Advanced Composite Materials for Aerospace Engineering

Processing, Properties and Applications

Sohel Rana, Raul Fangueiro

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780081000540
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Materials Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Advanced Composite Materials for Aerospace Engineering: Processing, Properties and Applications predominately focuses on the use of advanced composite materials in aerospace engineering. It discusses both the basic and advanced requirements of these materials for various applications in the aerospace sector, and includes discussions on all the main types of commercial composites that are reviewed and compared to those of metals.

Various aspects, including the type of fibre, matrix, structure, properties, modeling, and testing are considered, as well as mechanical and structural behavior, along with recent developments. There are several new types of composite materials that have huge potential for various applications in the aerospace sector, including nanocomposites, multiscale and auxetic composites, and self-sensing and self-healing composites, each of which is discussed in detail.

The book's main strength is its coverage of all aspects of the topics, including materials, design, processing, properties, modeling and applications for both existing commercial composites and those currently under research or development. Valuable case studies provide relevant examples of various product designs to enhance learning.

• Contains contributions from leading experts in the field
• Provides a comprehensive resource on the use of advanced composite materials in the aerospace industry
• Discusses both existing commercial composite materials and those currently under research or development

1

Advanced composites in aerospace engineering

S. Rana, and R. Fangueiro School of Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

Abstract

This introductory chapter will look at the current scenario for using composite materials in aerospace engineering. It will discuss the general requirements for these materials, their different applications and their advantages and disadvantages. It considers existing commercial composites currently in use as well as the new types of composite materials currently in research or under development.

Keywords

Aerospace engineering; Composite materials; Fibre-reinforced polymer composites; Nanocomposites; Self-healing composites; Self-sensing composites

1.1. Introduction and current scenario

Aerospace engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with development of aircrafts and space crafts. Similar to many other engineering disciplines, materials science and engineering are integral parts of aerospace engineering dealing with the materials for constructing aerospace structures. Although metals are mostly used in the construction of aerospace structures, advances in materials science, especially in composites science and technology, allowed the development of promising new materials for aerospace engineering. Composites are hybrid materials developed by combining two or more components, in order to utilize the advantageous features of each component. Recently, fibre-reinforced polymer composites (FRPs), developed by reinforcing different types of matrices (eg, polymeric, ceramic, metallic etc.), with fibrous materials are gaining tremendous attention in aerospace engineering. In today's aerospace industry, the consumption of composite materials has increased more than 50% (Brown, 2014). Composite materials have been used in the aerospace industry in primary and secondary structural parts, including rocket motor castings, radomes, antenna dishes, engine nacelles, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, centre wing boxes, aircraft wings, pressure bulkheads, landing gear doors, engine cowls, floor beams, tall cones, flap track panels, vertical and horizontal stabilizers and so on. Fig. 1.1 shows the growth of composite materials' usage in commercial aircrafts. The Boeing 777, which is a long-range twin-engine jet airliner with capacity over 300 passengers launched in 2000, used 11% composite materials (Table 1.1). The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, launched in 2007, used more than 50% composites (approximately 32,000 kg of carbon fibre composites manufactured with 23 tons of carbon fibre). Fig. 1.2 shows the use of composites materials in the Boeing 787. In 2014, approximately 1680 MT of composite materials, worth more than US$1.1 billion, were used in the engine components. This estimate will reach to 2665 MT composites, worth US$1.7 billion, by 2023 (Red, 2015). Looking at the high temperature requirements, it is expected that ceramic matrix composites will have huge prospects for aircraft engine components.

The substantial growth in the use of FRPs in the past few years is attributed to the fact that advanced FRPs can address most of the following important requirements for aerospace materials (Koski et al., 2009; Nurhaniza et al., 2010; Mouritz, 2012; Alderliesten, 2015; Pevitt and Alam, 2014; Huda and Edi, 2013):

Figure 1.1 Increased growth of composite use in aircrafts over the years (Brown, 2014).

