Constellium partners with Dassault Aviation to develop the “Eco-Efficient Aluminum for Aircraft” Project within the Clean Sky Research Programme

PRESS RELEASE

The European Programme Clean Sky has officially launched the
"Eco-Efficient Aluminum for Aircraft" (ECEFA) project resulting from a
Call for Proposal of the Eco-Design for Airframe Integrated Technology
Demonstrator (ITD)* coordinated by Dassault Aviation.

ECEFA will develop an advanced aluminum product primarily for civil
aircraft fuselage skin
applications. With a starting point of 10% density reduction compared
to current solutions, this
new product is expected to offer further weight savings through design
re-optimization. It also
offers both physical and mechanical performances allowing for
significantly reduced fuselage
wall thickness, durability of the aerostructure and use of
eco-friendly surface treatments. The
project is conducted at Constellium's Research Centre in Voreppe, France.

The overarching target of Clean Sky, through its €1.6 billion ($2.2
billion) public-private
research effort, is to provide solutions which minimize the impact of
aviation on the
environment. "The ECEFA project represents a step change in terms of
eco-efficient airframe.
Aluminum can make the difference" says Christophe Villemin, President
of Constellium's
Global Aerospace Division.

Clean Sky-supported innovations are notably designed to meet
recommendations from the
Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) to lower
CO2 emissions. In that
specific regard, weight performance is considered a critical area of
research and improvement.
"The ECEFA project is rightly seen as a benefit for OEMs, as it
addresses increased ecoefficiency
requirements while offering other significant advantages, such as the
reduction of
maintenance operations," adds Villemin.
ECEFA's total budget amounts to €473,000 and is supported by Clean Sky
at 50%. Following
lab trials and two initial campaigns at industrial scale, ECEFA's
ambition is to increase
proposed technology readiness. A series of tolerance tests shall be
conducted in order to
better understand its potential and ability to meet airframers' requirements.

About Clean Sky
Clean Sky, a Public Private Partnership between the European
Commission and the Aeronautical Industry, was
set up to bring significant step changes regarding the environmental
impact of aviation. Clean Sky will speed up
technological breakthrough developments and shorten the time to market
for new and cleaner solutions tested on
full scale demonstrators, thus contributing significantly to reducing
the environmental footprint of aviation (i.e.
emissions and noise reduction but also green life cycle) for our
future generations.

Clean Sky is made up of 6 Integrated Technology Demonstrators.
• SMART Fixed Wing Aircraft will deliver active wing technologies and
new aircraft configuration for
breakthrough, news products.
• Green Regional Aircraft will deliver low-weight aircraft using smart
structures, as well as low external
noise configurations and the integration of technology developed in
other ITDs, such as engines, energy
management and new system architectures.
• Green Rotorcraft will deliver innovative rotor blades and engine
installation for noise reduction, lower
airframe drag, integration of diesel engine technology and advanced
electrical systems for elimination of
noxious hydraulic fluids and fuel consumption reduction.
• Sustainable and Green Engines will design and build five engine
demonstrators to integrate
technologies for low noise and lightweight low pressure systems, high
efficiency, low NOx and low
weight cores and novel configurations such as open rotors and intercoolers.
• Systems for Green Operations will focus on all-electrical aircraft
equipment and systems architectures,
thermal management, capabilities for "green" trajectories and mission
and improved ground operations
to give any aircraft the capability to fully exploit the benefits of
Single European Sky.
• Eco-Design will focus on green design and production, withdrawal,
and recycling of aircraft, by optimal
use of raw materials and energies thus improving the environmental
impact of the whole products life
cycle and accelerating compliance with the REACH directive.
* The Eco-Design Integrated Technology Demonstrator is led by Dassault
Aviation (Coordinator) and
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. Other members of the consortium are:
• Aircraft manufacturers: Airbus, AgustaWestland, Alenia, Eurocopter
and EADS CASA
• Systems suppliers: Safran, Thales and Liebherr
• Six associates selected to participate on Eco-Design for Airframe
all along the duration of Clean Sky:
o Four companies: EADS France, EADS Deutschland, HAI (Hellenic
Aircraft Industry) and IAI (Israel
Aircraft Industries)
o Two clusters: the Netherland Cluster led by Fokker Aerostructures BV
and a cluster led by RUAG
Switzerland Ltd
• Partners committed to a limited period of the project, selected
through calls for proposals.