Airbus and all major aeronautics players attended the JEC Composites Show in Paris,

from April 1 to 3. The technical platform of France’s Brest-based IUT (technical undergraduate school) was awarded a special prize for a prototype plane called Nijal. This project uses a groundbreaking technology that could revolutionise the manufacturing of large composite parts for aircraft: resin infusion. The IUT’s platform works in partnership with several industrials, notably Airbus, which entrusts the development of more and more complex component prototypes to the platform’s engineering teams. “The works done at the IUT in a record time have been remarkable. They have allowed accelerating the industrialisation of this process, which has a great future for the production of large composite pieces”, says Philippe Blot, head of R&D Composites at Airbus Nantes. Mr Blot also underlines that resin infusion could eventually lead to a 20 to 30 % decrease in part prices. Les Echos