Table 1.1

Increased use of fibre-reinforced polymer composites in aircraft structures

Boeing 777	Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Launched in 2000	Launched in 2007
11% FRPs	50% FRPs
70% Aluminium	20% Aluminium
7% Titanium	15% Titanium
11% Steel	10% Steel
1% Others	5% Others

• Light weight: FRPs are much lighter in weight as compared to metals. In the context of addressing the increasing price of fuels, a strong demand exists to reduce the weight of aerospace structures in order to achieve considerable fuel savings. The use of composite materials led to more than 30% weight reduction of aircraft structures. Additionally, lower fuel consumption will help to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

• Composite materials used in aerospace structures should have high static strength. Some parts of the structures, for example aircraft wings, should be resistant to extreme forces due to wind shear and other high transient forces.

Figure 1.2 Use of composites in the Boeing 787 (Brown, 2014).

• Good fatigue performance is another important requirement for composites used in aerospace engineering. The lifetime of the aerospace structures strongly depends on their fatigue performance. Good fatigue properties increase the lifetime of aerospace structures, reduce the maintenance frequency and cost and enhance the safety.

• Composites for aerospace engineering should also possess high fracture toughness and damage tolerance. The cracks and flaws present in the structures should not grow quickly leading to sudden failure of the structures.

• High-impact energy is another essential requirement of aerospace composites to resist against sudden impacts of various types (eg, bird strikes, foreign objects, etc.).

• Aerospace composites should provide shielding of electromagnetic waves.

• Multifunctionality is an important requirement of aerospace composites. Composites should provide excellent dimensional stability under a wide range of temperatures (starting from freezing to high temperatures), resistance to lightning strikes, hail, corrosive environments (eg, fluids such as jet fuel, lubricants and paint strippers) and improved fire, smoke and toxicity performance.

• Structural health monitoring (SHM) is also an essential need for aerospace composite materials. This is necessary for online monitoring of damage in the aerospace structures in order to carry out timely maintenance activities. This would help to reduce the maintenance cost and improve the safety of aerospace structures.

• Availability of affordable and easy designing and manufacturing techniques as well as reliable analysis and prediction tools are also highly essential, in order to compete with other materials used in aerospace engineering.

Today's advanced composites can fulfil all the requirements listed above. In addition to that, as compared to metals, composite materials require fewer joints and rivets, leading to higher aircraft reliability and lower susceptibility to the structural fatigue cracks. As an example, the use of composites in LCA Tejas led to 40% fewer parts as compared to the metallic design, half of the total number of fasteners and about 2000 fewer drilled holes in the airframe; this resulted in significant cost saving and shorter time to assemble the aircraft (only 7 months as compared to 11 months for the metallic design) (http://www.tejas.gov.in/technology/composite_materials.html). Additionally, composite materials offer the possibility to design green flights by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Related titles
• Copyright
• Dedication
• List of contributors
• Woodhead Publishing Series in Composites Science and Engineering
• Editors' biographies
• Preface
• 1. Advanced composites in aerospace engineering
• 2. Advanced fibrous architectures for composites in aerospace engineering
• 3. Metal and ceramic matrix composites in aerospace engineering
• 4. Fibre-reinforced laminates in aerospace engineering
• 5. Sandwiched composites in aerospace engineering
• 6. Braided composites in aerospace engineering
• 7. Auxetic composites in aerospace engineering
• 8. Polymer nanocomposite: An advanced material for aerospace applications
• 9. Multiscale composites for aerospace engineering
• 10. Self-sensing structural composites in aerospace engineering
• 11. Self-healing composites for aerospace applications
• 12. Natural fibre and polymer matrix composites and their applications in aerospace engineering
• 13. Carbon–carbon composites in aerospace engineering
• 14. Product design for advanced composite materials in aerospace engineering
• 15. Quality control and testing methods for advanced composite materials in aerospace engineering
• 16. Conclusions and future trends
• Index