HELACS project is conceived as a solution for future aircraft dismantling issues derived from introduction of innovative Carbon Fibre Reinforce Polymer (CFRP) material.

AITIIP Technology Centre leads HELACS, a European project which aims to develop a dual methodology of controlled comprehensive dismantling in order to make possible the classification, recycling and reuse of aircraft parts made of thermoset and thermoplastic composites that have reached their end of life. Annually, the aeronautical industry is depositing more than 40,000 tons of end-of-life composite material waste in landfills. Thanks to the recovery of materials, the technology proposed by HELACS will benefit the change towards an energy efficiency model.

Aircraft decommissioning and recycling is a multi-disciplinary process, with environmental, operational, safety, legal and economic aspects. The number of aircraft retirements has been increasing steadily over the last decades.

Materials such as carbon composites offer many benefits to the aerospace sector. Weight saving and high mechanical performance are some of the key benefits.

Induction heating is a fast method to heat metals or other electrically conductive material. It is also effective to weld fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites.

PLATA attended to the national Conference on the aeronautical supply chain of the future with TEDAE, Spanish Association of Defense, Security, Aeronautics and Space Technologies.

Induction heating is a fast method to heat metals or other electrically conductive material. It is also effective to weld fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites.

Ultrasonic sound can be used to weld thermoplastic materials. During this process high frequency vibrations are locally applied under pressure to the thermoplastic materials by means of a sonotrode and this creates a solid weld.

Nowadays, composite materials are gradually gaining relevance in the aeronautic sector. Their excellent mechanical properties, as well as their reduced density make them a suitable material to reduce the aircraft weight while respecting the mechanical requirements of the metallic materials they are replacing.

From some time now, robot teaching process was led by two techniques, always based on the displacement of the robot itself.

HELACS has attended in this edition of 2022, within the stand of Aitiip Technology Center, which has participated as a member of the Spanish Federation of Technology Centers (FEDIT).

The HELACS project was one of the main projects presented at the 3rd edition of COMPOSIFORUM, the international forum on composite materials, organised by the Cátedra Aitiip-Unizar, in Zaragoza.

JEC World is the leading international composites show, organized in Paris every year, where the whole value chain of the composite materials industry gathers. It offers a unique showcase of what composites can offer to various application sectors, like aerospace and automotive.

CENTEXBEL, member of the HELACS Consortium, presented the project innovations at the 3rd International Conference “Circular Economy for textiles and plastics”. 

This year, the HELACS project has been present at the stand of Aitiip Centro Tecnológico, during its participation in PRSE 2022.

This July, Teruel Airport (PLATA) organised an interesting workshop at its facilities, which brought together dozens of representatives from the Spanish aeronautical sector.

Advanced Factories reaffirms, once again, its position within the industrial panorama in southern Europe. It is already a benchmark event in the innovation calendar, and this 2022 has consolidated its success.

The HELACS project has recently completed one year of life. During this time, the consortium partners have been making progresses in their research and in the development of novel robotics to recycle composite materials of large components. In this way, HELACS is consolidated as a revolutionary alternative to the problem of the end of life of this type of aircraft components, facilitating their recyclability and, therefore, making their recovery and reuse possible. helacs paves the way towards the green transition, which is now the main goal of Europe’s aviation industry.

This September has been a milestone within the HELACS project, thanks to the celebration of the Summer Course face-to-face session that took place at Teruel’s Airport.

The development of a technology that allows the manufacture of flange wheels for the cooling systems of the aeronautics with 100% recyclable materials