HELUES Project Showcases Breakthrough in Thermoplastic Composites, Reshaping the Future of Aircraft Manufacturing

With the surging global demand for efficient and scalable aircraft manufacturing—especially for single-aisle passenger jets—Hexcel and its HELUES project partners are helping original equipment manufacturers address key production challenges through innovations in new materials and processes. Arkema and Hexcel will jointly pioneer novel manufacturing processes for high-temperature thermoplastic materials.

The core of HELUES technology is the one-step molding injection overmolding process, which combines Hexcel's HexPly® unidirectional carbon fiber-reinforced Kepstan® PEKK prepreg tape with Kepstan® PEKK injection molding composites. This integrated solution can rapidly produce integrated complex structural parts with ribs and functional elements within two minutes.

Thermoplastic technology offers three major advantages to aerospace manufacturers: production cycles are reduced from hours to minutes, meeting the target of producing 80-100 aircraft per month; with the reshaping and welding properties of thermoplastic materials, it allows for greater design freedom and weight reduction; it enhances sustainability and recyclability, as the materials can be reprocessed and reused.

The HELUES demonstration piece replaces the traditional assembled door structure with a single integrated component, reducing the number of parts and assembly steps by up to 90%. Initial tests have confirmed that the injection-molded ribs and thermoformed laminated panels exhibit excellent bonding strength, fully meeting the stringent requirements of aerospace operating conditions.

As commercial aviation shifts toward high-speed production and automated, sustainable assembly lines, thermoplastic materials are becoming the preferred choice. By reducing reliance on energy-intensive autoclaves and enabling robotic manufacturing, innovative solutions like HELUES components demonstrate how composites can simultaneously enhance aircraft performance and production capacity.

The HELUES project is funded by the German Aerospace Center and supported by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs. The partners include Airbus Helicopters Germany, New Materials Bayreuth GmbH, Christian Karl Siebenwurst GmbH & Co. KG, and Intec GmbH.

One of the most anticipated developments at the Paris Air Show is the future outlook for urban air mobility (UAM) released by Eve Air Mobility. As global traffic congestion worsens, especially in major metropolitan areas like São Paulo, Eve predicts that urban air mobility will play a key role in alleviating pressure on urban transportation systems. Eve forecasts that over the next twenty years, the urban air mobility sector will generate $28 billion in passenger revenue and present sales opportunities for 300 million aircraft.

Eve's eVTOL aircraft will provide point-to-point urban transportation, airport transfers, and even medical flight services. São Paulo, one of the most advanced urban air mobility markets in the world, will be the launch city for Eve's eVTOL aircraft in 2027. The company's forecast is based on the inability of road infrastructure to keep pace with the growth of urban populations, predicting that by the year 2050, more than 2 billion people will live in cities.

However, the widespread adoption of UAM still faces challenges, including the need for high safety standards, supportive regulatory environments, and advancements in battery technology for remote flight.