Project SPARTA

About the project

In the aerospace industry the reinforced composite materials are more and more demanded, where the end-of life (EoL) of the final product aspect is very debated point nowadays. The thermoplastic materials play a key role because of their recycle properties. This fact can bring about a challenge to design recycling techniques to extend the EoL of the reinforced composite parts. However, any of this current recycling methods can recover by 80% of the thermoplastic (TP)fibre and ensure the acceptable mechanical properties of the rCF(recycled carbon fibre). The project will provide a solution by developing a recycling method for the key process steps: scrapping by cutting mechanic, automatic deposition and compression moulding manufacturing. The selection of the most suitable recycling process will be based on the previous studies performed by the partners and a comparison with the state of the art of the TP recycling techniques. Then, the scrap material obtained in UD tape format(50x6.0.15mm3)will be deposited automatically with a robot collaborative resulting a preform panel which will be manufactured by compression moulding means. The automation advantage will allow to reduce the labour cost and the manual defects. The estimated cost per kilo of the scraped material will be 0.37€/kg, a very competitive cost for a real alternative to a high cost material(> 30€/kg).

The consortium consists of all key players that will play a future role in the recycling and manufacturing of TP rCF composites. AIMPLAS will play a leading role in the consortium as far as the recycling methods in thermoplastic composites is concerned. This knowledge will be complemented by TEKNIKER with a vast experience in experience in the design and manufacturing of special cutting tools. The project will conclude with the environmental and economical LCA analysis of the innovative process proposed and an eco-design guideline of recommendations for the scalability of the process in an industrial level.

Objectives

The technical objectives of SPARTA project are the following:

Objective 1. To achieve a scrap curvature lower than 10º that allows the easy desposition of the tape in the mould and futher manufacture the recycled TP carbon fiber reinforced by compression moulding.

A commercial CAE software will be used to simulate the effect of the tape deformation in the final properties of the compression moulding parts, based on previous studies at lab test experiments with a microtome decives. The ultimate goal of the process is to get flat scraps, this is, zero curvature. However, the generated scrap is likely to be curved in a certain amount.

Objective 2. To design and manufacturing a cutting tool capable of generate chips of 50x6x0.15 mm3 with a difference in dimensions lower than 5% under the curvature threshold defined.

The cutting process based on a linear relative movement between a tailor-made tool and the workpiece is likely to generate curved chip/scrap. Therefore, one of the biggest challenges for the tool development will lay on the cutter microgeometry design based on FEM simulation and experimental tests. The iterative designing process will finish when this objective is achieved.

Objective 3. To design a cutting tool capable to produce up to 32 kg/h of chopped tapes and with an energy consumption lower than 0,35 kWh/kg of chopped tapes

Using a pilot plant for recycling TP rCF, where only one tool (1 cutting edge) is used to obtain the scrap, 32 kg/h of scrap could be generated, although it can be easily scaled up in order to get up to 150 kg/h (~ 975 t/year). In a cutting process, the power necessary to remove material depends on the tool geometry and mechanical properties of the work material. In this project a maximum energy consumption of 0,35 kWh/kg is considered and the effort in tool designs will be directed to reduce the cutting power required for cutting TP rCF, having to reach a compromise between tool strength, tool wear and cutting power

Objective 4. Cutting tool with a OPEX and CAPEX no more than 130% of current mechanical grinding processes.

The cost of a cutting tool lays mainly on the substrate material, wear behaviour and tool manufacturing. In SPARTA project, tungsten carbide or High Speed Steel (HSS) are considered as a substrate. Manufacturing costs in the case of tools made of HSS are lower than those of tools made in tungsten carbide. Therefore, wear behaviour of the tailor-made tools must be analysed and maximise the efficiency of the tool performance in order to reduce the OPEX and CAPEX as much as possible.

Objective 5. To develop a quality process deposition of the UD tapes in order to produce a stable panel and reduce the manual work about 20% per composite part production

An automatic system deposition of the UD tapes will be developed with a collaborative robot. This fact will allow to control the tapes orientation and thickness of the panel manufactured which will make possible to design a pattern model of multi-layers that can be recorded. Defectology on the panel such as fuzzball, twisted tape and gaps can be avoided.

Objective 6. To update the database of CleanSky 2 ECO Transverse Activity (TA)

LCA data will be collected along the project execution considering environment and economical aspects with the aim of not only updating the CleanSky 2 ECO TA but also providing added value to the composite industry.

