Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

The clip above demonstrates why the new Joint Strike Fighter needs to be as lightweight as possible. Carbon fiber is undoubtedly playing a role in reducing the weight. I caught a fascinating NOVA episode on the competition between Lockheed and Boeing in designing the F-35. It goes into a surprising amount of detail of the composite construction and even discusses how Boeing attempted to use a thermoplastic matrix. If you have Netflix, you can watch it instantly for free, or you can get the episode from Amazon below:


I highly recommended anyone interested in aerospace composites or this military program to check it out.

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Airplane Bomb Protection: Composite Materials

Photo Credit: Dave Sizer via flicker

The recent Christmas day "Underwear Bomber" failed, but what if he was successful? The folks at the Discovery Channel and the BBC put this to the test, setting off a similar explosive in a retired airframe. (You can watch the preview here.)

Not only would the airframe survive, but it is thought that a next-generation aircraft built with composite materials such as the 787 Dreamliner would do better:

"The BBC also used a decommissioned Boeing 747 and not a newer Airbus A330 for the test. An actual test would be necessary to prove this, but Wyatt and Joseph think that the newer plane, which was made with lighter and stronger composite materials instead of aluminum, would have performed even better.

The newest commercial passenger jet, the Boeing 747 or Dreamliner, which has even more composite materials, would likely perform even better, said Wyatt, although he doesn't know for sure."

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner - Composite Materials

The composite industry as a whole is interested in the success of Boeing's new 787; it is one more step towards mass acceptance of composite materials. Despite all the problems and the current 28 month delay in production, in the end, the weight savings on the 787 will help contribute to a 20% fuel efficiency.

Here is a great post by MIT's Technology Review on the problems and the future of the Dreamliner. A worthwhile quick read for anyone following the 787 saga.

Photo Credit: Dave Sizer via flicker

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What composite materials are people looking for?

The search giant Google probably knows more about composite materials then anyone in the world. That, and they probably know who in the world is the most interested in composite materials. There is an interesting tool called Google Trends. This little tool allows the public to see what topics are being searched, and their location. This can provide some market insight into where certain composite technologies are finding global interest.

For example, let us look at a composite material terms, and the top five geographical locations people are searching for information. The blue bars to the right are a graphical view of the total number of searches for that particular term.

Composites

1.	Chennai, India
2.	Mumbai, India
3.	Delhi, India
4.	Seattle, WA, USA
5.	Montreal, Canada

Carbon Fiber

1.	San Diego, CA, USA
2.	Irvine, CA, USA
3.	Los Angeles, CA, USA
4.	Sacramento, CA, USA
5.	Orlando, FL, USA

Carbon Fibre

1.	Canberra, Australia
2.	Perth, Australia
3.	Adelaide, Australia
4.	Brisbane, Australia
5.	Bletchley, United Kingdom

Fiberglass

1.	Tampa, FL, USA
2.	Orlando, FL, USA
3.	Portland, OR, USA
4.	St Louis, MO, USA
5.	Seattle, WA, USA

Airbus

1.	Bremen, Germany
2.	Toulouse, France
3.	Hamburg, Germany
4.	Paris, France
5.	Zurich, Switzerland

Boeing

1.	Seattle, WA, USA
2.	St Louis, MO, USA
3.	Phoenix, AZ, USA
4.	Los Angeles, CA, USA
5.	Washington, DC, USA

Pultrusion

1.	Mumbai, India
2.	Delhi, India
3.	Montreal, Canada
4.	Bogota, Colombia
5.	Madrid, Spain

Filament Winding

1.	Tehran, Iran
2.	Mumbai, India
3.	Delhi, India
4.	Milan, Italy
5.	London, United Kingdom

You get the idea... It is really quite fascinating to see what parts of the world are interested in what segment of composite materials. It seems Iran is extremely interested in filament winding; I wonder if homeland security is aware of this?

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Reducing Aviation Emissions

Interesting article by MITs Technology Review on how the aviation industry can reduce global warming emissions. Obviously, using lightweight composite materials is a start; further carbon reductions can come from improved logistics, improved wing/airplane design, and using bio-fuels.

Read the article here.

Photo Credit: Rob Shenk via flicker

Latest Word on Composite with Boeing and Airbus

Nobody like wrinkles, especally composite manufacturers. Wrinkles in composite laminates can lead to delamination and premature failure. Apparently, Alenia Aeronautica out of Italy supplied Boeing with some fuselage sections, where the carbon fiber had some wrinkling. Boeing filed a stop work with Alenia as of June 23rd, and as of last Friday, Boeing has delayed the first 787 flight test until further notice (other issues involving joining the wings). Read a NY Times article here.

Meanwhile, Airbus has received £340 million in loans from the UK government to help stimulate domestic manufacturing, much of which will undoubtedly be composite related. This comes on top of a recent £60 million loan to GKN Aerospace for the manufacturing of rear spar and trailing edge for the A350 XWB. Read about it all here.

Photo Credit: markjhandel via flicker

Large Carbon Fiber Structures...

Here is an interesting clip showing the manufacturing of a fuselage section of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. Much like filament winding, this tape laying machine is tightly wrapping carbon fiber prepreg around an extremely large mandrel. This mandrel is on a track, and is rolled into a massive autoclave where the carbon fiber is consolidated under heat and pressure.

In the clip you will notice they only show fiber being layed around the circumference of the fuselage, this provides the the incredible hoop-strength needed. It is my guess that that tape laying head can also rotate 90 degrees to lay prepreg tape along the length of the plane. (Someone correct me if I am wrong). Ironically, Boeing recently announced there are structural problems with their fuselage that will cause yet another delay while engineers reinforce these sections. You can read that announcement here.

Interesting to see this machine in action, it helps get the mind moving as to what else could be made using this process...

Do jet engines use composite materials?

Ironically, on the same day, the two largest jet engine / gas turbine manufacturers announced plans to partner with universities to develop and integrate the use of composite materials into their engines.

GE announced a partnership with the University of Southern Mississippi to develop composites for use in the GEnx engine, which will power Boeing's new 787 and 747-8. The partnership is receiving funding from a $2.4 million state grant. It also appears GE is adding $2.5 million to the funding. This is by no means underfunded tinkering, so it will be interesting to see their developments.

Meanwhile, Pratt & Whitney announced an expanded partnership with Virginia Tech to design and develop components made of composites for their "advanced gas turbine engine propulsion." I'd be curious as to what parts of these engines they are looking to integrate ate composites into, and why.

Read the announcements:
Forbes
PR Newswire

Photo Credit: Bleuchoi via flicker

Composites and Boeing

I know it is cliche to talk about Boeing and their use of composites on their new Dreamliner, however, here is an interesting video showing the impact resistance of composite sandwich panels used on their planes.

Boeing Backlog Starting to Change

Everyone in the composites world is keeping a close eye on Boeing. As many aerospace technologies slowly trickle down to the mainstream, the utilization of lightweight composites in the new 787 Dreamliner will help with the adoption of composites in many other industries.

It is no surprise that an unnamed carrier has reduced their 787 order by 15 planes, (valued at $2.6 billion). As the economic and financial difficulties continue, I believe this is the precursor to many more dropped or reduced Boeing and Airbus orders.

More Info: Daily Herald