Xenia Materials has collaborated with Fly-Mi Euroavia Milano, the student association of Politecnico di Milano, on the development of the O.L.I.V.I.A. (Optimized Lightweight Intelligent Vehicle for Immediate Assistance) drone. It is an autonomous unmanned aircraft designed to take part in the UAS Challenge 2025 in the United Kingdom. This partnership continues last year's cooperation on the NYX project and demonstrates Xenia Materials' consistent involvement in the development of lightweight composite structures and its support for academic teams working on advanced material applications in aviation.
The UAS Challenge brings together university teams from around the world that design and build unmanned aircraft intended to carry out tasks in humanitarian scenarios. As part of the O.L.I.V.I.A. project, the Fly-Mi Euroavia Milano students prepared a solution focused on autonomous missions, covering the full flight cycle: take-off, payload flight, mission execution and landing. The team managed to combine requirements regarding system reliability, safety and aerodynamic properties with mass and payload constraints, which translated into third place overall and international recognition for their engineering approach.
O.L.I.V.I.A. is a fixed-wing drone with a V-tail and a semi-elliptic high-wing configuration. The platform is designed for fully autonomous missions while carrying a payload of up to 1.75 kg. The structure was developed using advanced composites, which enabled high structural efficiency, low weight and favourable aerodynamic characteristics. The applied dual battery system and redundant positioning and communication systems were additionally recognised with the Safety Award for reliability.
A key element of the drone's structure is the high-mounted semi-elliptic wing, which required precisely manufactured moulds capable of operating in autoclave lamination cycles. For this purpose, the team decided to use the XECARB 40-C20-3DP material supplied by Xenia Materials. It is a high-performance, 3D-printable polycarbonate reinforced with 20% carbon fibre, used to produce moulds for composite wing components and other structural parts of the drone.
The XECARB 40-C20-3DP material provided the team with a combination of properties essential for accurate forming of aerodynamic surfaces. The most important included good machinability facilitating finishing operations, dimensional stability under thermal load and heat resistance suitable for autoclave cycles. This made it possible to obtain smooth, accurate moulds that allowed faithful reproduction of the wing profile and maintenance of the intended aerodynamic parameters.
Another advantage in mould applications was the low weight of the finished tools, which simplified handling, positioning during lamination and operation in laboratory conditions. At the same time, the mechanical integrity of the printed moulds allowed them to operate in repeated autoclave cycles at 120 °C and 2 bar without visible deformation. As a result, moulds made from XECARB 40-C20-3DP effectively supported the production of carbon fibre composite components that determine the low mass and stiffness of the O.L.I.V.I.A. structure.
The importance of material selection for the moulds was also emphasised by the Fly-Mi Euroavia Milano team, pointing to the impact of the tooling on the quality of the drone's final structure and its performance.
"Xenia's XECARB 40-C20-3DP material allowed us to create moulds that were precise, strong and easy to work with during the autoclave lamination process," said the Fly-Mi Euroavia Milano team. "Having reliable moulds was crucial to achieving the aerodynamic performance and structural quality needed for O.L.I.V.I.A., and it played a major role in helping us secure third place in the competition."
This second consecutive collaboration on a student project, following the earlier NYX project, confirms Xenia Materials' declared strategy of supporting research and education of young engineers in the field of advanced composites. The company is involved in projects carried out in cooperation with technical universities and student teams, sharing its expertise in lightweight, high-strength material solutions for the aerospace sector.
The development and operation of the O.L.I.V.I.A. drone shows that the deliberate use of advanced composite filaments for mould and tooling production can significantly support the development of lightweight structures in unmanned aviation. From the perspective of the plastics processing industry, this project is an example of the application of 3D printing with carbon fibre reinforced polycarbonate as a tooling material in autoclave processes, while maintaining dimensional repeatability and mechanical durability under demanding process conditions.
At the same time, the Fly-Mi Euroavia Milano students demonstrated that combining engineering knowledge, teamwork and properly selected composite materials can deliver a tangible outcome in the form of a competitive unmanned aircraft design. The O.L.I.V.I.A. project illustrates how cooperation between industry and academic centres can support technology development in the aeronautical sector and create an environment for testing new material solutions.
More information about the O.L.I.V.I.A. project is available on the Xenia Materials website: https://www.xeniamaterials.com/en/xenia-collaborates-with-politecnico-di-milano-olivia-drone/.
