HNC AEROSPACE ENGINEERING UNIT 14 AIRCRAFT STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY (21744P) ASSIGNMENT QUESTION 2.3‘SEAKING CMRB REPAIRS Chapter 2 COMPOSITES What are composite materials? ‘A composite material, as most technicians will be able to explain, is a combination of two or ‘more materials brought together to form anew one. This new material utlises the more attractive properties of the parent material whilst suppressing the least desirable, There is ‘one important factor that sets composites aside from other man made materials, they are HETEROGENEOUS. That is to say that the individual components can still be identified, as ‘opposed to materials such as glass, which, whilst stil a combination of two or more materials, are homogenised, or fused together, and not designed to bring out specific. properties of the parent materials. Nature has been producing it's own composite material since the world was formed. That is ‘wood in trees, which consists of tubes of cellulose fibres bonded together by the natural plastic, lignin. It's strength in the direction of the grain, and the lack of strength in other directions is the characteristic of all fibrous material. This is an anisotropic material Materials such as metal have more or less the same strength in any direction and are called isotropic. Mankind was a litte slow to catch on and the first known man- made composite dates from around 3000 B.C. in forms of huts made of mud reinforced with straw. The Romans used ‘composite shields from around 50 B.C., manufactured from thin laminates of wood held together with tree sap. Laminate materials have been known for centuries (Old Shipbuilding) it was not until the first plywood was produced that a structural composite material was commonly available for regular use. Plywood is given its strength by the fact of bonding together thin layers of wood, called plies, with the grain in two or more directions, with adhesive. With the advent of fibreglass it brought improved strength to this class of material As far as we are concemed, composites comprise of materials that are fibre reinforced and are therefore defined as follows: “ll fibre enhanced products are termed composite materials” In more recent years the term “Advanced Composite” has appeared in the vocabulary. These composites are those that lend themselves to structural applications, including Carbon, Kevlar and Boron, but not glass. These advanced composites are described as, “Layers or plies of high strength fibres embedded in a matrix” The family of composite materials is widespread and, whilst we are becoming interested in an ever growing group, we currently limit ourselves to those reinforcements mentioned above and concentrate our interest in the field of plastic matrices.SEAKING CMRB REPAIRS GLASS FIBRE During the early 1940's, coinciding with the advent of radar, itwas found that anew material was required to allow the airborne application of this new technology. This new material had to be radar transparent, easily manufactured and capable of forming self- supporting structures such as radomes. Uilising the new resin systems under development, Glass Fibres were able to fil this niche During WWII, glass fibre was used in the production of large numbers of Spitfire seats, along with cowlings and fairings of various other aircraft, both British and American Attempts were made to manufacture the wings of several aircraft types, but any theoretical ‘weight savings were lost due to the conventional construction techniques applied to these parts. These manufacturing techniques have improved over the years but the basic concept still in use today in the production of modern radomes, as well as the multitude of other items manufactured from glass fibre, PRODUCTION ‘Melting glass spheres or recycied glass in a high temperature furnace produces Glass fibre. This liquid glass is then passed through a bushing, which may contain several thousand individual “holes', to form filaments which are stretched as they coo! then collected into yams. The purpose of the stretching is twofold, firstly the application of tension decreases the incidence of bubbles and associated faults in the fibres, and secondly, it imparts greater tensile strength to the fibres in proportion to their cross sectional area, This process results in uniform fibres with a nominal diameter of 12 microns. Following manufacture, the yams are collected and may be subsequently subjected to further stages of the process. Sizing is the application of a dilute compound, which lightly bonds the filaments together for ease of handling, and may improve the strength of the final laminates. Weaving is the interlacing of a series of yams into fabrics of different construction, which can be tailored to produce different properties such as its drapability. This weaving can build up static charge in the cloth or fibres that will attract dust and debris. To reduce this undesirable characteristic, static cleaning is carried out to remove the contaminants and to neutralise any remaining charge. Any chemical treatment required, e.g. environmental resistance can then be applied fo the material in this “clean” state, The cloth is then subjected to a final inspection prior to dispatch to the customer.SEAKING CMRB KEPAIKS: CARBON FIBRES Development Carbon fibres (CF) as filaments are not new. Thomas Edison first produced them in 1878 for his electrical lamps. The method of