Prototypes developed by INEGI for the «cockpit of the future» are being tested in full scale

The challenge was launched by Airbus Defense and Space – how to produce lighter aircrafts, resistant to impact and noise, with high structural performance and electromagnetic compatibility? The answer came from the PASSARO consortium, which is made up of INEGI with 10 other entities, to develop new composite materials that meet these requirements.

To prove the applicability of the technologies developed by INEGI, the project now enters the test phase, in real scale and on the ground, of the representative prototypes.

One of these tests takes place in a cockpit structure, where the team will test the bird impact resistance on carbon panels with added graphene. For now, they anticipate that the solution will have a resistance equivalent to traditional solutions, but that it will allow an 8% reduction in the cockpit's weight.

At the same time, in the same cockpit structure, acoustic tests are being conducted. The objective is to know the effect of the thermo-acoustic insulation developed, which will cover the internal walls and floor panels. This solution, in turn, should contribute to reducing the noise inside the plane by around 5% and the weight of the structure by 4%.

As Ricardo Rocha, responsible for the project at INEGI, explains, "this work is another step in the path that aims to replace metallic components by composite components in aeronautical structures".

INEGI was in charge of developing new composite materials and their manufacturing processes, as well as evaluating the performance of the composite technologies developed, using computational models and experimental methods.

The PASSARO project - Capabilities for Innovative Structural and Functional Testing of Aerostructures is part of the AIRFRAME-ITD of the Clean Sky 2 Programme, and is co-financed under the Horizon 2020 program – Community Framework Program for Research & Innovation.