Microwave-driven metasurface-assisted consolidation and full-process manufacturing of aerospace-grade CF/PEEK components

High-performance thermoplastic composites are attracting increasing interest for aerospace structures. In recent years, fast-rate layup followed by post-consolidation and final machining has emerged as an efficient manufacturing route for such components. However, conventional consolidation methods such as autoclaves suffer from long cycle times, high energy consumption, and limited process reliability. Here, a microwave-driven stacked metasurface heating film is proposed as a novel internal-heating strategy for rapid, energy-efficient, and reliable consolidation of thermoplastic composites. The mechanisms of microwave–metasurface interactions are elucidated to guide the structural design of the heating film, enabling a stable microwave absorbance of 92.4% ± 7.7% throughout the consolidation cycle of CF/PEEK composites. Under a power density of 1.728 W/dm 3 , the heating film is rapidly heated to 400.3 °C within 7.7 min, while maintaining nearly unchanged absorption performance over repeated heating cycles. In addition, the heating film demonstrates robust stability under diverse mechanical scenarios, including bending, twisting, folding, and cutting. Consolidation experiments on CF/PEEK laminates yield a void content as low as 0.69%, an average crystallinity of 42.45%, and an Interlaminar Shear Strength (ILSS) of up to 111.82 MPa. Building upon this approach, a full-process manufacturing demonstration of a conical rocket shell section further verifies the feasibility and scalability of the integrated route combining automated fiber placement, microwave consolidation, and final machining for aerospace-grade thermoplastic composite structures.