TAPAS consortium improves airplane technology

The Thermoplastic Affordable Primary Aircraft Structure (TAPAS) consortium consists of companies and research institutes focused on airplane structural improvements in material, processing and joining technology. Recently, French manufacturer Airbus extended its agreement to work with TAPAS, which includes Dutch company TenCate Advanced Composites, Almelo, The Netherlands. TenCate uses composites of carbon or glass in synthetic resins, marketed under the TenCate Cetex® brand. The strong, lightweight composites can be molded into parts for the wings and fuselage. For details, visit www.tencate.com.