Adhesive experts from Huntsman Advanced Materials' aerospace research and development team have won the JEC Composites Innovation Award in the Aeronautics and Space Category for 2006. Working with engineers from Rolls-Royce and the Universities of Sheffield, Huntsman's Araldite team developed a novel epoxy-based syntactic for Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 - the lead engine for the new A380 super jumbo jet.
A lightweight adhesive solution was formulated for injection into the hollow vanes of gas turbine engines, destined for use on commercial aircraft. Hitherto, honeycomb or line-core materials have been used to fill in and maintain the cross-sectional profile as the blades flex. The new syntactic absorbs vibration energy over a wide operational temperature range and provides improved foreign object damage tolerance. There are 52 titanium outlet guide vanes within each Trent 900 engine, each of which holds approximately 0.5 litres of Araldite 1641 syntactic.