Composites are becoming multifunctional. Compared to metal, their multi-layered structure makes it easy to embed structural functions such as electrical conductivity. For reducing cost, an important area of development has been resin infusion products.
For example, Cytec's new system, PRISM EP 2400, is being qualified on a new program and has received strong customer acceptance. Lo Faro said:
It's main advantage is that it can be used for primary structures, a major industry need. In the past, the use of resin infusion in structural aerospace applications was constrained by performance and often processability. This system provides a good balance of mechanical properties, including structural toughness. It's also easy to process due to its viscosity profile.
Hexcel's fiberglass Acousti-Cap honeycomb core material combines sound dampening properties with lightweighting for aircraft engines. (Source: Hexcel)
To make the initial step change to carbon fiber composites in the first place, they had to be used in low-risk ways, said John Moore, Hexcel's project manager for carbon fibers. Instead of optimizing the plane's design based on what composites can do, the industry took traditional metallic designs for parts such as skins and fuselage, and figured out how to make them out of composites. "We didn't design the optimum combination of strength and modulus for each module on the plane," he said.
During the next five to 10 years, carbon fiber makers will design products with more strength and modulus combinations for different components. For example, Hexcel's strongest carbon fiber, IM-10, has a 44 million psi modulus, similar to the previous carbon fiber's, but with a much higher strength of 1,000 ksi (thousands of lb/square inch).
As resins get better and manufacturers understand lifecycle and fatigue better, they can design more optimized parts. "One big issue is how to improve production costs," said Moore. "The autoclave method is incredibly expensive, and takes a long time to cure resins."
Another concern is how to qualify new materials to reduce and optimize testing requirements. Moore said:
The industry still works on an old model that doesn't let us move fast. Each time we bring in new equipment, we have to qualify it in the manufacturing environment. Those tests are costly and can take several years. As materials get more miles, qualifying new equipment and processes should become easier and faster.
BASF's Baxxodur low-viscosity, latent cure resin infusion systems are one solution for shortening resin cure times, saving 30 percent in time compared to non-latent cure technology. Combined with glass, aramid, or carbon fiber, they target structural applications in aircraft interiors. Since viscosity is very low at infusion, resin infusion processes with latent cure technology provide good fiber wetting at low temperatures, said Ralph Maier, BASF's manager of aerospace technologies. Resin fully penetrates the composite structure and thoroughly wets the fibers, strengthening the interface between resin and fibers.
You bet! It's Vertechs Enterprises (vertechsusa.com)
I just looked, and realized that the non-honeycomb sandwich products are not yet shown on our website. We have a number of such products that we have been developing and testing with major aerospace companies for quite a few years, and are just about to start producing our first full-scale product samples.
CPDick, thanks for that information. We focused on structural and interior component materials for this feature, not engines, but that's good input. It's especially interesting that temperatures are outpacing titanium. Can you give us your company name for possible followup?
I saw no mention of cellular steel (superalloy) products. Inside and near turbine engines, the temperatures are too high for most of the materials mentioned. In fact the temperatures seem to be rising, to the point that many parts that were traditionally made of titanium alloys are failing. For quite a few years, we've been working both on traditional superalloy honeycomb and on other brazed cellular structures that can replace titanium and withstand much higher temperatures, and yet be weight-neutral or even weight-saving.
Beth, I also found it enlightening to discover the mix of materials being developed for, and used in, in bleeding-edge aircraft design. But composites are, in fact, a big part of all this, so it's not all hype. It was a big surprise, and encouraging, to see that sustainability concerns are finally reaching and influencing this industry, like so many others.
Very comprehensive overview of the state of materials exploration in the aerospace industry. It was interesting to me that companies don't see composites as the be-all, end-all solution--a surprise given that so much attention and hype is focused on their deployment. I was also pleased to see that companies are keeping somewhat of a watchful eye on sustainability concerns as they vet out these new materials.
The 100-percent solar-powered Solar Impulse plane flies on a piloted, cross-country flight this summer over the US as a prelude to the longer, round-the-world flight by its successor aircraft planned for 2015.
GE Aviation expects to chop off about 25 percent of the total 3D printing time of metallic production components for its LEAP Turbofan engine, using in-process inspection. That's pretty amazing, considering how slow additive manufacturing (AM) build times usually are.
A $1,500, hand-operated, bench-model, plastic injection machine crowdsource-funded via Kickstarter can be used to mold small, quality, plastic parts inexpensively, on demand.
The federal government is launching competitions to kickstart three more manufacturing innovation institutes, including one focused on Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation.
The airframe of Airbus's A350 XWB consists of a bigger proportion of carbon-fiber-reinforced composite structures than any other commercial jet to date: over 53 percent by weight.
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