Stelia Aerospace and Bombardier to develop wing flaps with metal AM components
February 7, 2020
Stelia Aerospace, through its two Canadian subsidiaries, Stelia Aéronautique Canada in Mirabel, Quebec, and Stelia North America in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, has entered into a research project with Bombardier Inc., Montreal, Canada, which will see the company produce a high-lift trailing edge flap in thermoplastic composite with metal additively manufactured hinges.
The new project, titled Aile Intelligente et Légère pour l’Environnement or Intelligent and Light Wing for Environment (AILE), is part of the third phase of the mobilising project for an eco-friendly aircraft, project SA2GE-3 (Systèmes Aéronautiques d’Avant-Garde pour l’Environnement or Cutting-edge Aeronautical Systems for Environment).
Supported by the government of Québec, the project will be part of a three-year partnership and will see Stelia Aerospace produce the trailing edge flap for testing by Bombardier. Stelia Aéronautique Canada’s R&T teams, supported by the France-based R&T team, will manage the project and its design and scaling phase. Manufacturing of the tooling and the scale 1 demonstrator will be managed by Stelia Aerospace North America.
Stelia Aerospace will be backed on the project by two partners: FusiA Impression 3D Metal Inc for the production and design of the metal AM hinges, and the Conseil National de Recherches du Canada – Canadian National Research Center (CNRC), already a partner of Stelia Aerospace for metal research projects.
Stelia Aerospace has already been engaged with Bombardier for three years in the context of a first collaborative R&T project aiming at reducing the cycle time necessary to the production of a metallic wing frame for business jets. Cédric Gautier, CEO of Stelia Aerospace, commented, “This new project with Bombardier highlights our wish to build strong links with our customer and will enable us to pursue our skill development strategy, while developing our footprint in Canada in terms of Research & Technology.”
