next line of airplanes,called the Boeing 787 Dreamliner,will be made of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers.The other major materials in Boeing 787 will be aluminum alloys (20%),titanium alloys (15%),and steel (10%).Two of the major composite components in 787 will be the fuselage and the forward section,both of which will use carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy as the major material of construction. There are several pioneering examples of using larger quantities of com- posite materials in smaller aircrafts.One of these examples is the Lear Fan 2100,a business aircraft built in 1983,in which carbon fiber-epoxy and Kevlar 49 fiber-epoxy accounted for ~70%of the aircraft's airframe weight.The composite components in this aircraft included wing skins,main spar,fuselage, empennage,and various control surfaces [3].Another example is the Rutan Voyager(Figure 1.4),which was an all-composite airplane and made the first- ever nonstop flight around the world in 1986.To travel 25,000 miles without refueling,the Voyager airplane had to be extremely light and contain as much fuel as needed. Fiber-reinforced polymers are used in many military and commercial heli- copters for making baggage doors,fairings,vertical fins,tail rotor spars,and so on.One key helicopter application of composite materials is the rotor blades. Carbon or glass fiber-reinforced epoxy is used in this application.In addition to significant weight reduction over aluminum,they provide a better control over the vibration characteristics of the blades.With aluminum,the critical flopping FIGURE 1.4 Rutan Voyager all-composite plane. 2007 by Taylor Francis Group,LLC.next line of airplanes, called the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, will be made of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers. The other major materials in Boeing 787 will be aluminum alloys (20%), titanium alloys (15%), and steel (10%). Two of the major composite components in 787 will be the fuselage and the forward section, both of which will use carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy as the major material of construction. There are several pioneering examples of using larger quantities of com￾posite materials in smaller aircrafts. One of these examples is the Lear Fan 2100, a business aircraft built in 1983, in which carbon fiber–epoxy and Kevlar 49 fiber–epoxy accounted for ~70% of the aircraft’s airframe weight. The composite components in this aircraft included wing skins, main spar, fuselage, empennage, and various control surfaces [3]. Another example is the Rutan Voyager (Figure 1.4), which was an all-composite airplane and made the first￾ever nonstop flight around the world in 1986. To travel 25,000 miles without refueling, the Voyager airplane had to be extremely light and contain as much fuel as needed. Fiber-reinforced polymers are used in many military and commercial heli￾copters for making baggage doors, fairings, vertical fins, tail rotor spars, and so on. One key helicopter application of composite materials is the rotor blades. Carbon or glass fiber-reinforced epoxy is used in this application. In addition to significant weight reduction over aluminum, they provide a better control over the vibration characteristics of the blades. With aluminum, the critical flopping FIGURE 1.4 Rutan Voyager all-composite plane.
2007 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC