Smart Tooling uses exclusive shape memory polymer tooling technology to produce a composite multi-chamber trailing edge control surface with co-cured spars without the use of foam core.

Traditionally, a composite trailing edge control surface required the use of foam fabricated to a knifepoint to mold the trailing edge because traditional tooling methods could not mold composite with such small, and often times trapped geometry.

The machined foam is co-cured into the part, adding weight. The foam is brittle and easily damaged during machining and layup, creating potential scrap and rework.

Alternatively, using Smart Tools that act as bladders, the part was produced without foam. Because the Smart Tool is rigid at lay-up, but elastic for cure extraction, the Smart Tool can easily be removed from the cured composite part and reformed and reused to make the next composite trailing edge. The benefits include reduced weight, scrap, and cost.

Smart Tooling provides formable, reusable tooling solutions for manufacturing composite parts with complex geometries for the aerospace & defense industry. Smart Tools improve quality, reduce labor hours, decrease consumables, and increase throughput – essentially, Smart Tools enable the manufacturing of composite parts better, cheaper, and faster.

Smart Tooling’s Shape Memory Polymers are designed to be aerospace-grade RIGID epoxies at room temperature, and highly FLEXIBLE elastomers when heated, eliminating the need for expensive, laborious, tedious, dirty, and challenging solutions such as melt-out foam, metal breakdown tools, rubber bladders, or washout tooling.

We also deliver comprehensive solutions. We offer total solutions for the manufacture of your composite part, including custom tooling engineering and design, fabrication of molds, Smart Tooling fabrication, initial composite part manufacturing, custom standard operating procedures, onsite start-up support and training, and any future training if required.

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