Objective 7. To produce a procedure and an eco-design guideline of the SPARTA recycling process suitable for an industrial level

With the purpose of a replicability of SPARTA concept in an industrial environment, at the end of the project a summary of the new resulting methodology will be described in an eco-design guideline which will include:

process parameters of the scrapping process as well as the manufacturing of the new TP composite part with the chopped material
lesson learnt & recommendation for a scalability of SPARTA in an industrial level
study of other applications for parts manufactured from scrap material.

The SPARTA project is committed with the H2020 challenges developing a more efficient manufacturing process respectful with the environment by means of decreasing the environmental impact and cost during the production of the aircraft parts. The main enocnomic, strategic, environmental progress resulting form SPARTA the to meet the objectives of the project are listed the following table:

Area	Driver	Objective
REDUCING COST	Develop a suitable scrapping process. The investigation of new methods of scrapping to improve the current management of thermoplastic structures reinforced with carbon fibre at the end of the product life, will contribute in the future air transport to considerably reduce the environmental impact of all operations related to aviation systems: virgin material production, composite manufacturing and recycling. The use of an appropriate tool for TPC (Thermoplastic Composite) scrapping can ensure the size of the scrap tape curvature of the fibre in order to fit similar mechanical properties to the original fibre.	Turn worthless scrap material into valuable raw material
	Reused raw material suitable for compression moulding at an affordable price. TPC scrapping is cheaper than virgin raw material production for TPC manufacturing. A kilogram of recycled carbon fibre is valued at around US$ 15 while the price of virgin carbon fibre is US$ 24-305 making the recycling of the carbon fibre a real necessity. What is more, Airbus TIER 1 has set a target of recycling of tis carbon fibre waste by 2020-25, with 5% recycled back to the aerospace sector. Therefore, recycling initiatives will have a greater role in the upcoming composite market under a responsible use of natural resources.	Increase the demand of reused raw material
	Recover the waste parts generated during the TPC manufacturing process in order to produce the kg of scrap necessary to introduce it again into the production line.	No need of raw material adquisition
ECO-DESIGN	Due to the use of the scrapped material, some design concepts such as the fibre/volume content, the size/weight and flake distribution need to be measured and optimised in order to ensure the mechanical properties of the new high quality composite parts.	Re-design of composite part to achieve similar properties to the virgin ones
ECO-DESIGN	The integration of the improved environmental aspects in the manufacturing processes of aviation, through the reduction of waste material, the reduction of emissions, the reduction of consumption of primary resources and the increase in recycling rates.
EFFICIENT MANUFAC-TURING	The complete characterization of the scrapped material will allow to optimize the recycling technique to products suitable for use in the compression moulding process manufacturing.	Optimization of the recycling techinique
	The use of a colaborative robot will allow to remove the manual deposition operations and make sure that a defect-free preform is transferred to the compression moulding process.	Optimization of the tapes deposition
	An online temperature control system through sensors of the compression moulding process will allow to optimize the cycle time providing a high quality composite part.	Optimization of the compression moulding cycle
	Reduction of energy consumption because of the number of steps and time in the scrap obtaining.	Reduction of energy consumption
TIME TO MARKET	The use of scrapping material will allow to reduce the time to market of new aviation products due to the fact that: 1) the dependence of the availability (considerable delivery times and storage capacity) and the price fluctuations of virgin raw materials suppliers (a few companies around the word) and 2) the compression moulding process has a fast processing time .	Reduce the production time due to material availability at unchanged price
QUALITY	Design a suitable scrapping tool to obtain in an automatic way small 0.15mm thick tapes to enable the correct and automatic positioning of the UD tapes on the mould to achieve comparable properties than the ones obtained using virgin materials.	TP composites parts with similar properties to virgin ones

Results

Consortium

AIMPLAS

València Parc Tecnològic Calle Gustave Eiffel, 4 46980 Paterna Valencia, ESPAÑA

https://www.aimplas.es

Project

About the project

Objectives

REDUCING COST

ECO-DESIGN

EFFICIENT MANUFAC-TURING

TIME TO MARKET

QUALITY

Results

Consortium

AIMPLAS

Tekniker

Gallery

SPARTA at media

*** ERROR al conectar con la base de datos... :((

Project

About the project

Objectives

Main objective at SPARTA

REDUCING COST

ECO-DESIGN

EFFICIENT MANUFAC-TURING

TIME TO MARKET

QUALITY

Results

Consortium

AIMPLAS

Tekniker

Gallery

SPARTA at media

*** ERROR al conectar con la base de datos... :((