Eclipse Aviation News
“While we have been completing friction stir welds using production tooling and thin materials for some time now,” said Vern Raburn, president and CEO, “assembling one of the components for the first Eclipse 500 jet is a very significant milestone.”
Eclipse Aviation is working closely with FAA certification representatives on the certification of this technology. Successful joining of these first components is a major step in the validation and certification of friction stir welding in the assembly of the Eclipse 500 jet.
“The benefits of friction stir welding are numerous,” said Oliver Masefield, vice president of engineering for Eclipse. “It eliminates the need for thousands of rivets resulting in reduced assembly costs, better quality joining and stronger and lighter joints. Because this process is significantly faster than other structural jointing processes we can drastically reduce the cycle time in production.”
Friction stir welding will be used in place of rivets in the assembly of most major assemblies of the Eclipse 500 including the cabin, aft fuselage, wings and engine mounts.
MTS Systems Corporation of Eden Prairie, Minnesota has been instrumental in Eclipse Aviation’s success. They are working under contract to Eclipse to develop the production system and to assist in the development of the weld patterns for the friction stir welding process used on the lightweight materials in the Eclipse 500.
About Friction Stir Welding
Invented and patented by The Welding Institute (TWI), a British research and technology organization, friction stir welding is used to produce the main structures of the Boeing Delta family of rockets and has been approved for use in building the space shuttle’s external fuel tank.
Friction stir welding is a machine process in which a special tool with a protruding pin is inserted into two pieces of material to be joined. The tool moves along the area to be joined while rotating at a high speed. The action between the tool and the aluminum creates frictional heat, which softens the aluminum but does not melt it. The plasticized material is then, in essence, consolidated to create one piece of metal where there were originally two.
Eclipse Aviation is in the business of designing, certifying and producing modern, affordable jet aircraft that will revolutionize the transportation market. The company is applying advanced electronics systems, manufacturing and business practices to produce aircraft that cost less than a quarter of today's small jet aircraft, will be significantly safer and easier to operate than those of today, and have the lowest cost of ownership ever achieved in a jet aircraft.
The goal of Eclipse is to bring the word "personal" into aviation, making it possible for commercial air passengers to move directly between cities on a quick, affordable and convenient basis. It will also allow pilot owners to enter the world of jet-powered aviation.