expected to be delivered to its launch customer during the fourth quarter of 2014. The A350 XWB is the first Airbus aircraft with a structure that is over 50% advanced composite materials, making a huge contribution to the weight-saving, performance and fuel efficiency of the aircraft. Hexcel is a major supplier of advanced materials for the composite structures on the aircraft. “Speaking for the entire Hexcel organization,
I congratulate Airbus and its team of dedicated employees on their achievement in timely completing the long testing process and certification of the A350 XWB for flight,” said Nick Stanage, Hexcel Chairman, CEO and President. “Hexcel is proud to be a partner-supplier to Airbus and to have Hexcel carbon fiber and composite materials incorporated into so many structural parts of the A350 XWB.” Hexcel’s HexPly® M21E/IMA carbon fiber/epoxy prepreg is used to manufacture all composite primary structures of the aircraft, including the fuselage panels, keel beam, wing and the empennage.
The A350 XWB lower wing cover is the biggest single civil aviation part ever made from carbon fiber, measuring 32 meters long. In addition to the primary structures, Hexcel is supplying a number of HexPly® prepregs for other structures on the A350 XWB program, including the epoxy systems HexPly® M21 and HexPly® 8552 - and the BMI system HexPly® M65. Hexcel’s total content on each A350 XWB is $5 million and includes carbon fiber from the USA and Spain, resin film from the UK, prepreg from France, Spain, Germany and the USA, and honeycomb and engineered core from the USA, UK and Belgium.
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