Public Funding for Munro Technology Limited

The aviation net-zero emission targets for 2050 are the main driver to have a fresh look at aircraft manufacturing, operation, and maintenance to identify ways of reducing the carbon footprint of the industry. The aim of this projects is to develop a method of monitoring the health and performance of an aircraft structure using a novel unintrusive technique. This involves embedding series of nanoscale fibres capable of sensing the structural performance real-time. It is proposed to create electrically conductive fibres based on MT's product enTex. The project will bring together MT, ZP, the electronics, data acquisition and AI partner, and AT, the integrator end user, supported by FHNW, the verification and validation RTO partner. The benefits of building sensitive structures using enTex results in structural robustness, savings in maintenance frequency, weight, fuel consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. It will create a significant leap toward longevity, health and cost-effectiveness of complex cyber-physical structures. Today, high percentages of advanced composite materials are integrated into the primary flight structures of aircraft. Composite materials technology has become key enabler of future electric aviation concepts including Urban Air Mobility (UAM) that heavily rely on light weight structures to improving fuel efficiency, reducing emissions and lowering the manufacturing/operating/certification costs in current and future aircraft. The materials have a higher ability than metals to withstand fatigue loading. However, they are prone to hidden damage from low velocity impact, resulting in internal defects, which cannot be detected through a regular visual inspection. Structural Health Monitoring and Analysis of aircraft structures can perform real time inspection, reducing costs and improving the reliability and performance of aircraft. The project partners propose a radically new approach to Structural Health Monitoring of composite materials.