Dresden-based herone has been declared a winner in the prestigious 2019 JEC Innovation Awards, in the Aerospace Application category.
The winning application was the company’s all-thermoplastic drive-shaft system overmoulded with an integral gear.
It holds enormous potential and serves as further evidence that Victrex has introduced the next dimension of thermoplastic composites for use in Aerospace based on its high-performing Victrex PAEK polymer solutions.
The driveshaft is formed from organoTubes, which are braided preforms made from fully consolidated thermoplastic UD tapes, in this case, Victrex AE 250 UDT, a carbon-fibre PAEK composite.
Daniel Barfuss, Managing Partner at herone, said: “We are extremely pleased to have won this JEC award which means so much to everyone working in the exciting field of composites.”
“The solution is a result of converging innovations, hollow profile technology and the hybrid overmoulding technique developed by Victrex. This is teamwork in action, together we are pushing the boundaries of composite technologies in aerospace.”
Frank Schemm, Aerospace Sales Team Leader at Victrex, said: “In the aerospace industry, cost and manufacturing throughput are the primary drivers for innovation.”
“herone and Victrex are together pioneering composite solutions for commercial aerospace that enable components to be manufactured faster, in higher part counts and with the potential for cost savings.”“Innovative consolidation techniques of thermoplastic materials differ considerably from metal or thermoset processing. Fully function design features can be integrated in fewer manufacturing steps.”
“We congratulate herone on this award for a composite solution that we are confident will see high market demand in a rapidly evolving industry. In particular, the strongly growing branch of electrical vertical take-off and landing vehicles, demand much higher production rates than classical legacy programmes.”