Advanced Materials and Manufacturing
Around half of a new airliner’s structure is carbon-fibre composite, carry 3D-printed metal parts in their engines, and are put together with the help of robots. This theme looks at the materials and methods behind the next generation of aircraft, and the UK factories and research centres building them.
Why this matters
An aircraft is only as good as what it is made from. Every kilogram of structure costs fuel to carry, so designers have spent a century swapping heavier materials for lighter ones: wood to aluminium, aluminium to carbon fibre. The next step is harder, because new materials only matter if they can be made quickly, affordably and to aerospace standards of safety.
That is why materials and manufacturing move together. Composites now make up around half of the newest airliners. Printed metal parts fly inside engines. Factories are filling with robots and automated inspection. And much of this work happens in the UK, from the wing assembly lines of North Wales to the research centres of Bristol and Sheffield. The people who will run those factories, and design what comes next, are in school today.
Carbon-fibre composites make up around half of the structure of the newest airliners.
3D-printed metal parts are already certified and flying in passenger aircraft engines.
Wings for Airbus airliners are assembled in North Wales, and the next generation is being developed here too.
53%
The share of the Airbus A350’s structure made from carbon-fibre composite, part of an airframe that is over 70% advanced materials. Lighter structures burn less fuel on every flight. Source: Airbus.
20 parts into 1
The 3D-printed fuel nozzle tip flying in the LEAP engine replaced an assembly of 20 welded pieces with a single printed part that is 25% lighter and five times more durable. Source: GE Aerospace.
£227 million
The backing the UK-led Wing of Tomorrow programme has received through the Aerospace Technology Institute programme since 2014. Three full-scale composite wing demonstrators have been built, and flight tests were announced in 2026. Source: Airbus.
Third of the weight
Ceramic matrix composites in the newest engines run hotter than metals can survive, at around a third of the weight of the alloys they replace. They are already flying in passenger service. Source: GE Aerospace.
Four areas shaping how aircraft are built
New materials only earn their place if they can be made at scale. These four areas decide what flies next.
Lighter by design
Carbon-fibre composites are stronger than aluminium for their weight and resist corrosion and fatigue. The challenge now is making huge composite parts fast enough for production lines building hundreds of aircraft a year.
Printing parts in metal
Additive manufacturing builds a part layer by layer from metal powder, creating shapes impossible to machine and wasting far less material. It is already making certified engine parts, with more on the way.
Smarter factories
Robots drill, fasten and inspect alongside skilled people, and digital models track every part from design to delivery. Modern aerospace manufacturing is as much about software and data as machines.
Proving every part
There is no room for error in an aircraft part, so inspection is an engineering discipline of its own. Ultrasound, X-ray and other techniques find flaws invisible to the eye, especially in composites, which behave differently from metal.
How a wing gets built
Inside the factory in North Wales where wings for Airbus airliners are assembled, and a look at the technologies changing how the next generation will be made.
More themes to explore
Sustainable Flight
How flying gets to net zero: new fuels, new aircraft and smarter operations, and the people making it happen.
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Future Propulsion
Hydrogen, electric flight and radical new engine designs, and what it takes to prove they are safe to fly.
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Autonomy, Drones and Robotics
Aircraft with no one on board, robots that walk into danger, and the people behind every uncrewed machine.
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Industry leading the work
GKN Aerospace
AtkinsRéalis
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