The rear pressure bulkhead, installed at Fr 80/82,divides the pressurized rear fuselage from the cone / rear fuselage, which is not pressurized. It is a monolithic composite panel, made from carbon fiber and stiffened by nine stiffeners integrated to the front face (carbon fiber skin laminated on a foam core). The bulkhead is attached to the
inside of the fuselage with 12 titanium rim angles.
Aft pressure bulkheads can either be curved, which reduces the amount of metal needed at the cost of reducing the usable space in the airliner, or flat, which gives more internal space but also more weight. Patents have been filed that propose deliberately creating cavities within the rear bulkhead with the purpose of providing more usable cabin space.On several airliners, production of the rear pressure bulkhead has been outsourced to third party manufacturers.While typically being a time-consuming and somewhat uncommon process, an aircraft’s aft pressure bulkhead can be wholly replaced.
During the twenty-first century, various parties became increasingly interested in developing aft pressure bulkheads composed from composite materials, seeking benefits such as lower manufacturing costs, easier sealing, elimination of corrosion risk, along with weight and part count reductions.During the early 2000s, Airbus Group developed the largest manufactured resin film infusion structure then in production to function as the aft pressure bulkhead for their double-decker A380 airliner.[10] the German aerospace supplier Premium AEROTEC, which successfully manufactured the world’s first thermoplastic-based rear pressure bulkhead during the 2010s; according to the firm, the new unit had reportedly resulted in a 75% reduction in processing and assembly time as well as a noticeable weight saving over traditional aluminium counterparts.
