Xenia Materials supports the Fly Mi EUROAVIA drone project with high-performance materials

The company Xenia Materials has supported the drone project “Nyx” of the student initiative Fly Mi EUROAVIA of the Politecnico di Milano by providing special composite materials. The project, which was realized as part of the international Air Cargo Challenge 2023/2024 competition, demonstrates how cooperation between industry and academic institutions can enable innovative developments in the field of aviation.

The “Nyx” drone developed by Fly Mi was specifically designed to meet the requirements of the competition. With a length of 1.5 meters and a wingspan of 3 meters, the aircraft is made of lightweight, high-strength materials. To produce the molds for laminating the wings and control surfaces, the team used XECARB 40-C20-3DP, a carbon fiber-reinforced polycarbonate that was specially developed for use in additive manufacturing.

“With its low CTE values, the material provided by Xenia significantly reduced issues related to thermal shrinkage during the design phase, enabling us to produce higher-quality parts. Furthermore, the absence of permanent deformations in the moulds after use, along with the resistance of internal surfaces to release agents, allowed us to repeatedly laminate the movable surfaces and test various internal configurations to find the best solution,” said the students who took part in the project.

The material’s dimensional stability and resistance to release agents allowed the molds to be used multiple times and different configurations of the wings to be tested.

“At Fly Mi EUROAVIA, we partnered with Xenia Materials to meet the demanding performance standards of our project. The lightness, recyclability and ease of handling of the moulds were key advantages, complemented by the increased sustainability of the process, adding significant value to our work. Thanks to this collaboration, the Nyx project successfully achieved its ambitious goals, integrating advanced material science with pioneering aerospace engineering.” said M.H., serving as president of the Fly Mi Euroavia association at the time.

Xenia Materials emphasized that the collaboration with the talented team at the Politecnico di Milano played an important role in the implementation of the project. For the upcoming project year 2025, Xenia plans to continue the partnership to support further advances in aeronautical engineering and set new standards in materials science.