Reinforced Plastics  Volume 60, Number 5  September/October 2016 www.reinforcedplastics.

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Composites consolidate in commercial

FEATURE

aviation
George Marsh

Carbon composite has well and truly joined the mainstream of aerospace construction, not least in the
commercial aviation sector. Here, aircraft that are up to 50% by weight carbon are proving their worth as
fuel-efficient carriers, polluting less and saving their operators money compared with previous-
generation metal types. Below, we offer a round-up of progress made by some of the most significant
drivers of the reinforced plastic aircraft revolution.

Right in the vanguard has been Boeing with its B787 Dreamliner.
Despite a difficult gestation and birth, covered in earlier issues of
Reinforced Plastics, this widebody people carrier has been pleasing
occupants with its speed and comfort, and operators with its
economical performance. The latter is largely due to the aircraft’s
ultra-light half-plastic structure.
Boeing has taken a pioneering role in extending the aerostruc-
tural reach of carbon composite by adopting it for the aircraft’s
fuselage. Previously, in terms of commercial jets, carbon had
variously claimed the wings, tail cone and empennage, control
surfaces, internal pressure bulkheads, engine nacelles and various
fairings, but stopped short at the fuselage, the central and most
critical structure of an aircraft due to its role in containing the
passengers and enclosing them in a life-maintaining pressurized
environment. Boeing boldly broke the impasse by adopting carbon
for the fuselage as well, thereby making the B787 one of the
lightest aircraft for its size and capacity (nearly 300 passengers
on the -9 variant). The fuselage, made up of tape-wound barrel
sections, is the most revolutionary aspect and the first for a
commercial airliner.
It so happened that Boeing’s big European rival, Airbus, was in
parallel developing a 50% carbon passenger jet for which it, too,
was adopting a carbon-epoxy composite fuselage. This was for its
A350 XWB, a widebody family of three, the largest being the A350-
1000 with a 350 passenger capacity. But Boeing was first off the
blocks, its contender achieving a maiden flight in December 2009,
followed by entry into service with launch customer All Nippon
Airways (ANA) in late 2011.
E-mail address: georgehmar@hotmail.com.
By now the B787 has flown more than 100,000 revenue flights
with 35 scheduled carriers, a figure that should rise to 40 by the end
of this year. Nearly 400 Dreamliners are plying some 600 routes,
almost two thirds of those being inter-continental. Many of the
delivered jets are replacing other widebody types, thanks to the
787’s superior operating economics. For example ANA has
reported that the B787 burns 21% less fuel than the B767s it
previously used on long-haul routes, and 17% on short-haul.
Among operators now equipped with the type are fast-growing
Norwegian, which has taken advantage of the twinjet’s highly
competitive operating costs to launch affordable long-haul ser-
vices, along with Qatar Airways, Air India and United Airlines
which, likewise, have inaugurated new routes. Early teething
troubles that inevitably accompany the introduction of any
new aircraft type into revenue service appear to have been over-
come and, in the main, dispatch reliability is now approaching
anticipated levels.
Meanwhile Airbus, with its A350 XWB, has adopted a more
conservative structural approach than Boeing for its carbon
composite fuselage. Whereas the major ‘barrel’ sections of the
Dreamliner fuselage are monolithic structures tape-wound in
largely automated facilities, Airbus has based its solution on
large composite panels attached to composite frames. This
means that, at least in theory, A350 fuselage repairs can be made
by removing just the panels affected, for subsequent attention in
dedicated composite shops. This compares with having to repair
B787 fuselage damage either in situ at an airport, as happened
when an Ethiopian Airlines example suffered a major fire while
on the ground at London’s Heathrow Airport in 2013, or after
removing the entire aircraft to a suitable facility. The A350

0034-3617/Crown Copyright ß 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.repl.2016.08.002
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Reinforced Plastics  Volume 60, Number 5  September/October 2016
FIGURE 1
The Airbus A350XWB is extensively composite, including the empennage
and vertical stabilizer, seen here (Image courtesy of master films/P. Masclet).
fuselage also has a slightly different shape, being more ovoid
than spherical so as to confer the extra wide body (hence XWB)
that enables the interior to accommodate 10-abreast seating if
required (Fig. 1).
