Airplanes

Efficient Production and Lower Maintenance Costs

Faced with new challenges in production and maintenance costs every year, the airplane industry continuously explores new and efficient solutions. Evonik’s high-performance lightweight airplane foam core ROHACELL® provides advantages that deliver both savings and efficiency – and with its ease of use in automated production, it may well be the airplane foam of the future.

Replacing conventional metal structures with carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) with a structural foam core, like ROHACELL®, has been a trend in airplane engineering for years. In high-performance composites, sandwich structure designs are a preferred choice for lightweight, yet strong and stiff components. Selection of the optimal sandwich design is usually based on the different conditions associated with load-bearing capacity, production and component parameters.

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ROHACELL®: Process reliability and cost-effectiveness

ROHACELL® HERO airplane foam was qualified by AIRBUS under AIMS 04-11-011 & ABS5955 for airplane structural parts.

Close-up of a brown corrugated material with a white foam core on a reflective surface.

Replace conventional metal structures with carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) with a structural foam core, like ROHACELL®.

Close-up of a textured, interlocking foam piece with a curved notch for connection.

Ready-to-use foam core shapes with puzzle connections can be supplied by our Shapes Department.

ROHACELL® HERO Airplane
Structural Foam Core
Ready-To-Use Foam Core Shapes

Let Our Shaping Experts Produce and Deliver Custom Air Taxi Foam Shapes

Reduce waste expense and risk of damage that can occur during your in-house shaping step, plus also lower inventory costs by requesting just-in-time delivery to meet your production schedule. Our Shapes Department is equipped with high-tech tools and trained experts who ensure your shaped parts are inspected and shipped per your specifications.

Close-up of a milling machine cutting a white material with dust particles dispersing.

Efficient Composite Manufacturing for Aircraft Applications

Use of composites in airplanes is steadily gaining in popularity, but with increasing build rates becoming the norm, composite part manufacturers are now challenged with finding new ways to produce higher part volumes. Automated production with sandwich design is an excellent combination to reduce steps and save costs.

ROHACELL® structural airplane foam core provides multiple advantages in automated production. Its natural core stiffness makes it easy for a vacuum supported robotic arm to transfer and position a foam core shape smoothly, quickly and precisely every time.

In January 2017, ROHACELL® HERO airplane foam was qualified by AIRBUS under AIMS 04-11-011 and ABS5955 standard for airplane structural parts.

This opens up new opportunities for AIRBUS, Tier 1 and other aircraft manufacturers to design innovative sandwich composite airplane components that are lightweight, mechanically strong and efficient to produce, regardless of geometric dimension.

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ROHACELL® HERO Qualified by Airbus for Aircraft Structural Parts

To fulfill airplane service and production process requirements we create specifications in close cooperation with our customers. Thanks to our Quality Management system according to AS/EN/JISQ 9100, we have established controlled production steps for foam production. We guarantee with a certificate that our material meets specified properties.

Let our team of experts support you with FEM calculation, airplane foam product and density selection, and how our products can fit within your production parameters. The Performance Foams Sandwich Technology Center (Darmstadt, Germany, and Shanghai, China) and our Shapes Production Departments (Darmstadt, Germany and Mobile, Alabama, USA) offer quick turnaround on prototype and production ready-to-use shaped cores.

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Discuss manufacturing requirements, material selection, and aerospace application challenges with our experts.

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