Titanium seats cut aircraft weight

Lightweight aircraft passenger seats have been developed by French firm Expliseat.

The seats have a titanium-composite structure and are less than 50% the weight of seats on board the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft, which they are set to replace.

They are the first composite seats to pass the dynamic 16g crash tests and, at 4kg per passenger, could save between $300,000 and $500,000 a year per aircraft.

The Titanium Seat was developed as a joint effort, using specific technologies such as RocTool's latest 3iTech technology, where inductor coils are directly integrated in a steel compression mould.

Expliseat was also looking for a high-strength fibre that would be compatible with the specific thermoplastic resin system developed for the application.

It found a suitable fibre and process, and in combination with the thermoplastic resin it performed so well that it passed the most demanding tests for seat structures.

Author
Justin Cunningham

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