manufacture involved the carbonisation of cellulose strands to convert organic matter into carbon. Bamboo or even cotton was used as @ starting material The Americans experimented with CF made from viscous rayon in 1958, but they had poor mechanical properties. In 1961 a Japanese company produced CF from POLYACRYLONITRILE (PAN). Although the resulting CF was not outstanding it seemed likely that PAN could provide the high performance fibres that were required. After abandoning work on asbestos in 1955, Royal Aircraft Establishment continued research, eventually progressing onto C.F. In the mid 1960's two scientists, Watt & Philips, successfully developed a method of converting the man-made fibre BLACK- ORLON into C.F. with exceptional properties. This was the big breakthrough. ‘The method developed by RAE (and stil currently used to produce C.F.) Is to force PAN through very fine jets which crystallises the dope into filaments known as precursors, ‘These are then subjected to a series of high temperature treatments under tension. The OXIDATION process, at a temperature of around 250-300°C, cleans impurities from the surface of the PAN pre-cursor. The fibres are then passed through a CARBONISATION phase, at a temperature of around 1000°C, where the molecules within the fibres are aligned with the fibre axis. The third phase, GRAPHITISATION, brings about a chain linking of the aligned molecules, thereby giving the high strength properties to the fibres. Varying the temperatures at this stage allows for carbon fibres with differing Properties. Grade | High Modulus/Medium Strength Grade Il ‘Medium Modulus/High Strength Grade Ill Low Modulus/Low Strength Grade | fibres are produced at temperatures in the region of 2500°C. This brings about crystallinity and ordering of the fibres, thus imparting a very high modulus value, and reasonable strength, but low failure strain. Due to the high temperatures involved, production is relatively expensive. Grade Il fibres are processed at a lower temperature of around 1500°C. This produces less crystallinity and therefore lower modulus but imparts higher tensional strength to the fibres making it ideal for use in structural applications in the aircraft industry. Grade III fibres are processed at temperatures of around 1100°C and, due to this, are the cheapest types of C.F. to manufacture. Unfortunately both modulus and strength suffer as a result. These fibres are commonly used in sporting goods (squash rackets, golf clubs etc.) ‘These comparisons of course are only relative to each other as Grade Ill C.F. is still significantly stronger than conventional materials. The most commonly used grade in aircraft structures is Grade Il as this gives the best properties, ie. high strength & medium modulus, relative to cost. The fibres are supplied in tows, or twist free bundles, which may vary from 1000 to as many as 260,000 fiores. Typically tows of 3000-12,000 fibres are utilised in aircraft structures.SEAKING CMRB REPAIRS Carbon fibres, whilst possessing enormous tensile strength along the length of the fibre are relatively easily damaged and a size is therefore applied. This also helps bonding to the relevant resin system at a later stage and therefore, these are usually epoxy based When embedded into a matrix system the high mechanical properties of the fibres are somewhat diluted. Ifa laminate is manufactured using a 1 : 1 resinffibre ratio then the total fibre content and therefore the tensile strength and modulus can only be 50%. It can be seen, then, that control of resin/fibre ratio is extremely important in the manufacture of structures. This ratio is known as the VOLUME FRACTION (v.f.) and, with strict workshop conditions fibre ratios as high as 70% can be achieved. ‘The fibres can also be woven into matings making them easier to handle and work with. However, in a balanced weave, this has the effect of reducing the overall strength as only 50% of the fibre's contribute to the load in any one direction. When laminating, great care must be taken to ensure that the fibres are correctly positioned and aligned. This must be done IAW the laminate specifications to ensure maximum contribution to load bearing ‘Another factor taken into account when using woven fabrics is the crimp of the weave. Carbon fibre's are at their strongest when directly in line with the load path. When fibres are woven then some degree of shear load is imparted thus reducing overall strength. Pre-Impregnated Carbon In addition to conventional dry fibres carbon can be supplied in a form known as “pre~ preg” condition the manufacturer has already added the resin system which has been chemically held at B-stage cure (see glossary). The advantages are that the volume fraction is higher, health and safety risks are lower, in so far as no resin mixture is required (fume extraction etc) and there is no pot life to worry about as far as the resin is concemed (typically 40 minutes for wet resins). Disadvantages are that specialist storage facilities are required to prolong the life of the pre-preg. Typically 30 days at 20°C; up to 2 years at -18°C with a finite life of typically 1 year depending on the manufacturers recommendations and that an autoclave or heated platen press is required to fully utilise these inherent advantages. ‘Summary The excellent mechanical properties of carbon fibre, such as high strength and stiffness, low density, good fatigue and vibration resistance, plus