A New JEC Innovations Award With Hexcel’s Support

Hexcel is pleased to announce its role as materials development partner for the Institut de Soudure Group’s winning JEC project - the Innovative Solutions for Welding (ISW) of Thermoplastic Composites.

ISW is a novel solution co-developed and patented by both the Institut de Soudure Group (IS Group) and Arkema, providing high-performance welding for thermoplastic composites. Hexcel congratulates the two companies that were announced as the winners of the Aeronautics Category at the JEC Innovations Awards ceremony yesterday.

Hexcel and strategic alliance partner Arkema provided high-performance carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (PEKK) materials for the high-quality welding targeted by the ISW process. ISW can also be applied to any other TP matrix (from PA to PAEK) and fibers such as glass or aramid.

Developed to meet challenging performance and cost targets for thermoplastic composites in high-rate primary aerostructures, the innovative ISW solution should allow weld joint performances of approximately 85% compared to the co-consolidated reference, without any remaining heat transfer material or strip at the weld line after the operation.

In 2019, initial evaluations of the ISW solution were carried out at major OEM project partners Stelia Aerospace and Latecoere. From 2020 forward, the focus will be on maturing the new technology and bringing it to qualification in specific aeronautics projects.