Fibre Reinforced Composites In Aircraft

Construction
Background:
The advent of the composites as a distinct classification of materials began during the
mid-20th century with the manufacturing of deliberately designed and engineered
multiphase composites. Wood, bricks made from straw-reinforced clay, seashells, and
even alloys such as steel had been known for millennia. Recognition of the concept of
combining dissimilar materials during manufacture led to the identification of composites
as a new class that was separate from familiar metals, ceramics, and polymers.
Multiphase composites provides exciting opportunities for a large variety of materials
with property combinations that cannot be met by any of the monolithic conventional
metal alloys, ceramics, and polymeric materials. Principle of combined action; better
property combinations are obtained by the right combination of two or more distinct
materials. Property trade-offs are also made for many composites . These materials
have found applications in aircraft from the first flight of the Wright Brothers’ Flyer 1,
to the complex.uses now enjoyed by both military and civil aircrafts, in addition to
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), space launchers and satellites. Their growing
use has risen from their high specific strength and stiffness and the ability to
shape and tailor the structure to produce more aerodynamically efficient shapes.
Introduction:
Composite material can be defined as a combination of two or more materials that
results in better properties as compare to the individual components used alone. As
opposed to metal alloys, each material retains its separate chemical, physical and
mechanical properties. The two constituents are normally reinforcement and a
matrix..The constituent which has high strength, discontinuous and stiffer is
reinforcement .Typical reinforcements include glass, aramid and carbon, which may be
of different type. The Less stiffer and continuous phase in which reinforcements are
embedded is called as matrix .Matrices can be polymers, metals or ceramics . Most
important composites are those in which the dispersed phase is in the form of a fiber.
Design goals of fiber-reinforced composites include high strength and/or stiffness on
a weight basis. These characteristics are expressed in terms of specific strength and
specific modulus parameters, which correspond, respectively, to the ratios of tensile
strength to specific gravity and modulus of elasticity to specific gravity. Most advanced
of these materials is the carbon fiber–reinforced plastics in which reinforcement and
matrix are both carbon. Fibers are 5-6 µm Dia crystallites of Graphite. Their desirable
properties include high-tensile moduli and tensile strengths that are retained to
temperatures in excess of 2000oC resistance to creep, and large fracture toughness
values. Carbon fibre has a specific tensile strength of 11.8.times that of Aluminum -
roughly the same as the value we already knew. Carbon fibre is roughly 40% lighter
and 10 times stronger than Aluminum. Component made from standard carbon fiber
of the same thickness as an Aluminum one will offer 31% more rigidity than the
Aluminum one and at the same time weight 50% less and have 60% more strength.
Carbon–carbon composites have low coefficients of thermal expansion and relatively
high thermal conductivities. The adoption of composite materials as a major contribution
to aircraft structures followed from the discovery of carbon fibre at the Royal Aircraft
Establishment at Farnborough, UK.
Design and Analysis:
Aircrafts primarily used Aluminum alloys. With the introduction of.composites that
exhibit anisotropic properties, the methodology of design has to be reviewed and in
many cases to be replaced. Composites should not merely replace the metallic alloy
but should take advantage of exceptional composite properties if the most efficient
designs are to be achieved .The design should account for through-the- thickness
effects that are not encountered in the analysis of isotropic materials. The amount
of fiber in a fiber reinforced composite directly corresponds with the mechanical
properties of the composite. Theoretically the maximum fiber ratio of round fibers that
can be achieved in a composite is 90.8% if the fibers are in a unidirectional hexagonal
close packed configuration. Realistically the highest fiber volume ratio is around 70%
due to manufacturing parameters and is usually in the range of 50% to 65%. The matrix
phase serves several functions. First, it binds the fibers together and acts as the
medium by which an externally applied stress is transmitted and distributed to the fiber.
The matrix material should be ductile. In addition, the elastic modulus of the fiber
should be much higher than that of the matrix. The second function of the matrix is to
protect the individual fibers from surface damage as a result of mechanical abrasion
or chemical reactions with the environment. It is essential that adhesive bonding forces
between fiber and matrix be high. Bonding strength is an important consideration in the
choice of the matrix–fiber combination. The majority of aircraft control-lift surfaces
produced has a single degree of curvature due to limitation of metal fabrication
techniques. Improvements in aerodynamic efficiency can be obtained by moving to
double curvature allowing, for example, the production of variable camber, twisted
wings. Composites and modern tools allow the shape to be tailored to meet the
required performance targets. A further benefit is the ability to tailor the aeroelasticity of
the surface to further improve aerodynamic performance. This tailoring can involve
adopting laminate configurations that allow the cross coupling of flexure and torsion
such that wing twist can result from bending and vice versa. Finite Element analysis
allows this process of aeroelastic tailoring with strength and dynamic stiffness
(flutter) requirements to be performed automatically.
