Aerospace Applications Marine Composites

Aerospace Composites
The use of composites in the aerospace industry has increased dramatically since the 1970s.
Traditional materials for aircraft construction include aluminum, steel and titanium. The
primary benefits that composite components can offer are reduced weight and assembly
simplification. The performance advantages associated with reducing the weight of aircraft
structural elements has been the major impetus for military aviation composites development.
Although commercial carriers have increasingly been concerned with fuel economy, the
potential for reduced production and maintenance costs has proven to be a major factor in the
push towards composites. Composites are also being used increasingly as replacements for
metal parts on older planes. Figure 1-50 shows current and projected expenditures for
advanced composite materials in the aerospace industry.

Figure 1-50 Advanced Composite Sales for the Aerospace Industry. [Source: P-023N
Advanced Polymer Matrix Composites, Business Communication Company, Inc.]

When comparing aerospace composites development to that of the marine industry, it is

important to note the differences in economic and engineering philosophies. The research,
design and testing resources available to the aerospace designer eclipse what is available to his
counterpart in the marine industry by at least an order of magnitude. Aircraft development
remains one of the last bastions of U.S. supremacy, which accounts for its broad economic
base of support. On the engineering side, performance benefits are much more significant for
aircraft than ships. A comparison of overall vehicle weights provides a good illustration of this
concept.

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Although the two industries are so vastly different, lessons can be learned from aircraft
development programs that are applicable to marine structures. Material and process
development, design methodologies, qualification programs and long-term performance are
some of the fields where the marine designer can adapt the experience that the aerospace
industry has developed. New aircraft utilize what would be considered high performance
composites in marine terms. These include carbon, boron and aramid fibers combined with
epoxy resins. Such materials have replaced fiberglass reinforcements, which are still the
backbone of the marine industry. However, structural integrity, producibility and performance
at elevated temperatures are some concerns common to both industries. Examples of specific
aerospace composites development programs are provided to illustrate the direction of this
industry.

Business and Commercial

Lear Fan 2100
As one of the first aircraft conceived and engineered as a “composites” craft, the Lear Fan uses
approximately 1880 pounds of carbon, glass and aramid fiber material. In addition to
composite elements that are common to other aircraft, such as doors, control surfaces, fairings
and wing boxes, the Lear Fan has an all-composite body and propeller blades.

Beech Starship
The Starship is the first all-composite airplane to receive FAA certification. Approximately
3000 pounds of composites are used on each aircraft.

Boeing
The Boeing 757 and 767 employ about 3000 pounds each of composites for doors and control
surfaces. The 767 rudder at 36 feet is the largest commercial component in service. The 737-
300 uses approximately 1500 pounds of composites, which represents about 3% of the overall
structural weight. Composites are widely used in aircraft interiors to create luggage
compartments, sidewalls, floors, ceilings, galleys, cargo liners and bulkheads. Fiberglass with
epoxy or phenolic resin utilizing honeycomb sandwich construction gives the designer freedom
to create aesthetically pleasing structures while meeting flammability and impact resistance
requirements.

Airbus
In 1979, a pilot project was started to manufacture carbon fiber fin box assemblies for the
A300/A310 aircraft. A highly mechanized production process was established to determine if
high material cost could be offset by increased manufacturing efficiency. Although material
costs were 35% greater than a comparable aluminum structure, total manufacturing costs were
lowered 65 to 85%. Robotic assemblies were developed to handle and process materials in an
optimal and repeatable fashion.

Military
Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF)
Advanced composites enable the ATF to meet improved performance requirements such as
reduced drag, low radar observability and increased resistance to temperatures generated at

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high speeds. The ATF will be approximately 50% composites by weight using DuPont's
Avimid K polyamide for the first prototype. Figure 1-51 depicts a proposed wing composition
as developed by McDonnell Aircraft through their Composite Flight Wing Program.

Figure 1-51 Composite Wing Composition for Advanced Tactical Fighter [Moors, De-
sign Considerations - Composite Flight Wing Program]

Advanced Technology Bomber (B-2)

The B-2 derives much of its stealth qualities from the material properties of composites and
their ability to be molded into complex shapes. Each B-2 contains an estimated 40,000 to
50,000 pounds of advanced composite materials. According to Northrop, nearly 900 new
materials and processes were developed for the plane.

