UK firm Advanced Composites Group (ACG) has scored an aerospace first with its industry-leading out-of-autoclave (OoA) technology.

Midlands-based ACG will be using its MTM44-1 prepreg in the manufacture of wing panels for the Airbus A350 XWB - the first use of OoA processing in commercial aircraft structure.

Manufacture is at the ramp-up stage; full production is expected to begin in late 2011.

Xavier Gambert, ACG Aerospace Sector manager, said MTM44-1 was extensively used in ALCAS, an EU-funded programme led by Airbus and Dassault Aviation to define design and technologies for low-cost aircraft structures.

ACG, part of the Midlands-based Umeco group, is a leader in OoA aerospace structural materials, many of which it is promoting at Paris. Its prepreg systems are widely used in the USA and Europe for the manufacture of structural components in unmanned air vehicles, general aviation and military aircraft.

ACG also manufactures a wide range of aircraft interior prepreg materials qualified to the specifications of Airbus and other major OEMs. The company's prepreg range includes epoxy, phenolic, and bismaleimide resin systems supplied in a number of different formats and fibre reinforcements, such as carbon, Aramid, E, R and S-glass.

Source: Flight Daily News

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