"Enhanced Ultrasonic Welding of Thermoplastic Composites"
Acronym: EnWeld
Funding body: Innovate UK
Status: Completed
Aerospace industry is going through a phase where there is an evolution towards lightweighting the aircrafts byusing light weight composite materials. This has huge financial and environmental implications for allstakeholders. There is an increasing need to develop techniques which can process these materials (joining,welding, etc.) at a similar rate to conventional metal components. A thorough feasibility study of ultrasonicwelding, the process variables involved and its suitability for commercialization will be done in this project. Theproject will also compare parts processed by ultrasonic welding to established manufacturing techniques.The key outcomes and understanding from this project will be fed into a larger industrialisation project whichwill assess the suitability, repeatability and mechanical properties of composite parts proceseed by usingultrasonic welding techniques.The UK aerospace industry and the entire supply chain can benefit fom the understanding of a clean, fast andreliable joining technique and this feasibility study is the first step towards achieving that goal.