Advanced Composite Materials for Aerospace Applications

Running Header: ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR AEROSPACE
APPLICATIONS 1
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ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS
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University Affiliation
Author Note
The report is presented to fulfill partial credits of the course and to meet the graduation
requirements.

ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS 2
ABSTRACT
Advanced composite materials are the future material for the aerospace applications. Right from
the days of using low weight aluminum alloys for aircraft applications the materials being used
for aircraft applications have undergone a lot of change; the recent trend is employing advanced
composite materials which do possess distinct processing methodology and a set of unique
advantages in the application of the industry. The report proceeds with classification discussion
on the properties of composites and leads to the sustainable composites, environmental impacts
of composites and comparison of the same with the traditional composite materials.
Keywords: Advanced composite materials, properties, failure modes, sustainable composites,
comparison with the traditional composites

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ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR AERO SPACE APPLICATIONS
Aero space applications require material with unique properties which essential include low
weight and high strength at the forefront. Other requirements include ease in fabrication and
reliability of the material etc. The following part of the discussion will focus on several aspects
of the composite materials. Some of the key aspects like evaluation of the composite designs
employed for manufacturing. Evaluation of the mechanical properties of the materials,
identification and assessment of the failure mechanism of the composite materials. Other aspects
included in the discussion are about the environmental aspects of the advanced composite
materials as well as the sustainability and post disposal aspects of the materials (Kalaiyarasan et
al., 2016).
TASK 1 COMPOSITE DESIGNS
The design philosophy that backed the design of the composite structures is contained in the
concept of creating new composite designs that do have equivalent of better level of safety than
the structure, which it has replaced. A successful composite structure design must be designed
based on rational selections of damaged sizes. The combination of detectability and the residual
strength(ScienceDirect,2018) criterion makes up one of the important aspects of the design
philosophy. Safety in service and keeping the state of unsafe low makes up the key aspects of the
design philosophy, behind the design of composite structures (BFBackman, 2005). Computer
Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing(CAM) when integrated it is possible
to take up the best precision material manufacturing. Such processes can yield material with best
in class outcomes which invariably will contain very less material wastage. CAM procedures

ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS 4
will enable the design to be made with optimized material usage. These procedures will work for
the betterment of material usage and in this turn can work to minimize material wastage during
the processing as well during the finishing process. The material finish during the production
process can be optimized using the cam process and there will be very limited material wastage
and material removal requirements during the computer aided manufacturing process. Overall
production accuracy and manufacturing precision is vital for aerospace industry CAD/CAM
operations. It is required for the operations to be operated with great care to generate the best in
class materials as needed by the aerospace applications. For composite structure, the production
process is slightly different from traditional processes; Composite structures are prepared in
molds which are often called as tools. Both hard tooling and soft tooling practices are inuse for
making composite materials. For example if the volume generation rate is less, then the molds
can be made of the same material employed for the composites and it can be called as soft
tooling. Further the tooling will undergo quick wear and tear. Hard tooling will be employed in
the cases where the production flow rates are higher, in all such cases, the material used for the
molds will be made of either carbon, fiber, epoxy or even monolithic graphite. Some times
castable graphite, ceramics or even metals like aluminum, steel and other alloys will be
employed in hard tooling for composite structures. Invar is expensive but preferable due to the
superior tool properties. Some of the preferable properties of the hard tools are very fine
matching with the thermal expansion coefficients of the composite structures being
manufactured, stability at higher temperatures and dimensional accuracy at higher temperature
conditions, further resistance to wear and tear, useful life for numerous working cycles are some
of the attributes of these tools. Also a variety of cutting tools are employed in association with
the CAM tools for composite materials. All these tools invariably will contain materials like