Manufacturing:
The majority of CFRP used on primary class-one structures is fabricated by placing
layer upon layer of unidirectional (UD) material to the designer’s requirement in terms of
ply profile and fibre orientation. A number of techniques have been developed for the
accurate placement of the material, ranging from manual and time consuming hand lay-
up techniques to modern automatic tape layer (ATL)
machines. ATL replicates the manual deposition of Uni-
Directional tape but can do so at higher speeds, on
larger parts, with greater process control. Vacuum
Resin Molding is a simplified version of thermoforming,
where a sheet of plastic is heated to a forming
temperature, stretched onto a single-surface mold, and Figure 1:Tape Laying Technique(Material
Sciences, W.D. Callister)
forced against the mold by a vacuum. Prepreg is the
common term for a reinforcing fabric which has been pre-impregnated with a resin
system. The vacuum-assisted RTM is a liquid resin infusion process and is currently
considered by the aircraft industry to be the favored low-cost manufacturing process
for the future. It is an autoclave-free process that has been identified as reducing the
cost of component processing. Autoclave molding is a process of thermoplastic
composite manufacture in which the fibrous reinforcement and thermoplastic matrix are
laid down on a tool in the desired sequence and spot welded to make sure that the
stacked plies do not move relative to each other. Further cost reduction when
manufacturing with composites will be achieved by reducing the assembly cost, by
moving away from fastening (drilling of thousands of holes followed by fastener
insertion and sealing).
Applications:
The selection of the appropriate fibre depends on the application. For military aircrafts,
both high modulus and high strength are desirable. Satellite applications benefit from
use of high-fibre modulus improving stability and stiffness for reflector dishes, antennas
and their supporting structures. Civil aircraft applications have concentrated on
replacing the secondary structure with fibrous composites where the reinforcement
media have either been carbon, glass, Kevlar or hybrids. Revolution in the use of
composite materials for commercial aircraft has recently commenced with the advent of
the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Reductions in
assembly costs approximately 1500
aluminum sheets that are fastened together
with approximately 50,000 rivets are
eliminated. Cost reductions for scheduled maintenance and inspections for corrosion
and fatigue cracks. Reductions in aerodynamic drag, rivets extending from surfaces
increase wind resistance and decrease fuel efficiency. Airbus A310 has entire
composite vertical stabilizer. Airbus A380 has entire fuselage of glass reinforced
plastic. Bell Helicopters has rotor blades on all newer vehicles made of composites.
Bell V22 Osprey consists all-composite wings. Large scale use of composites led to
60% of entire weight. The V22 uses tape laying, hand lay-up and filament winding
for most of the composite construction In A400M composites weight 20% and reduces
cost by 50%. F35 has 40% structural mass and 70% surface area as composites.
The essential agility of the aircraft would be lost if this amount of composite material
was not used because of the consequential mass increase. The essential compound
curvature of the airframe with a constant change of radius is much easier to form in
composites than in metal while radar absorbent material (RAM) can be effectively
produced in composites lead to smallest possible radar cross-sections. A morphing
aircraft can be defined as an aircraft that changes configuration to maximize its
performance at radically different flight conditions. Morphing structures are future of
aviation. These structure are complex and are only achievable by use of composites
materials.
Summary:
Advantages of CFRP include;
 Mass And Part Reduction
 Complex Shape Manufacture
 Reduced Scrap
 Improved Fatigue Life
 Design Optimization
 Improved Corrosion Resistance
Challenges restricting their use are;
 Material And Processing Costs
 Impact Damage
 Damage Tolerance
 Repair And Inspection
Carbon fibre composites are backbone for future aircraft construction since significant
weight savings and shape tailoring can be achieved. For secondary structures,
weight savings approaching 40% .For primary structures, such as wings and fuselages,
20% weight loss is realistically achievable. These figures can always improve but
innovation is key for improvement.