Aircraft composite assemblies

The aerospace group of Henkel provides a variety of product solutions which facilitate the manufacture of composite assemblies in aircraft ranging from wing flaps, leading edges, rudder assemblies, wing to body fairings, trailing edges and ailerons. 

Mold Releases – Marketing and produced under the Frekote brand name, mold releases are liquid polymers that are applied upon the inside of a composite or metal mold to facilitate the release of the part after it has been heat cured. Frekote is the world leading brand and stands for high performance semi-permanent multiple release polymers granting absolutely no transfer and long mold life. These high reliability release materials have been used for decades to ensure release of complex and expensive composite assemblies.

Liquid Shims – These highly filled epoxy paste products are used to fill very small gaps less than 3mm in composite assemblies between skin and rib assemblies.  Leaving these gaps unfilled would create vibration and flex loads that would be detrimental to the structure. Liquid shims fill these gaps and transfer the load from the skins to the ribs thereby allowing a very cost efficient way to achieve large part fit up.

Composite Bonding Films – Composite bonding films represent the adhesive, which is used to bond today’s composite assemblies for aircraft. Composites may be solid, rib stiffened or honeycomb stiffened.  Composite bonding films are the adhesive used to bond the prepreg to the honeycomb core or composite skin.  They represent high temperature low flow systems that minimize intermingling between the composite prepreg resins and the adhesive.

SynCore syntactic (hollow glass filled) prepreg ply substitution films – The SynCore brand of thick epoxy films are filled with high strength lightweight glass microballoons. These films are used between composite skins and are co-cured to achieve high stiffness with a lighter weight.  Our most recent product is SynCore shapes whereby the SynCore film can be provided in exact shapes with beveled edges to allow automated tape laying.

Composite laminating/repair resins – These products are normally two part epoxy resins with a low viscosity. They are used to impregnate carbon, graphite or glass fiber. Henkel has the largest range of products in this segment ranging from Hysol EA 9390 and Hysol EA 956 to Hysol EA 9396 and Hysol EA 9396/C-2 for higher temperature applications.