay’s Composite Material Application Center in Heanor, UK.
