In order to reduce the carbon footprint for the benefit of the global economy, environment and social well-being, utilization of more sustainable materials and enhancing materials manufacturing efficiency become ever important for the modern aerospace industry . In recent years, carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTPs), particularly carbon fibre reinforced polyetherketoneketone (CF/PEKK), have been increasingly used in new generation light-weight aircraft structures . Compared to conventional thermoset carbon fibre reinforced plastics (e.g. CF/epoxy) , CF/PEKK offers excellent mechanical performance and better interlaminar / intralaminar fracture toughness and the thermoplastic nature of the PEKK matrix also opens a new avenue towards aircraft self-repair and recycling , making it a promising candidate for more sustainable aircraft structures.