Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion: On the way to serial production

The first liquid resin infusion (LRI) process that offered the opportunity to manufacture primary structures with fibre volume fractions of more than 60 % in a cost effective way was the resin transfer moulding (RTM). Due to the further development of the vacuum assisted resin injection process (VARI) Airbus Deutschland GmbH in Stade examined the manufacture of C-spars and ribs of the Airbus A 380 vertical tail plane using this LRI process. Successfully produced test parts, made with non crimp fabrics and hot curing resin, lead to the decision to introduce the VARI process in the serial production line of the vertical tail plane. Steps to industrial application for the process will be discussed in this paper