A350XWB first flew in June 2013 and five prototypes were used
in an intensive flight test program that led to certification by the
European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in September 2014 and
by the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) two months later. The type
entered service with launch customer Qatar Airways, which has
ordered 80 A350s, in January 2015. By May this year, orders for the
A350 exceeded 800 from 42 operators, a recent order for six -900s
from Philippine Airlines bringing the precise total to 802. Airbus
has delivered a couple of dozen A350-900s while first flight of the
largest variant, the A350-1000, is expected this July.
A production rate of up to 10 per month by 2018 is targeted, up
from three or four per month being achieved currently (at time of
writing). High-rate production has been facilitated by investment
in new or up-graded composite production facilities including a
£570 m unit in Broughton, Wales, for producing the wings and a
new composite rudder plant in China.
End of a duopoly?
The most intriguing recent development in the airliner market is
the entry of Canada’s Bombardier Aerospace with its CSeries
short-to-medium hauler, which promises not only to fill a gap at
the sub-150 seat end of the narrowbody capacity range, but in
subsequent variants to become a credible competitor to the smaller
members of the Airbus A320 and Boeing B737 families that domi-
nate air travel today. It could disturb the present duopoly of Airbus
and Boeing, which between them have a backlog of some 12,000
aircraft on order, by adding a third aircraft supply leg.
Composites are playing their part in securing a low structure
weight for the CSeries with reinforced plastic wings, tailplane,
control surfaces and other primary elements. Wings are manufac-
tured in Belfast, Northern Ireland, using a resin transfer infusion
process. Bombardier already had considerable composites experi-
ence, having developed the predominantly composite Learjet 85
business jet, although this project was shelved in order to release
funds for on-going CSeries development (Fig. 2).
FEATURE
FIGURE 2
Bombardier’s CSeries has reinforced plastic wings, tailplane, control surfaces
and other primary elements (Image courtesy of Shutterstock).
However, Bombardier limited development risk by selecting the
low-weight metal aluminum–lithium for its fuselage, rather than
FEATURE
carbon composite as first planned. Al–Li is an established compet-
itor to composite and can, as the Canadian airframer likes to point
out, be fabricated and repaired using metal forming techniques
that are familiar throughout the global supply chain.
Much of the 10% fuel efficiency hike promised by Bombardier
for its new twinjet is due to a bold choice of a radical new engine in
which, thanks to the introduction of a geared reduction stage, the
engine’s front-end fan and compressor rotate at individually opti-
mum speeds rather than at the same speed. The resulting improved
engine architecture enables engine maker Pratt &Whitney to claim
large fuel efficiency improvements for its Pure Power 1000G series
compared with engines currently in service. Such substantial
economies still interest airframers and operators even at a time
when fuel prices have dropped dramatically from their peak of a
few years ago, because of the competitive advantage conferred.
Consequently P&W has clocked over 7000 orders for its geared
turbofan engines, which have also been chosen to power Airbus
A320neo (new engine option) aircraft plus Embraer E-Jet, Irkut
MC-21 and Mitsubishi MRJ regional jet models.
The maiden flight of a CSeries aircraft took place in September
2013 and flight test results described as encouraging followed.
Type certification by Transport Canada was achieved by the end of
2015. Despite a slow start as would-be operators waited to see how
the extensively composite and GTF (geared turbofan) powered
twinjet would fare in flight tests and early service, orders are now
gaining momentum.
Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss International Airlines, launch oper-
ator for the smaller CS100 variant, has 30 aircraft on order plus 10
options (at least 15 of its aircraft will be the larger, 130-seat,
variant) and is commencing service with its first 125-seat CS100
about now (June/July). Latvian carrier air Baltic is launch customer
for the CS300 model and has 20 of the jets on order. Other orders
from Air Canada (45 CS300s plus 30 options) and Delta Airlines
(75 CS100s plus options for 50 more) have resulted in orders and
letters of intent for over 300 aircraft, with approximately 250 more
in the pipeline.
National virility
With a thriving aerospace industry being taken as a sign of
national virility, it is no surprise that countries like Russia, Japan
and China aspire to develop and produce aircraft that can achieve
success in export as well as home markets.
Russia, for instance, for long an accomplished aircraft builder,
has high hopes for the Irkut MC-21 and Superjet 100 types
produced by a rationalized aircraft industry. Irkut’s mid-range
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FIGURE 3
The Irkut MC21, seen here in manufacture, is Russia’s challenge to the
Boeing/Airbus narrowbody duopoly.
narrowbody, reportedly 20–30% composite, is a single-aisle twin-
jet whose three variants, spanning 176-to-230 seat passenger
capacity, are intended to provide a competitive alternative to
ubiquitous western narrowbodies. Irkut claims the aircraft will
offer performance equal or superior to that of Airbus and Boeing
types, at a competitive price. To enhance appeal in the west, a
number of on-board systems are sourced from western companies.
These include, as one of two engine options, Pratt & Whitney’s
PW1400G geared turbofan (Fig. 3).
In terms of composite innovation, the MC-21 is likely to be the
first commercial airliner to enter service with part of the primary
aerostructure that has been subject to an out-of-autoclave cure.
This is a feature of the resin transfer infusion process adopted by
supplier AeroComposit for the MC-21’s carbon composite wing
skins. Pioneering work along these lines had previously been done
for much smaller, general aviation, aircraft by western interests,
notably Diamond Aircraft.
So far Irkut has launched the two smaller versions of the
intended three-member family and present efforts are focused
on final development and certification. A delayed first flight is
now expected in 2017, followed soon afterwards by entry into
service with Russian carrier Aeroflot. There are reported to be 175
firm orders with options for approximately 140 more, the majority
so far being for leasing companies and indigenous airlines. These
are small numbers compared with those of the established duopo-
ly, but if Irkut can win even a tiny slice of the burgeoning single-
aisle narrowbody market, it may yet gain a foothold in the world
airliner supply business.
Meanwhile, the Sukhoi Division of the Russian civil aerospace
company (UAC) similarly has high hopes for its Superjet 100
regional jet, which is already in service designed with a number of
western systems and marketed by Italian-Russian organization
Superjet International, this modern fly-by-wire 100-seat (nominal)
RJ first flew on 19th May 2008 and entered service in 2013 with
launch customer, Mexico’s Interjet. This airline appears to be
pleased with the aircraft and has reported dispatch reliability of
up to 99.7%. Altogether, almost 400 SSJ-100s have been ordered.
The Russian regional jet is predominantly metal but has some
composite parts made at an advanced production site in Voronezh
(VASO). A composite wing, elevator and rudder are slated for the
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intended larger Superjet 130 (also known as Superjet NG – new
generation), a product that could compete with the Bombardier
CSeries, the Airbus A319 and smaller versions of the new-genera-
tion Boeing 737. Development of the SSJ130 is due to start immi-
nently, with a view to service entry in 2020.
Japan’s bid for a slice of the regional jet market rests with the
MRJ – Mitsubishi Regional Jet. The smaller of two variants, the
PW1200G-powered MRJ70, first flew in November last year (2015)
and service introduction is expected next year. The larger, MRJ90,
currently eight months into a two-year flight test program, is due
to see its first example arrive late this year in the United States
where the more reliable weather (than in Japan) will help speed up
the certification program, with mid 2018 being targeted for deliv-
ery of the first commercial example. Almost 400 MRJs have been
ordered and, crucially, the type has been selling well in North
America, the world’s largest regional jet market, with 170 sales in
aggregate to Sky West, Trans States Holdings and Eastern Airlines.
