France’s Safran and U.S. textiles and composites maker Albany International inaugurated a new plant in Commercy, France, on Monday to produce 3-D woven parts for CFM International’s Leap series of turbofan engines. Jean-Paul Herteman, chairman and CEO of Safran, and Joseph Morone, president and CEO of Albany International, accompanied French president François Hollande during the ceremonies, held just six months after the inauguration of the partners’ Rochester sister factory. Both facilities, which combined account for a $200 million investment, perform the same activity: production of fan blades and fan cases using what they call a revolutionary 3D-woven composite resin transfer molding (RTM) technology designed to combine damage tolerance with light weight. Safran subsidiary Snecma carries responsibility for the fan blades and cases for the Leap, advertised to offer a 15-percent reduction in fuel consumption attributable partly to its composite components.

Now employing 100 people at Commercy, Safran expects employment rolls to increase to 400 once production reaches full speed. Meanwhile, executives concede that the process of production acceleration will prove challenging. “We are confident in reaching our goals in 2020, that is to say 50 blades and three fan cases per day,” said Olivier Balmat, director of Safran Aero Composite (SAC), a subsidiary created for the project. Plans call for both the Rochester and Commercy plants to produce 28,000 fan blades per year by 2020.

At Commercy, workers at SAC and Albany Engineered Composites, parent company of Albany International, share labor tasks. The U.S. company holds responsibility for the early process, including weaving 4.35 miles of carbon fiber per fan blade, the RTM process and machining. SAC performs the rest of the work, notably bonding a titanium leading edge on the fan blade, finishing and inspection. Commercy now houses six weaving machines, but it is large enough to accommodate three times that number.

Albany registered more than 250 patents last year, most of them related to the 3-D woven composite. “Albany holds patents on the 3-D woven composite, and Safran owns patents on the aircraft engine application of the 3-D woven composite,” explained Jean Sénellart, program director at Albany International. Safran’s partner in the CFMI joint venture, General Electric, has already used composites on the the GE90 large engine. “But it was a laminated composite, not feasible in terms of damage tolerance in a smaller engine,” said Bruno Dambrine, director for materials and process at Safran.

To meet the specifications, a jacquard machine must weave the carbon fiber in 3D. It offers the best solution to distribute energy after a shock without cracking the blade. “With 3-D weaving, the shock energy is imprisoned,” added Dambrine. It also allows Safran to reduce the number of blades by half, to 18 blades in the Leap from 36 in the CFM56-5B, consequently reducing weight.