Time to innovate the industry
The aviation market, and all related sectors (materials, maintenance), are of a highly technological nature. Certification is not possible without extensive fundamental research and industrial development.
By combining the best partners in the field of fundamental research (NLR, TU Delft) with industrial research and experimental development of business (Fokker Services, Specto + partners), we have developed a new innovation cluster. The DCMC Foundation was established to shape this central network, research and innovation facility. Our partnership is strongly committed to innovate the sector. We continuously develop innovation projects in the field of inspection of composite material and repair technologies, subdivided into six innovation tracks.
The importance of innovation in the field of composites repair
In the video, Bert Thuis (Technical Director at DCMC) talks about non-destructive inspection and repair, showcasing recent innovations as well as introducing the Development Center for Maintenance of Composites.
JOIN OUR INNOVATION TRACKS!
To maximize the impact of this hub, co-creation and collaboration is crucial. If you would like to collaborate with DCMC, participate in a project, use results or become a partner, please contact us.
Repair
Track 1: Bonded Repair of Primary Composite Structures
Composite repairs are difficult and time-consuming activities. There is no proper mapping what effect the repairs have on long term material quality. Our goal is to develop a certified composite repair method.
Inspection
Track 2: Nondestructive Research in Service
Composite material requires a very different method of NDT inspection than other materials used in the aviation sector. Our goal is to develop a reliable, fast and automated NDT scanning method for large surfaces.
Inspection
Track 3: Improved Rotor Track & Balancing
Before a repaired rotor blade is delivered to the customer, it must be properly balanced. In this track we develop an innovative helicopter rotor blade static testing facility, capable of measuring the properties of rotor blades.
Inspection
Track 4: Thick Walled Composite
Current inspection techniques encounter difficulties with detecting damage of thick-walled composite structures. In this project we monitor and detect relevant mechanisms to find failures in large infrastructural composite constructions.
Repair
Track 5: Field & Onsite Repair of Composite Structures
The exponential growth in the use of composite materials is leading to problems with regard to the repair of these materials. This project focuses on the automation of composite repairs, long-term quality assurance, shortening repair time and making repairs possible on site.
Repair
Track 6: Automated Laser Preparation
Nowadays, the manufacturing of aerospace composite structures is done in a high-tech production environment. But in case of damages to the composite structures, repair can only be done by manual repair processes. The project looks into the automation of the abrasion process.