Composites
Composites are artificially created materials combined to produce a resulting
product that can be a lot more favorable in terms of weight, strength and
utility. Most composite materials used in the aircraft industry is usually
made of two materials, a reinforcing substance and a base material. The choice
of the base material depends on the type of engineering requirements such
as strength, conductivity, brittleness or thermal conductivity. A common base
material used in Aircraft skin is fiber glass. Fiber glass is silica based
extruded into extremely thin strands of fibers. This is basically glass in
fine thin extruded fiber form. The fabric is extremely strong when mixed with
a reinforcing substance or a resin formula. The resin is what supports the
base material in place as it is wrapped around it. Another common base material
used in composite materials are carbon fiber filaments woven together into
a fabric that could later be cut, mixed with the matrix and molded into its
final form. Economically, composite materials are currently expensive to manufacture
compared to traditional building materials such as steel, aluminum or wood
in terms of value per square footage. During the early 1990's prices of carbon
fiber rose sharply and was subjected under scrutinity on grounds of price
fixing, however, there are many other causes such as a low production capacity
at time of a booming demand for the material. Hawker Beechcraft aircraft manufactures
most of its current aircraft lineup mostly with composite materials. Other
applications using composites include tires, brake-shoe pads, golf shafts,
Formula 1 racing chasis and parts. The motor sport industry uses composite
materials heavily on the skins and components of their high performance car
to increase their power to weight ratio output.
In the aviation industry, a new aircraft design is not limited by the ability
of engineers to solve a flight character problem, but rather, it is the lack
of available materials that would satisfy a design problem. The development
of composite materials has slowly replaced traditional aluminum and other
alloys used in today's aircraft. Creating a finished composite part requires
the base material to be impregnated with the matrix or resin. The matrix coating
has to be thin enough preventing the composite material from becoming brittle,
at the same time thick enough to reinforce the base material. The Impregnated
material will be vacuum molded to prevent the formation of gaps on the laminate
that would compromise its strength. The mould will be dried under heat lamps
until the material becomes sturdy and ready for final touches. The upcoming
Boeing 787 dreamliner would be the first commercial aircraft whose entire
fuselage is made of composite materials. Having well over 50% composite material
embedded in its design, the reduced weight of the new aircraft greatly increased
its fuel economy as well as range.
Major composites Manufacturers
Hexcel Corp. (NYSE: HXL)
US
Cytec Industries Inc.
(NYSE: CYT)
US
UMECO
composites (LSE: UMC.L)
UK
Zoltek Companies Inc. (NasdaqGS:
ZOLT) US
SGL Carbon (Frankfurt: SGL.F)
(XETRA: SGL.DE)
Germany
Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE:
DOW) US
