Mexico Launches First All-CFRP Fuselage, Setting New Standards

In 2016, I made a short tour in Mexico to investigate the growing composites industry there. Guided by Alfonso Cuellar, director of the composites distributor AIC International (Corona, Calif., U.S.), I visited a variety of composite manufacturers between Mexico City and Querétaro. The latter has become a center of excellence for plastics, composites and aerospace manufacturing and maintenance. My timing was unfortunate, as Donald Trump’s vitriol toward our southern neighbor began shortly afterward. My scheduled feature on composites in Mexico was postponed because I didn’t want to transform these new ventures — including Bombardier’s (Montreal, Canada) facility in Querétaro for producing the LearJet 85 — into targets for ill will.

Last December, however, the growth of composites in Mexico was further confirmed, with news about the first composite fuselage made at the Aeronautical University in Querétaro (UNAQ), which I had visited in 2016. This prototype fuselage for Oaxaca Aerospace’s (Tlalixtac de Cabrera, Oaxaca, Mexico) Pegasus P-400T two-seat trainer jet aircraft was made by the UNAQ spin-off RHEM composites. I have interviewed RHEM Composites and now am finally getting a chance to tell not only their story, but just a little about how composites are maturing and have, I believe, a great future in Mexico.

 

"We are proud to be involved in this project that promotes the vision of Mexican aeronautical development and promoting the growth of this sector in our country," says REHM Composites CTO, Francisco Daniel Mancera Coyotl. He adds that the support from UNAQ was fundamental and allowed them to incubate their company through the area of entrepreneurship and consolidate it even more.

“We are very enthusiastic about the future of the Pegasus P-400T aircraft,” says Rivera. “Oaxaca Aerospace was planning to show this CFRP prototype at the Mexico Aerospace Summit in October 2020.” He adds that even if the event is postponed due to COVID-19, he believes Oaxaca Aerospace will still continue forward toward production. “We would like to keep supporting that development with new prototypes and parts.”

 

RHEM COMPOSITES

RHEM Composites was started in 2015 and now has 20 employees. “Most of us graduated from UNAQ as engineers,” says Ramírez. The company operates within hangar/production space at UNAQ. In 2016, it completed work for another aircraft company, Horizontec (Querétaro), which wanted to develop a CFRP fuselage and wing components for its Falcon light sport aircraft (LSA). “Our engineers worked with them for materials characterization and laminate design,” he adds.

Other projects include developing a composite monocoque for a prototype high-performance electric sports car; redesigning plastic covers for an electric bicycle to be made with CFRP, cutting weight by 52%; and working with supercar/street-legal racer producer VŪHL (Mexico City and Querétaro) to design and produce ultra-lightweight CFRP seats.

RHEM Composites is also focused on composites sustainability. One of its current projects is to develop an electric bicycle using parts made from recycled carbon fiber (RCF). “Here in the Querétaro Aerospace Park, several companies work with CFRP and the waste is thrown away,” says Rivera. “We want to recycle it into new products, like this electric bike.” The company is working with the Mexican advanced technology and public research center CIATEQ, coordinated by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), to develop new products using RCF. “We have also participated in the X-challenge through Green Momentum Mexico,” he adds. “They are searching for innovative green ideas. We are using recycled fibers from ELG to make new parts and hope to win further funding to make this product commercially viable. Long-term, the goal is to support further green technology development in Mexico and Latin America.”

“We have the capability to do much more,” says Ramírez. “We want to show that Mexico has the ability and technical knowledge to develop a wide range of high-performance and sustainable applications with composites.”