Lowering component weight

Larger, quieter and lighter. Future aircraft engines will need to match all three requirements in order to consume less fuel and thereby save both money and the environment.

The answer is to replace metal components with components made of lightweight composite materials.

A technology taking off
Today, perhaps ten per cent of an aircraft engine is made of composites. Within the next 10 to 15 years, this figure is likely to increase by 20-25 per cent.

Lightweight composites are evolving rapidly at present, and Volvo Aero has patents in the pipeline. The company delivered its first composite component for a jet engine in 2008. It was a fan structure with a diameter of two meters and with 44 fan guide vanes.

All in all, this component was 30% lighter than the equivalent component made of titanium.

A potential waiting to be exploited
Volvo Aero estimates that a manufacturer that uses its lightweight components will be able to save 20% in terms of weight.

This means that a complete aircraft engine will be about three per cent lighter.

Truly sophisticated rags and glue
Volvo Aero applies a technology involving so-called dry reinforcements. Carbon-fibre mats are packed together in a specific direction to customize the desired degrees of  strength and stiffness. Finally, liquid plastic is injected and the entire structure is hardened at a high temperature.

Synergies with the automotive industry
Performance requirements are of course far more rigorous in an aircraft than in a bus or truck. But with the ability and technology to produce lightweight components comes the ability to use these skills to improve vehicle characteristics.

The drivers for lighter components in vehicles are the same as in the aircraft industry: climate threat and increasingly expensive metals. Long-term synergies are expected in, for example, engine components, wheel suspensions, transmissions and members.

Several collaboration programs
Volvo Aero works together with companies and public authorities to develop technologies, both in Swedish national programs and EU-funded programs.

One example is Clean Sky, which is one of Europe's largest research programs of all time in the aerospace field. Volvo Aero has a vital role in the sub projects regarding open-rotor engines, which could reduce fuel consumption by 15 to 20%.