Part family 03
Panels are the largest, thinnest and least forgiving parts in the cabin. Material compliance is necessary and rarely the reason a programme slips — the trim line is.
Eight groups, all of them interface-critical. The last column is where installation problems actually surface.
| Part group | Typical material | Process | What decides acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sidewall panels | Glass/phenolic, glass/epoxy | Lay-up, bonding, edge trim | Fit at the frame interface and the trim strip line |
| Ceiling panels | Glass/phenolic, thermoplastic | Lay-up, thermoforming | Curvature and light-transmission openings |
| Bin closeout and shelf panels | Glass/phenolic, Al | Lay-up, forming, bonding | Interface with the bin structure, not the nominal drawing |
| Window reveals | PC, PEI, thermoplastic | Moulding, thermoforming | Window surround tolerance and shade track clearance |
| Class divider panels | Composite sandwich, laminate | Bonding, edge finishing | Attachment points and edge protection |
| Floor panels, non-structural | Sandwich, laminate facing | Bonding, machining | Load introduction is design; we hold flatness and edge seal |
| Edge trim and reveal profiles | Al, thermoplastic, silicone | Extrusion handling, forming, finishing | Continuity of the trim line across panel joints |
| Decorative laminate bonding | Laminate, film, adhesive | Bonding, pressing, trimming | Bond strength and avoidance of trapped air |
One is dimensional, one is regulatory, one is commercial. All three are decided early.
A panel that meets every material requirement can still be refused at installation because the gap at the trim line runs from three to nine millimetres. Interface control at NPI is what prevents that, and it is worth more than any tolerance tightening on the drawing.
Heat release, smoke density and toxicity are governed by the type design and the applicable code. We procure and document to the material callout you specify, and the compliance finding stays with you.
A 200-gram saving per panel is a trivial number on one shipset and a real number across a fleet. Weight is tracked against the drawing, and any material substitution that adds mass is a change, not a convenience.
For panels, the interface definition matters as much as the drawing itself.
Panel quotations are dominated by material and tooling, in that order.
| Driver | Effect |
|---|---|
| Material callout | The difference between an FST-compliant phenolic and a general-purpose epoxy is the single largest line |
| Tooling for curvature | Compound curvature needs a mould; the mould decides the achievable fit |
| Edge finishing | Panel edges are where damage starts and where labour hides |
| Bonding and pressing | Adhesive, cure cycle and fixture time set the throughput |
| Handling and packing | Large thin parts are expensive to move and cheap to damage |
| Inspection | Flatness, thickness and hole position are measured, not eyeballed |
Send the drawing status and the interface references. Fit problems are predictable, so the reply should tell you where they will be.
Cookies on this site
This website does not use advertising, analytics or any other non-essential cookie, and it loads no third-party tracking scripts. Only the storage strictly needed to serve the pages and to remember this choice is used. See thecookie policy and the privacy policy.
