High fitting accuracy: Moulds for aircraft components made of prepreg materials

A monolithic carbon-reinforced plastic structure of the wing tip component and outer structure of the wing was designed from a fiber composite system. The profile of the wing tip structure was made extremely thin to achieve a high-grade efficient build-up of the wing tip component. The female tool and positive model were enveloped in a plastic film bag to meet the requirements for vacuum integrity and suitability for autoclave processing. Placing and draping structural prepregs on the elastomeric-faced positive model and allowing autoclaves pressure to be distributed over the whole area of the components during curing was found to be a cost-effective manufacturing process.