Carbon composite parts will make up 10–15% of the aircraft’s
structure, earlier plans for a largely carbon composite primary
structure having been dropped. A vacuum-assisted form of resin
transfer molding, developed in collaboration with material sup-
plier Toray, is being used for key parts of the empennage. Mitsu-
bishi Aircraft has also embarked on an MRJ90 stretch, the
MRJ100X, for which the scope of composites could be expanded.
China, determined not to be left out of the party, has its
COMAC C919 narrowbody with up to 170 seats and the somewhat
smaller (up to 105 seats) ARJ21.regional jet in play. The first C919
was rolled out in November 2015 and a maiden flight is expected
this year, with service entry anticipated for 2018. Early intentions
for use of composites, in this case for the center wing box, were
abandoned in favor of aluminum alloy so as to simplify and speed
up the program.
The ARJ (Advanced Regional Jet) 121 first flew in 2008,
although it was several more years before the first production
aircraft flew, and Chinese type certification followed in December
2014. The airframe is primarily metal with relatively minor com-
posite content.
Superjumbos
The world’s largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380 double-
decker with its ability to carry up to 850 passengers in high-density
configuration, had its gestation in the early years of this century
and is a predominantly metal creation. Even so, it does have some
20% composite content, most notably including the hybrid plas-
tic/metal laminate GLARE (glass and aluminum reinforced epoxy)
panels in the crown (top) of the fuselage. This attempt to combine
the advantages of both classes of material, whilst proving struc-
turally sound and saving airframe weight, has not so far been
widely copied, the technology having effectively been by-passed in
favor of ‘pure’ composites. A380 is also the first commercial
airliner to have a carbon composite center wing box (Fig. 4).
Since its first flight in 2005, some 190 A380s have been deliv-
ered, from a total of 315 firm orders so far (May 2016 figures). The
type has appealed strongly to airlines based in the Middle East –
Emirates alone having ordered 142 of them – and Asia, where
Singapore Airlines was the launch airline.
Boeing, while not competing with a superjumbo of similar size,
has responded to the four-engined A380 with the latest iterations
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FIGURE 4
The Airbus A380 ‘superjumbo’ has part of its fuselage constructed in glass
and aluminum reinforced epoxy (GLARE) hybrid material (Image courtesy of
Shutterstock/G. Tipene).
of its successful B777 twin-engined widebody, the B777-X family,
comprising B777-8 and B777-9 variants (315 and 450 seats). These
derivatives have greater composite content than previous ‘triple
sevens’, especially a new light and aerodynamically efficient
composite wing with folding tips. In addition, each plane’s two
FEATURE
General Electric GE9X engines have carbon-epoxy fan blades
of optimum shape. Altogether, the B777X will have composite
content of around 12%.
Boeing recently opened a new $1bn factory at its Everett,
Washington, facility to build the composite wings for the
X-generation triple sevens. This will be the first composite wing
to be manufactured at Boeing since the year 2000 when assembly
of the Northrop-Grumman B-2 bomber ended. (Kawasaki manu-
factures the composite wings for the B787 Dreamliner in Japan.)
Service entry is expected in 2020, following the family’s official
launch in 2013, by when 259 aircraft had already been ordered. By
May this year, the order tally stood at 306. Launch customer is
Qatar Airways, which has ordered 50 of the larger -9 model and ten
FEATURE
-8s. A maiden flight is expected in 2017.
Clearly from the foregoing, composites – particularly carbon –
are rapidly becoming a mainstay of commercial aircraft
production, alongside aluminum alloys. The latter include alumi-
num–lithium, a powerful competitor for carbon composite be-
cause of its low specific weight and ready fit with existing metal
fabrication and maintenance practices. Nevertheless, by progres-
sively growing their partnership with metals, composites will
continue to cut passenger aircraft running costs and environmen-
tal pollution alike, whilst also prolonging airframe life.
This article was written prior to the recent Farnborough Air
Show.
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