Bombardier relies heavily on a new factory in Belfast, Northern Ireland, run by its Short Brothers subsidiary for CSeries wing production. Built with the help of £60 million ($90 million) from the UK government, the 600,000-sq-ft plant on the northwest side of Belfast City Airport’s runway specializes in new resin transfer infusion (RTI) fabrication techniques refined at other Bombardier plants in the region, in Dunmurry and Newtownabbey. Bombardier’s composite manufacturing portfolio of more than 30 components includes wings, engine nacelles, landing-gear doors, and flight control surfaces such as flaps, ailerons, elevators and rudders.
“RTI is different [from using prepreg composite sheets] as we use a dry fiber,” said Gavin Campbell, director of design engineering and technology development, during a press briefing in Belfast that coincided with the unveiling of the first nearly complete CSeries flight-test article in Montreal. “Dry fiber is more pliable and easy to handle and the resin comes in separate drums…It means we can lay down the fabric much faster and porosity is minimized.”
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