Out-of-autoclavE SElf-heated tooliNg enabling temperature homogeneity and embedded graphene Sensors (ESENSE)

由于复合材料比金属材料轻量化的优势，航空航天领域对复合材料的需求不断增长，这为环保、经济高效的复合材料制造工艺的发展提供了新的动力。A350 XWB和波音777X使用复合材料的重量超过50%，后者拥有世界上最大的复合材料机翼。从历史上看，航空航天复合材料一直使用高压灭菌工艺制造。然而，极高的设备和运营成本、漫长的工艺周期以及无法进行过程中调整，导致需要开发更通用、成本更低的高压灭菌器外（OOA）制造路线。虽然OOA主要用于航空航天，但汽车，可再生能源和消费电子等部门正在采用这项技术，希望在时间和成本方面提高其工艺效率以及产品质量。对高效复合材料部件的持续需求使得自加热工具和过程中调整系统的发展以及强大的过程和服务监控势在必行。OOA提供了高效的热管理、低成本和对传统工艺进行过程中调整的能力。目前的自加热工具解决方案存在温度不均匀性和系统复杂性高的问题。此外，由于现有技术的复杂性和高成本，监测能力往往受到限制。这意味着开发能够承受加工条件的低成本非侵入式传感解决方案将大大提高复合材料的质量，充分发挥其潜力。因此，通过将OOA加工中有效的多区域自加热工具与在线过程和在用监控相结合，可以显著改善复合材料制造，以确保可靠的无缺陷制造。ESENSE项目旨在将智能复合材料制造路线推向市场，该路线包括自加热、多区域OOA复合材料工具，能够制造具有过程监控和全寿命传感功能的复合材料部件。ESENSE将是一个完全受控的加工工具，将最大限度地减少所需的能源预算，并提供无与伦比的质量保证。这将实现第一次正确的高效OOA工艺，有效地取代极其昂贵的高压灭菌器成型零件，并为现有的自加热模具解决方案提供更强大、更经济的替代方案。ESENSE的**独特卖点**在于：1。比传统高压灭菌器成本低45-55%。第一次正确，高质量和成本效益的OOA航空航天部件。通过嵌入式石墨烯墨水传感器，具有实时过程监控和非侵入式终身传感能力的无与伦比的零件质量保证。在整个复合材料固化加工周期中缩短20%的交货时间和节省15%的能源。

The growing demand for composite materials in aerospace due to lightweight advantages over their metallic counterparts has given a new impetus to the development of eco-friendly, cost-effective composite manufacturing processes. A350 XWB and Boeing 777X use more than 50% composites by weight, with the latter having the world's largest aircraft wings formed from composite materials.Historically, aerospace composites have been manufactured using autoclave processes. However, the extremely high equipment and operational costs, prolonged process cycles and inability to make in-process adjustments have led to the need for developing more versatile, less costly out-of-autoclave (OOA) manufacturing routes. While OOA is mostly used in aerospace, sectors such as automotive, renewable energy and consumer electronics are adopting this technology, hoping to improve the efficiency of their processes in terms of time and cost as well as the quality of their products.The continuous need for efficient composite parts renders the development of self-heated tools and in-process adjustment systems along with robust in-process and in-service monitoring imperative. OOA offers efficient thermal management, low cost and the ability to make in-process adjustments over conventional processes. Current self-heated tooling solutions suffer from temperature inhomogeneity and high system complexity. In addition, monitoring capabilities are often limited due to the complexity and high cost of currently available technologies. This implies that the development of low-cost non-intrusive sensing solutions able to withstand processing conditions would significantly enhance the quality of composite materials exploiting their full potential. Therefore, composite manufacturing can be significantly improved by combining effective multi-zone, self-heated tooling in OOA processing with an on-line process and in-service monitoring to ensure robust defect-free manufacturing.The ESENSE project aims to bring to market a smart composite manufacturing route comprising a self-heated, multi-zone OOA composite tooling capable of manufacturing composite parts with process monitoring and through-life sensing capabilities. ESENSE will be a fully controlled processing tool that will minimise the required energy budget and offer unparalleled quality assurance. This will enable first-time-right efficient OOA processes, effectively replacing the extremely costly autoclave moulded parts as well as offering a more robust and cost-effective alternative to existing self-heated tooling solutions.ESENSE's **Unique Selling Points** lie in:1. 45-55% less costly solution than traditional autoclaves.2. First-time-right, high-quality and cost-effective OOA aerospace parts.3. Unparalleled part quality assurance with real-time process monitoring and non-intrusive through-life sensing capabilities via embedded graphene ink sensors.4. 20% shorter lead times and 15% energy savings throughout the composite-curing processing cycle.