TAI partners Boeing for new Turkish thermoplastic facility

Boeing's Aysem Sargin and TAI's Temel Kotil sign manufacturing partnership deal (Image TAI)

By working together with Boeing, TAI aims to develop thermoplastic manufacturing capability in the country with Boeing will providing technical support for TAI to establish manufacture thermoplastic materials for the aerospace industry. 

These lightweight, energy efficient thermoplastic parts, will be produced in a fully automated facility, the company said.

For aerospace applications  Initial results show that High Efficiency Affordable Rapid Thermoplastic (HEART), can reduce the production cycle and process costs by 30% compared to conventional composites.

TAI chief executive. Temel Kotil  said that the local facility will reduce cost for manufacturing in the country and was part of a strategy “to increase the direction of new production technologies and aviation sector with such important collaborations.”

Thermoplastics are polymers that can be melted and recast almost indefinitely. They are molten when heated and harden upon cooling. These characteristics, are reversible, so the material can be reheated, reshaped, and frozen repeatedly. As a result, thermoplastics are mechanically recyclable.

“This agreement adds a new dimension to the longstanding partnership between Turkish Aerospace and Boeing. It also expands the existing technology collaboration between Boeing and Turkey under the National Aerospace Initiative (NAI), which is Boeing’s investment plan for Turkey announced in 2017,” said Aysem Sargin, managing director Boeing Turkey.

The partnership with Boeing  will include the training of technical staff to develop local expertise in this field and enable Turkey to produce thermoplastics that meet the highest global standards.