Aerospace Composite Structure: Routing a Thermoset Composite Fabrication Model by Prepeg Lay-up Medium to Manufacture Sandwich Panels for Aircraft

Abstract

Advanced composite materials (ACM) made with technical textile fibres are of significant interest in aerospace, military weapon, marine, automotive, civil construction and different areas of engineering application due to their distinctive and superior strength to weight ratio over traditional materials (such as metals or ceramics) [1-4]. The aerospace industry is one of the largest consumers of ACM because the industry has reduced the weight of the aircraft panels by more than 40% by replacing aluminum materials with ACM [3]. Besides the lower density (light-weight) of the ACM, the aircraft segment can also be benefitted from the high stiffness, high strength, high axial or longitudinal specific strength [4]. According to the comparative cost principle, the financial advantages possessed by any company engaged in aircraft manufacturing will grow even higher if it can produce a given aircraft panel at lower resource input cost than its competitors, which is possible by replacing aluminum panels with composite panels; because a reduction of 1kg in weight can save fuel cost worth up to $50$500 USD depending on the types of aircrafts (Figure 1) and global fuel price matrix [3]. T-300 built aircraft payload bay doors can be a real-life example of this comparative cost principle, which is made by carbon fibre-epoxy composite part and demonstrated 400kg of weight saving [4]. Further to the comparative cost and light-weight advantages, Lockheed Martin was also able to simplify their manufacturing assembly by eliminating 95% of the fasteners through the duct because of the use of ACM in the air inlet duct of F35 military fighter jet [5]. A separate study displayed that the total number of components in helicopter manufacturing was dropped by a factor of 7 (from 11,000 to 1500 parts) with a corresponding reduction of 90% in the number of fasteners [4].