Aircraft recycling solutions

Memphis-based Universal Asset Management (UAM) has used recycled carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) from commercial aircraft to make a 3D-printed engine stand. CFRP collected through the firm’s proprietary process - filtered for purity and refined into pellets - was used as raw material to demonstrate that second-generation carbon fiber material is suitable for additive manufacturing. Carbon fiber is the most arduous structural element of an aircraft to recycle. Today’s aircraft are made with about 50 percent of composite material. CEO Keri Wright says: “UAM is the only company to harvest CFRP from end-of-life aircraft to be re-introduced to manufacturing.” UAM and its parent company Aircraft Recycling International Ltd. (ARI) remain committed globally in complete aircraft recycling solutions, he says. UAM has disassembled more than 300 aircraft, including all Boeing platforms and Airbus A300, A310, A320, A330, and A340 aircraft. UAM’s aircraft disassembly center is at the Tupelo (Miss.) Regional Airport, and its global center is in Verona, Miss. (Source: Aerospace Manufacturing and Design 04/30/18)