NCAMP announces release of first thermoplastic material

NCAMP, the National Center for Advanced Materials Performance, works with the FAA and industry partners to qualify material systems and populate a shared materials database that can be viewed publicly. NCAMP started as a FAA-funded program within the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University and stemmed from NASA’s 1995 Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiment (AGATE).

What is the benefit to aircraft manufacturers?
Instead of qualifying an entire material system, manufacturers can pull a system from the NCAMP database, prove equivalency and gain FAA certification in a quicker and cheaper manner than a typical qualification approach.

What is the benefit to materials suppliers?
Material suppliers can work with NCAMP to qualify material systems without having to be linked to an ongoing aircraft certification program. This allows the material supplier to get their material out into the market via a public forum with generated allowables and FAA certification.

The National Center for Advanced Materials Performance (NCAMP) at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research announces the release of the first approved thermoplastic material Toray Cetex TC1225. Material and process specifications and material property and statistical analysis reports are available on the NCAMP website.

Toray Cetex TC1225 is a high-end thermoplastic composite material, utilizing a semi-crystalline engineered PAEK resin for excellent mechanical performance. The distinctive value of Toray Cetex TC1225 over other composites with a PAEK family matrix is its superior processability due to a low melt viscosity and reduction in processing temperature by 50–75°C (122–167°F)*. Toray Cetex TC1225 doesn’t only yield a high-quality product used in ATL/AFP processes, it speeds up cycle times enabling cost-efficient production in all available formats. Additionally, Toray Cetex TC1225 is an ideal composite to be overmolded with neat or short fiber reinforced PEEK resin, creating a very strong bond. Overmolding,  integrating continuous fiber reinforced composites in an injection molding process, combines the strength of high-end composites with the design freedom and complexity of injection molding parts.

Toray Cetex TC1225 is available as a UD tape, a fabric prepreg, and as reinforced thermoplastic laminates (RTLs) of varying thicknesses. RTLs can be equipped with lightning strike protection, and carbon reinforced RTLs can be supplied with a thin glass top layer to protect a partly metallic assembly against galvanic corrosion. Glass scrim is also applicable in structures made from UD tape.

*Standard PEEK processes at temperatures up to 400°C (752°F)

Main advantages:

• Superior processability as a result of low melt viscosity and relatively low processing
• Form freedom—suited for overmolding with neat or short fiber reinforced PEEK
• Relatively low processing temperature enables shorter cycle times and less energy consumption
• Excellent mechanical performance, also at elevated temperatures
• Excellent toughness and Compression After Impact (CAI) resistance of 314 MPa (45.6 ksi)
• Very low moisture absorption
• Outstanding chemical and solvent resistance
• Indefinite shelf life at ambient temperature storage
• Excellent FST performance

Typical applications:

• Primary and secondary aircraft structures
• High load aircraft interiors applications
• Access panels, rib stiffeners, brackets
• Medical
• Oil and gas