Building airplane parts today wastes a shocking amount of expensive material — imagine buying a block of titanium and throwing away most of it just to make one bracket. SUSTAINair tackled this across the whole lifecycle: they figured out how to reuse titanium powder six times instead of once, developed recycled composite materials that can hit nearly 100% recyclability, and built a health-monitoring system embedded right into the parts so airlines know exactly when maintenance is needed. On top of that, they created robots that can automatically take apart old aircraft at end of life, instead of sending them to a junkyard.
Aerospace manufacturing wastes enormous amounts of expensive materials like titanium and carbon fibre composites — often more material is discarded than ends up in the finished part. At the same time, aircraft maintenance relies on scheduled inspections rather than actual part condition, and end-of-life dismantling is still done largely by hand, making recycling uneconomical.
The project built three key demonstrators: a robotic rivet removal system using water-jet cutting for automated aircraft dismantling, new recyclate materials from thermoset and thermoplastic waste with full lifecycle assessment, and integrated demonstrators validating advanced joining techniques, structural health monitoring with ZnO nanowires, and morphing wing concepts.
If you are an aerospace parts manufacturer dealing with massive material waste in titanium additive manufacturing — this project developed methods to reuse titanium powder 6 times instead of once, and achieved a buy-to-fly ratio below 1.1 for aluminium high-pressure die casting. That means dramatically less raw material cost per finished part.
If you are an MRO provider struggling with unplanned maintenance and costly inspections — this project built a Structural Health Monitoring system using ZnO nanowires integrated directly into metal and polymer aircraft parts. This lets you move from scheduled inspections to condition-based maintenance, reducing aircraft downtime and inspection costs.
If you are in aircraft end-of-life management dealing with labour-intensive manual dismantling — this project introduced Industry 4.0 automated robotic dismantling technology and a rivet removal demonstrator using robotics and water-jet cutting. They also developed recyclate materials with up to 100% recyclability from thermoset and thermoplastic waste streams.
The project data does not include specific implementation costs or licensing fees. However, the technologies target significant material savings — reusing titanium powder 6x instead of 1x and achieving buy-to-fly ratios close to 1 would substantially reduce raw material expenditure, which is often the largest cost driver in aerospace manufacturing.
The project produced demonstrators for technology evaluation and public demonstration, covering design approaches, recycled materials, SHM systems, joining concepts, and repair solutions. The morphing wing concept was specifically designed for lowest integration risk with conventional structural wing parts. Full industrial scale-up would require further qualification, but the demonstrators validate feasibility.
The consortium includes 11 partners across 4 countries (AT, BE, DE, NL), with 5 SMEs and 4 industrial partners. IP ownership likely follows Horizon 2020 rules where each partner owns their foreground results. Licensing arrangements would need to be negotiated directly with the relevant consortium partner holding the specific technology.
The project developed new recyclate materials with full LCA assessment, targeting recyclability up to 100% for thermoset prepreg and thermoplastic waste. They aimed to bring the fly-to-buy ratio close to 1, meaning nearly all purchased material ends up in the final part. Performance characterization was part of the deliverables.
Aircraft parts require certification under EASA or FAA standards. The demonstrators were built for technology evaluation, not yet for certified flight hardware. Any adoption path would involve material qualification, component testing, and airworthiness certification — a process that typically takes several years in aerospace.
A rivet removal demonstrator was built using robotics and water-jet cutting technology. This was validated at demonstrator level within the project. The technology addresses a real bottleneck in aircraft recycling where manual rivet removal is slow and expensive.
SUSTAINair brought together 11 partners from 4 countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands) — all core European aerospace manufacturing nations. The consortium has a healthy mix: 4 industrial partners and 5 SMEs (36% industry ratio) working alongside 4 research organisations and 2 universities. The coordinator, LKR Leichtmetallkompetenzzentrum Ranshofen, is an Austrian light metals research centre, giving the project strong metallurgical expertise. With nearly half the partners being SMEs or industry, the results are grounded in real manufacturing needs rather than purely academic research.
LKR Leichtmetallkompetenzzentrum Ranshofen GmbH (Austria) — contact via project website or SciTransfer introduction
Want to explore how SUSTAINair's waste reduction technologies or robotic dismantling could apply to your manufacturing operations? SciTransfer can arrange a direct introduction to the right consortium partner for your specific need.