X-ray transparency and chemical inertness, has enabled designers to create a vast variety of goods and structures, ranging from aerospace components to medical apparatus and sports equipment. Although the primary reasons behind the research into carbon fibres were the requirement for weight savings, this has become less important, and of more interest to aircraft operators has been its greater resilience and consequent enhancement in fatigue performance of carbon structures. Coupled with this has been a lower maintenance requirement and, therefore cheaper operating costs. This is now the main driving force behind the increased use of carbon fibre in aircraft primary structures. Of course, carbon fibre does have its shortcomings; itis brittle, and can be weakened by repeated low energy impacts. This may cause “barely visible impact damage" (BVID) and considerably reduce the overall strength. Carbon composite construction is also much more expensive and difficult to design than conventional metallic construction. Its primary use is in conjunction with plastics and this means lower operating temperatures, although much work is being done in the field of metal matrix composites (MMC’s) which will alleviate this position. When carbon fibre is used as a repair medium for metallic. structures, galvanic corrosion can be a problem. Scrim cloths, Adhesive films and small lass spheres or bubbles (Ballatine) are the most commen barrier methods of alleviating this problem.SEARING UMIRD REPAIRS: KEVLAR GENERAL Keviaris the trade name of an ARAMID fibre, which was developed, in the early 1970's by DU PONT textile fibres. The material was originally developed for use as replacement for the steel in the belts of radial tyres. It made its commercial debut in 1972 and is produced bya “SOLVENT SPINNING PROCESS” Since then its applications have grown to include: Bullet resistant vests Industrial Cables Safety Clothing Reinforcements for boats Sporting goods Aerospace vehicles Keviar is available in two grades, Kevlar 29 and Kevlar 49. The grade used in reinforced plastics is Kevlar 49. The ability to use existing glass fibre production techniques for Kevlar enhances its Potential. When incorporated in a matrix, a large proportion ofits tensile strength and ‘modulus can be used. Weight savings of up to 35% over glass fibre laminates can be achieved. Keviar fibres are produced with the same base diameter as glass fibres but are approx. 43% lighter, with a density of 1.44g/cc, against 2.85g/cc for glass fibre. Kevlar is twice as strong as fibreglass and ten times as strong as aluminium on a specific. tensile strength basis. (Specific tensile strength is tensile strength divided by its density), making Keviar the highest tensile strength fibre that is commercially available. Comparison of laminates of identical construction and weight, illustrate the following facts:- Keviar strength 380% above fibreglass CSM (chopped strand mat) 43% above fibreglass WR (woven roving) 35% above RIS-glass WR 18% above Carbon Kevlar Modulus 290% above fibreglass CSM 130% above fibreglass WR 42% above R/S-glass WR 40% above Carbon It should be noted that the comparison with CSM (chopped strand mat) is a lttle unfair as the strength and modulus of fibrous materials are proportional to the volume of the material orientated with the load. Chopped strand mat is made from randomly orientated short fibres, laminates made with CSM also have a much higher resin content than those of woven laminates, both are factors that reduce the strength of CSM structures,SEAKING CMRB REPAIRS IMPACT RESISTANCE ‘The primary reason Kevlar is becoming widespread in the aircraft industry is its excellent impact resistance. Although damage will occur under impact, itis localised and will not spread, unlike laminates of carbon or glass. The result of an impact test in which a pane! of glass fibre and a panel of Keviar, of equal stiffness were repeatedly hit to a load of 907kg, using a hemispherical rod, were as follows:- Ply CSM/WR E-glass failed after 836 hits. Ply CSM/'WR Kevlar survived 10,000 hits with only minor damage. ‘A Kevlar composite wil fal via a ‘NON-CATASTROPHIC YIELDING MECHANISM (similar to metal), rather than the fracture mechanism typical of glass or carbon composites. When impacted, Keviar has an initial elastic phase, where the material stretches to absorb the ‘impact energy” rather than fracturing with as occurs in carbon and glass. This ability of Kevlar to withstand impact and continuous static loads results in excellent fatigue resistance, For aviation designs where repeated impacts are envisaged Kevlar has proved to be the Ideal material. Because of its unique properties and versatility, Kevlar Aramid fibre is being used in ever-increasing numbers of aircraft applications, Ranging from interior mouldings Wing and body fairings Access panels Leading and trailing edges Landing gear doors Instrument panels Radomes Propellers. Cargo bay liners and containers Engine noise absorption pads Engine blade containment rings. DISADVANTAGES Kevlar has poor compressive strength and modulus properties, which limits its use as a load bearing, structural material. ‘Aramid fibres can deteriorate under ultra-violet light, such as sunlight. This is NOT the case once it has been encapsulated in a laminate AND painted. Rolls of Kevlar are supplied in lightproof plastic sacks to prevent UV light degradation. The material should be stored in the sack