Jamco has joined a consortium of industry experts to participate in an initiative named ‘Project for Building a Circular Economy Industry for Next-generation Aircraft’, which aims to establish an end-to-end supply chain for recovering carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) from retired aircraft, and reusing it in new aircraft.
The project has been launched by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a national research and development agency in Japan, with partners including Tokai National Higher Education and Research System Nagoya University (as the representative institution), together with Jamco, the Japan Fine Ceramics Center (JFCC), Subaru Corporation, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and others.
Carbon fibre composite materials are strong and lightweight, and are used in many industrial products. In aviation they are frequently applied in cabin sidewall surfaces and as structural materials to support airframes and wings. The widespread use of CFRP in aircraft means it will be generated in large quantities from retired airplanes.
However, Jamco notes that “many issues remain” regarding the application of recycled CFRP materials in aviation, and further technological development is required before they can be widely applied.
In this project, Jamco will apply its expertise gained through supplying carbon-fibre composite materials to the aircraft industry and participate in two key areas. The first is the development of a substrate-forming process to convert recycled materials into usable forms.
The second is to evaluate the use of recycled materials, define the requirements for their application in aircraft cabin interior components, and demonstrate their value through tests conducted on actual aircraft.
