Manufacturing and Materials Experts Assess the Challenges Facing Advanced Air Mobility
Currently, only a few thousand civil aircraft are built worldwide each year, but the new AAM sector claims it will be turning out tens of thousands of units annually.
Companies that make composite materials are preparing for high-volume manufacturing of advanced air mobility (AAM) vehicles, but lots of questions remain about how many will be needed and what materials may qualify for certification and production. Representatives from Aerolytics, Toray, Hexcel, BAE Systems, TxV Aero Composites, and the Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative addressed these issues during last week’s Vertical Flight Society Electric VTOL Symposium.
The materials and manufacturing specialists agreed that a key step in manufacturing designs like the new wave of eVTOL aircraft is the qualification of materials and processes that will eventually allow for high-volume manufacturing.
