Airbus’s A350 uses a new composite welding process developed by University of Queensland PhD student, Luigi Vandi. (Airbus)
A University of Queensland PhD student has worked on a new process that allows carbon-epoxy composite materials to be welded by incorporating a thin layer of weldable material during the manufacturing process.
The process has been adopted by Airbus which is a partner in Co-Operative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures (CRC-ACS), and which developed and patented the ‘Thermoset Composite Welding’ technique for implementation in aircraft construction.
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“More than 50 per cent of the new Airbus A350XWB structure, including the fuselage and wings, is made from composite materials,” student Luigi Vandi said in a statement. “Composite materials have become the material of choice for modern aircraft structures. This new process can significantly reduce the assembly time for aircraft made from composite materials – and consequently the cost. Using this process, welding composite materials takes only 15 minutes, compared to a typical two-hour process for conventional adhesive bonding methods.”
Vandi’s work has seen him awarded the annual ‘Early Career Researchers’ showcase prize at the CRC Association Annual Conference ‘Innovating with Asia 2014’.
A breath of something good happening in Australian industry. I have always wondered when one reads of the success in Singapore, the U.S,. Canada, Italy and elsewhere, why global companies don’t set up reasonable long term industry here. We do have the talent but is it we have allowed too much of the” can’t be done mate” by bureaucrats; and allow trade union bovver boys, say to management and the suppliers of the capital,” Now mate this the way we will allow you to run your business”.
Captain
says:
Yes, I fully Agree.
I hope the Government can do somthing.
Brad
says:
10-to-1 this guy moves overseas in the next 5-10 years, and another loss of a brilliant and innovative mind to the nation that produced it. Such a shame.
iscover
John A gates
says:A breath of something good happening in Australian industry. I have always wondered when one reads of the success in Singapore, the U.S,. Canada, Italy and elsewhere, why global companies don’t set up reasonable long term industry here. We do have the talent but is it we have allowed too much of the” can’t be done mate” by bureaucrats; and allow trade union bovver boys, say to management and the suppliers of the capital,” Now mate this the way we will allow you to run your business”.
Captain
says:Yes, I fully Agree.
I hope the Government can do somthing.
Brad
says:10-to-1 this guy moves overseas in the next 5-10 years, and another loss of a brilliant and innovative mind to the nation that produced it. Such a shame.