Second Generation British Harrier “Jump Jet” (AV-8B)

This vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is very sensitive to overall weight. As a
result, 26% of the vehicle is fabricated of composite material. Much of the substructure is
composite, including the entire wing. Bismaleimides (BMI's) are used on the aircraft's
underside and wing trailing edges to withstand the high temperatures generated during take-off
and landing.

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Navy Fighter Aircraft (F-18A)

The wing skins of the F-18A represented the first widespread use of graphite/epoxy in a
production aircraft. The skins vary in thickness up to one inch, serving as primary as well as
secondary load carrying members. It is interesting to note that the graphite skins are separated
from the aluminum framing with a fiberglass barrier to prevent galvanic corrosion. The
carrier- based environment that Navy aircraft are subjected to has presented unique problems to
the aerospace designer. Corrosion from salt water surroundings is exacerbated by the sulfur
emission from the ship's exhaust stacks.

Osprey Tilt-Rotor (V-22)

The tilt-rotor V-22 is also a weight sensitive craft that is currently being developed by Boeing
and Bell Helicopter. Up to 40% of the airframe consists of composites, mostly AS-4 and IM-6
graphite fibers in 3501-6 epoxy (both from Hercules). New uses of composites are being
exploited on this vehicle, such as shafting and thick, heavily loaded components.
Consequently, higher design strain values are being utilized.

Helicopters
Rotors
Composite materials have been used for helicopter rotors for some time now and have gained
virtually 100% acceptance as the material of choice. The use of fibrous composites offers
improvements in helicopter rotors due to improved aerodynamic geometry, improved
aerodynamic tuning, good damage tolerance and potential low cost. Anisotrophic strength
properties are very desirable for the long, narrow foils. Additionally, a cored structure has the
provision to incorporate the required balance weight at the leading edge. The favorable
structural properties of the mostly fiberglass foils allow for increased lift and speed. Fatigue
characteristics of the composite blade are considerably better than their aluminum counterparts
with the aluminum failing near 40,000 cycles and the composite blade exceeding 500,000
cycles without failure. Vibratory strain in this same testing program was  510 µ inch inch for
aluminum and  2400 µ inch inch for the composite.
Sikorsky Aircraft of United Aircraft Corporation has proposed a Cross Beam Rotor (XBR)TM,
which is a simplified, lightweight system that makes extensive use of composites. The low
torsional stiffness of a unidirectional composite spar allows pitch change motion to be
accommodated by elastic deformation, whereas sufficient bending stiffness prevents areoelastic
instability. Figure 1-52 shows a configuration for a twin beam composite blade used with this
system.

Structure and Components

The extreme vibratory environment that helicopters operate in makes composites look attractive
for other elements. In an experimental program that Boeing undertook, 11,000 metal parts
were replaced by 1,500 composite ones, thus eliminating 90% of the vehicle's fasteners.
Producibility and maintenance considerations improved along with overall structural reliability.

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Aerospace Applications Marine Composites

Figure 1-52 Twin Beam Composite Blade for XBR TM Helicopter Rotor System
[Salkind, New Composite Helicopter Rotor Concepts]

Experimental
Voyager
Nearly 90% of the VOYAGER aircraft was made of carbon fiber composites. The strength-to-
weight ratio of this material allowed the vehicle to carry sufficient fuel to circle the globe
without refueling. The plane's designer and builder, Burt Rutan, is renowned for building
innovative aircraft using composites. He has also designed an Advanced Technology Tactical
Transport of composites and built the wing sail that was fitted to the 60 foot catamaran used in
the last America's Cup defense.

Daedalus
The GOSSAMER CONDOR and GOSSAMER ALBATROSS caught people's imagination by being
the first two human-powered aircraft to capture prize money that was unclaimed for 18 years.
These aircraft were constructed of aluminum tubes and mylar wings supported by steel cable. The
aerodynamic drag of the cabling proved to be the factor limiting flight endurance. The
DAEDALUS project's goal was to fly 72 miles from Crete to Santorini. By hand constructing
graphite spars over aluminum mandrels, the vehicle's drag was minimized and the overall aircraft
structure was reduced to 68 pounds, which made this endurance record possible.

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