At the moment the huge majority of the structural parts is based on pre-preg designs and standard prepreg manufacturing technology. They are processed conventionally out of Hand Lay-up and cured in autoclaves. The cost drivers are the hand-work, the use of autoclave and the quality control. The future success of new helicopter programs is strongly dependant on the development of cost efficient ...

Quality of embedment of optical fibre sensors in carbon fibre-reinforced polymers plays an important role in the resultant properties of the composite, as well as for the correct monitoring of the structure. Therefore, availability of a tool able to check the optical fibre sensor-composite interaction becomes essential. High-resolution 3D X-ray Micro-Computed Tomography, or Micro-CT, is a relat...

Delamination is one of the most common defects in carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) components, such as those used in aircraft and wind turbine blades. To detect delaminations, different NDT methods such as ultrasonic (UT), eddy current (EC) scanning, flash thermography, and recent developed pulsed-eddy-current-(PEC-) simulated thermography are conducted for comparison and evaluation of th...

This paper investigates the effects of unequal compressive and tensile moduli of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites. The basic assumption is based on the statistics that the compressive modulus is a fraction lower than the tensile modulus. Data evaluated by Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model, Classical Laminate Theory (CLT) model, and experiment are used to investigate these eff...

The accurate and reliable numerical approximation of wave propagation is of fundamental importance to the simulation of acoustic, electromagnetic and elastic phenomena. In mechanical engineering, advanced composites such as carbon fibre reinforced polymer have become one of the most promising materials to build light-weight structures for several fields of application, for instance in aerospace...

Aircraft skins manufactured from carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) can simultaneously support structural load and act as antennas. This offers the potential for disproportionately large antenna elements and arrays, and thus enhanced aircraft capability. The efficient design of such structures requires that the link between CFRP microstructure and electromagnetic performance be established....

This paper presents a data fusion method between the results of ultrasound using phased array at 5MHz frequency and those obtained through eddy current examination at 1-10MH frequency. The obtained results are compared with destructive tests, a very good correlation being obtained. The effects of delamination over the properties of CFRP are studied using dynamic mechanical analyzer, emphasizing...

Carbon fiber reinforced polymers are playing a key role for future aircraft structure design concepts as the newest technical developments for aircraft models B787 and A350 are showing. Due to the specific mechanical properties of this composite material and the novel manufacturing and machining techniques for large-scale CFRP made aircraft structures, it is necessary to establish an adequate p...

Reliable failure prediction methods are required for extending the range of applications of carbon-fiber-reinforced-polymers. In parallel, the development of non-destructive tests (NDT) for continuous health monitoring would result in structures of improved durability and safety. Carbon fibre-reinforced polymers (CFRP) have been investigated for the development of “smart” structures characteriz...