The innovations sweeping aerospace, on full display by the more than 2,000 exhibitors at the Paris Air Show, are all guided by SAE International (Hall 6, A47), whose manufacturing and production standards underlie every world industry. The professional engineers’ association, which counts some 128,000 members, is highlighting at Le Bourget its current aerospace standards-development programs, covering fields including electric aircraft, additive manufacturing, supersonics, and digital data.
SAE promoted its fledgling aerospace initiatives at the Farnborough International Air Show last year but, “There’s a lot more meat on the bones in a number of these,” said director of SAE aerospace standards David Alexander. The standards are spurred by technological innovations and developed in response to real-world needs.
In November the SAE Aerospace Council approved the establishment of the SAE E-40 committee on electrical propulsion, encompassing all-electric and hybrid systems, chaired by Airbus senior electrified propulsion specialist Richard Amboise. In February several dozen representatives from across the aerospace industry, from “large aircraft OEMs to eVTOL aircraft and everything in between,” said Alexander—including FAA and Transport Canada representatives and power supply and component providers—met in the U.S. to launch the development process.
The committee “looked at the overall landscape and began planning a road map for determining what specifications and standards would be needed,” Alexander said. It will now focus on specific technologies, equipment, and components needed to support electric propulsion’s development.
Development of SAE standards for additive manufacturing (AM) is farther along and illustrate the process at work. The standards cover AM’s basic production elements: the feedstocks used in the parts; the manufacturing process; and post-production processes. Each material has its own set of standards. Just before Farnborough Airshow last year, four sets of standards, covering aluminum and titanium alloys, had been completed. On the eve of this year’s Paris gathering nine sets of materials standards are complete. Norsk Titanium, a pioneer of titanium AM production processes, sponsored development of the titanium specifications.
“The AM committee has a degree of maturity and is now starting to churn out specifications,” Alexander noted.
Standards for non-metallic materials are now under development by a polymers subcommittee, formed at the request of the International Air Transport Association engineering maintenance group, to create standards for polymer cabin parts. A repair materials subcommittee is developing standards for AM parts repairs.
The Supersonic Committee is focused on standards for measuring and modeling noise, as “noise levels over populated areas” are the major barrier to supersonic flight, Alexander said.
In the digital data arena, “with the ever-growing digital technologies and the explosive amount of data,” standards relating to “its landscape for use” may be necessary, he said. A new SAE steering group, chaired by Honeywell, with stakeholders including EASA, the FAA, and other regulatory agencies, and airframe and major component manufacturers, is beginning work.
Alexander and his team are eager to meet with and explain the innovations they’re helping bring to the industry and encourage all aerospace professionals to get engaged in the standards development process.