IRELAND’s leading industrial thermoforming company, Donite Plastics, is making waves in the aerospace industry with the manufacturing of lightweight panels and components which will benefit both the aircraft interiors sector and the environment.
While aircraft interiors have traditionally been composed of metals and metal composite materials, there is a growing demand in the market for lighter weight aircraft interiors, which Donite Plastics is happy to accommodate.
Donite Plastics manufactures an array of thermoformed parts for the aircraft interiors industry, with the company’s latest development producing lightweight panels and components with up to 39% weight reduction and 89% part reduction per panel.
With the average aircraft burning 0.03 kg of fuel per hour for each kilogram carried on board, the significant weight and parts reduction offered by Donite Plastics will have a positive impact on the environment, leading to greater fuel savings and reduced CO2 emissions, helping the aviation industry achieve its set climate target of halving CO2 emissions by 2050 compared with those in 2005.
The Saintfield-based company is also developing a robotic application for their complex assembly, with their products being on display at this week’s Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg. As the world’s leading marketplace for airlines and the aerospace supply chain, Donite Plastics will demonstrate at this show why thermoforming and plastic is set to be the material of the future for aircraft interiors.
Director at Donite Plastics, Stephen Kissick, explains the company’s commitment to making sustainability one of their top priorities: “At Donite Plastics, we play a pivotal role in the growth of the UK’s aerospace sector. As pioneers of lightweight technology, we produce thermoformed parts and complex assemblies for leading aerospace manufacturing companies across the globe.
“We have introduced multi-skins, which sees us bring multiple layers together in order to strengthen the product and our manufacturing process, with this new lightweight technology proving instrumental in reducing the weight in complex assemblies.
“We are committed to continuous improvement and developing new, innovative solutions, with our lightweight panels and components giving our customers greater design freedom. Our complex assembly processes will offer more customisation options to our customers, opening the doors to exploring a range of colour palettes, textures and finishes without compromising functionality.
“Our services are unique in that we offer our customers the advantages of weight reduction without asking them to make compromises in terms of quality and durability. Our team looks forwards to showcasing our lightweight aircraft components at the Aircraft Interiors Expo and encourage any attendees at the show to visit our stand to find out more.”
Donite Plastics will be exhibiting at this year’s AIX Expo as part of the Invest Northern Ireland stand (7B42) located in Hall B7.
