LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTION. In the manufacture of fibre-reinforced composite components, the material is not produced until the last processing stage, i.e. impregnation, in which the fibre reinforcement and matrix are combined In close collaboration between the Department of Aerospace and Lightweight Structures (ilb), Institut fur Textiltechnik (ITA) and the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University, the basic principles for economic production of spherically curved, stringer-stiffened shell elements are being studied. In this development, the fibre structure is fed complete to the impregnating unit as a stable preform and is then impregnated in a one-shot process.