BERCELLA, Italian SME with established expertise in composites for advanced applications, has identified in the induction heating a breakthrough enabling technology to welding, shaping and fibre placement of composites coupled with Non Destructive Inspection. Innovative ranges of thermoplastic reinforced carbon fibre composites will be the subject of the project, unlocking new products, and revolutionising the sector. The process is established through cooperation with the research centre CETMA, granting to BERCELLA the access to the relevant know-how in the field of induction welding, developed through years of research and laboratory practice, and protected by patents. The objectives: Technological Feasibility, Market Assessment, Business Models and Plans, are addressed through a structured approach. Barriers to the implementation will be identified and overcome, permitting to identify a complete roadmap towards the industrial shop-floor and the market approach. Innovative range of products can be manufactured thanks to the innovative process, control and adaptation of the induction equipment to a range of materials that can be extended via a continuous process of industrialization, stimulated by the quality and competitiveness of the results. The basis for a successful Phase 2 project are set in accordance to the results of the present Feasibility Study, for the industrial and market acceptance of induction as a one-stop process for sustainable, automated composites manufacturing.

The aim of the IntAir project is to refine the materials and upscale the manufacturing process for a new generation of aircraft interior composites that are cheaper, lighter and safer than the toxic, carcinogenic materials that are currently used. To meet the strict fire and weight requirements for aircraft interiors, the current solution is to use a fire-resistant composite made of phenolic resin with glass fibre reinforcement. However: - Phenolic parts are expensive due to long moulding times and need several hours of manual finishing. - The poor surface finish means that filler is needed, adding to the component weight - Phenolics have a poor health and safety footprint, as they emit toxic and carcinogenic materials during processing As a direct substitute for phenolic, this project focusses on a composite using polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA), which gives cost, weight and safety benefits over phenolics: - A 34% reduction in moulding cycle time, and a 70% reduction in manual finishing, giving a 58% cost reduction over phenolics - PFA gives a significantly improved surface finish, reducing the use of filler by 70% and reducing average component weight by 4% - PFA composites are non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, eliminating health & safety concerns from the workplace Testing by prospective customers has shown that PFA composites can meet aircraft interior standards for mechanical and fire performance. However, the development has so far been limited to simple formulations on small-scale, prototype equipment which does not yet give the accuracy or scale needed. The overall objective of this project is therefore to improve the processability, optimise the properties and upscale the production process of PFA composites for aircraft interiors. Addressing these 3 issues will enable significant improvements in part cost, component weight and worker safety compared to phenolics, and will allow the material to be commercialised on aircraft manufacturing programmes.

The rail sector has recently seen only limited changes in running gear.The rail sector has recently seen only limited changes in running gear. A reason is that innovations have the tendency to increase the first cost of the running gear while they reduce the LCC by reduce maintenance costs. The long-term cost reduction, however, is not easy to quantify. This dilemma will be addressed in WP1 where an updated Universal Cost Model based on the one from the Roll2Rail project will be developed that makes it possible to judge the economic impact of the innovation suggested for an operator using the vehicle. How can the costs for buying, operating and maintaining the vehicle be influenced? Lower bogie weight would reduce wheel-rail forces and allow for higher payload. In WP2, the project is going to suggest ideas that are based both on the use of new materials and new manufacturing methods. Simulation techniques will be explored to allow optimisation of designs. It will be investigated whether required properties of the running gear such as stiffness and damping could be distributed through the structure rather than requiring specific components. In parallel, active control strategies will be investigated to improve the level of ride comfort or reduce wheel and rail damage. The wheelset is another extremely important and safety-critical component in a rail vehicle. Since it represents a so-called “unsuspended mass” there is a desire to minimize the wheelset weight. The main objective of WP3 is a feasibility study on the use of composite materials for the construction of railway wheelsets. Technology concepts for a lightweight wheelset will be defined. Main focus areas are material selection, durability, manufacturing process and joining methods. The output of this project will be important input for the parallel member project in IP1 both regarding the Cost Model and the technical innovations. There will also be a contribution to the overall S2R KPI’s and partly IP3.