The consortium of the EU funded project LEEToRB won the JEC Innovation Award 2016 in the category helicopters. From 2013 to 2015 a CFRP RTM tool with integrated heating for the manufacturing of helicopter rotor blades was developed. Compared to a conventional metallic tool this new development has the following advantages: reduced energy consumption by 85%, reduced tool weight by 80%, CTE match of part and tool as well as a locally adaptable energy input according to the part geometry. The project consortium consisted of the Institute for Carbon Composites of TUM, the Fraunhofer ICT research group Functional Lightweight Design and the manufacturer of tools with integrated heating QPoint Composites GmbH.
Contact person: Dipl.-Ing. (Univ.) Philipp Kammerhofer