until ready for use. All unused material should be repackaged in its ‘original wrappings. ‘Stores should be clean and dry, as with any fibre products, so that the material is kept free from dirt and other contaminates. The roll should be stored horizontally to avoid the weave from becoming distorted,Tip Closing Channel ‘Anick or a score, blended to the adjacent surface with the correct abrasive paper, is permitted. This is to a maximum depth of 0.008 inch. Rub only in the direction of the span and make the repair width a minimum of 30 times the damage depth A dentis not permitted. Root-End Closing Channel Aniick or a score, blended to the adjacent surface with the correct abrasive paper, is Permitted. This is to a maximum depth of 0.005 inch. Rub only in the direction of the span and make the repair width a minimum of 30 times the damage depth. A dentiis not permitted. Trailing Edge Skin ‘Annick or a score, to a maximum depth of 0.005 inch after repair, is permitted in the skin. Aniick, a dent, or a score at the edge is permitted to a maximum of 0.080 inch along the chord. Blend them to the adjacent surface with the abrasive paper. Rub only in the direction of the span and make the repair width a minimum of 30 times the damage length Spar No dents are permitted in the area of spar not covered by the erosion shield. Local damage to a maximum depth of 0.010 inch is permitted. Delaminations and Voids in a Defective Bond Bonding separation voids or delaminations in the main rotor blades, except as detailed in the Air publications are not permitted. Where voids or separations are suspected, Design Authority advice must be sought. Fluid in the Trailing Edge Box Fluid in the trailing edge box is permitted only when itis in the limits shown in Table 1 Where fluid ingress exceeds these limitations Design Authority advice must be sought.SEAKING LMIRB REPAIRS REPAIR MOMENTS Repairs requiring the removal of the damage and application of laminated glass fibre patches are limited to eight patches per skin. There is also a limit of two patches on each surface outboard of the blade Station 244. Fora core repair, there must be a minimum distance of 12 inches between the patches. For a repair that does not include the core, the minimum distance between the patches is. six inches. Each repair has a Repair Moment Factor (RMF). The value of the RMF is related to the type of the repair and its position on the blade. The sum of all the RMF's is known as the Total Repair Moment Factor (TRMF). For a given Sea King CMRB, the TRMF must not be more than a value of 20 units. The total repair moment factor gives a limit for the quantity of the repairs on each blade, This is to keep the blade in its balance limits. You can calculate the RMF of a repair if you use this formula: RMF = (370- D) WE 400 = The distance in inches from the blade tip (this does not include the end plate) to the centre of the repair. SERENE WF = The weight factor of the repair (refer to Tables 2 & 3, pages 65 & 65) ‘You must write each RMF value on the blade record card. When the TRMF is more than the value of 20, you must retum the blade to the Design Authority. This repair uses some materials and items that are in the Tool Kit 'WD0188-10243-043. (This tool kit is part of the Repair Kit) Repair Kit _WD0188-10243-041. The example that follows uses the repair procedure B4 with a centre that is 150 inches from the blade tip. RMF = (370-150) x3 = 6.6 100 Add the rest of the repair RMF's together to give a total of a TRMF if this figure is above 20 the blade must be rejected.TABLE 1 - DAMAGE REPAIR LIMITS (SKIN ZONE ‘A’) DAMAGE LIMIT REPAIR PROCEDURE WEIGHT FACTOR Nicks or scores with a depth of more than 0.005 in, but less than 0.012 inch in a area of 0.5 in diameter maximum, Repair Procedure A1 3 Scratches or cuts at the trailing edge that do not go along the span more than 4.0 in Scratches or cuts at the trailing edge that do not go along the chord more than 1.0 in The depth of the score or the scratch must be a maximum of 0.10 in. There must be no damage to the honeycomb or the honeycomb-to- skin bond. Repair Procedure AZ Damage to the trailing edge not ‘more than 6.0 in along the span, or 0.625 in along the chord. Repair Procedure A3SEAKING UMKB KEFAIRS ‘TABLE 2 - DAMAGE REPAIR LIMITS (SKIN ZONE ‘B’) DAMAGE LIMIT REPAIR PROCEDURE WEIGHT FACTOR Nicks or scores with a depth of more | Repair Procedure B1 (Circular 3 than 0.008 in, but less than 0.020 Patch) inch in a area of 1.5 in diameter maximum, Nicks or scores with a depth of more | Repair Procedure 81 (Oval 4 than 0.005 in, but less than 0.020 Patch) inch in a area of 4.0 x 0.5 in. The damage width across the blade chord must not be more than 1.5 in. Dents or Damage that go through Repair Procedure B2 5 the skin not more than 1.5 inch in ‘one direction, Damage to the honeycomb or the honeycomb-to- skin bond must not be larger than. the repair hole area. Dents or Damage that go through the skin not more than 3.0 in long, ‘The area of damage must not be more than 0.75 in wide. The damage width across the blade chord must not be more than 1.5 in, There must be no damage to the honeycomb or the honeycomb-to-skin bond must not be larger than the repair area, Repair Procedure B3 Damage that goes through the top and bottom skins, up to a maximum of 1.5 inch in one direction. There must be no damage to the honeycomb or the honeycomb-to- skin bond not in the repair area. Repair Procedure B4 10