Composite Materials Essay

SECTION III – COMPOSITES

Composites are a relatively new area, yet important area for the manufacturing of aircrafts and aeronautics. Composite materials tend to show very high resistance to cyclic stresses (very important in aircrafts) and a good, specific strength and also water resistance, which may become a real threat if aircrafts run into dense could of any kind. However composites tend to be degraded by UV light. But you can counter act this by having them heavily pigmented. Sometimes composites can be manufactured in order to make them stronger in just a certain direction. Composites can be manufactured to be equal strength in all directions (isotropic) or have a lot of strength in one direction (anisotropic).

Structure/Property

Usually Kevlar is spun into rope or sheets that can then be used in their won right, or combined together to create a whole new item with more diverse uses at its disposal. Kevlar is a reinforced composite that can be seen to be moderately similar to that of carbon fibre. Aramid fibres are used in an epoxy resin as an alternative to carbon fibre. It has properties similar to carbon fibre as well, as it has very high tensile strength and overall strength in accordance to the numerous inter-chain hydrogen bonds that Kevlar contains. It does not rust or corrode over time and absorbs vibrations excellently, it is expensive to produce, but serves it purpose to an outstanding standard. Most commonly there are three different grades of Kevlar: Kevlar, Kevlar 29 and Kevlar 49. Kevlar 49 is used in aeroplanes and other aircrafts. Since Aramid fibre has a very good resistance to impacts and abrasion, it makes it a key component of aircrafts in the battlefield, as many of them come under impact and surface damage when meeting debris and enemy fire. So Kevlar can be used for plating on aircrafts that come under abrasion or any other