Aerospace Composites

Ramesh Sundaram
Head, Advanced Composites Division
National Aerospace Laboratories
Bangalore, India
 Belur
Kodihalli

HANSA
India’s First Super Computer

2000-
90’s
The first Blowdown 80’s

70’s SARAS

60’s Strategic Missions

The Beginnings

CSIR-NAL
Core competence of NAL spans practically the whole aerospace sector

Aerospace
Flight materials Structural
mechanics design,
& controls analysis and
testing

Electromagnetics

Aeroelasticity

Turbo
machinery
and
combustion

Parallel
Computing

Computational
& Experimental
Composites Aerospace Aerodynamics
electronics
and systems
CSIR-NAL
What are composites
 Why Use Composites ?

Composites have higher strength than traditional materials….

due to aligned fibers carrying the load
 Why Use Composites ?

Composites are stiffer than conventional materials

of the same weight due to their adoptive nature one
can align fibers in the direction to carry the load
 Why Use Composites ?

Composites are lighter than traditional materials

due to their tailorability they can be designed to
minimum weight without sacrificing strength
 Weight??

• Lower weight implies more freight

• 1 kg saved is equivalent to thousands of

dollars over the lifetime of the aircraft

• In space craft 1kg of weight implies saving

of 2 tonnes of propellant from earth to
MARS

Reduce weight by using better materials and

efficient design concepts
 REQUIREMENTS OF STRUCTURAL
MATERIALS
• Density as Low As Possible
• High Strength & Stiffness
• Should Have Better Corrosive Resistance
• Should Not Be Fatigue Sensitive
• Should Have Good Damping Properties
• Should Have Good Damage Tolerance
• Capable of Giving Good Surface Finish
• Should Have Shape Retention Capability
• Should Cost Less
• Should Be Possible To Repair
• Adapability To New Technologies
 OTHER ADVANTAGES
• Better Material Utilization
• Lower Tooling And Maintaining Cost
• Easier Parts Integration
• Inhibited Flaw Propagation
• Reduced Maintenance Cost
• Low Energy Requirement For Production Of
Materials And Parts
• High Corrosion Resistance
• Antimagnetic And Low Radar Cross-section
• Low Thermal Expansion
• Excellent Surface Quality
• Not Sensitive To Fatigue Loads
• Excellent Shape Retention Capability
• No single material can provide all this
• Need to tailor the material by combining
different materials
• A composite material is a physical combination
of different materials which can perform in
concert by taking the desired shape specially
tailored to meet the requirements.
Whenever human beings encounter problems
they will look into nature for solutions
• Interestingly nature has done these things long
back
• Nature is a super designer, technologist,
teacher and guide
 Nature- The Super Designer
• Nature has realised long back to make
efficient structures it has to go for
composite structures

Composites can be broadly classified into two

groups:
• Fibre Reinforced Composites
– Wood is a fibre reinforced composite -
Cellucose fibres and lignin matrix
– The joints between branches and the trunk is
superbly done by interlacing
• Particle reinforced composites
 Another example is the Bone - Hybrid
Composite
• It contains fibre reinforcement
• It has particle reinforcement
• Bone consists of organic fibres called Collogen
and an inorganic matrix hydroxyapatite
The material is designed so as to have
different properties in different locations.
• Inner Rings are softer than outer rings
– It can take care both dynamic and static loads
– Unlike the tree, the bone experiences a very
complex three dimensional loading
• Teeth- Ceramic Composite made at room
temperature !!!
 Early Innovations by Humans

• Bricks of Clay reinforced with Straw ( Egypt -

800 BC)
• Plant fibres worked into pottery
• Mummy cases in ancient egypt
• Addition of paper pulp or cow hair into POP
• Ply Wood
• Reinforced Concrete
 Fatigue in Nature
• Nature Has Used Very Advanced Fracture Mechanics
Concepts For Designing These Structures
• If It Is Not A Composite, Assume That The Tree Is
Made Out Of Isotropic Material
• Any Small Damage Caused By Human Beings Or Animals
Would Have Grown To The Critical Size In A Short Time
Due To Wind Loads and No Tree Would Have Survived
More Than Couple of Months
• Nature Created A Fibrous Structure Where Damages Are
Arrested Locally
• Human Beings Took So Long Time To Realize That To
Overcome Fatigue,We Have To use Composites Which
Nature Realised Many Millions Of Years Back !!!!!
 Specific Strength

Specific Modulus
There are also some limitations

• Cost of materials and processes are generally high in

civil aircraft applications.
• Unlike metals CFRP has very poor post –yield
deformation behavior and this makes CFRP a very poor
in energy absorption during a failure
• A proper trade off and selection is essential for arriving
at the best choice for cost effective and reliable product
• Need to examine positives and negatives as it exists
today together with technological steps to overcome
problems.
• Boeing 787 and Airbus 350 are two recent cases of
maximum composite content .
 Classification

• Composites, depending on the type of resin

can be divided into two groups
– Thermoset resin based composites
– Thermoplastic based composites
• Majority of the composites in Aerospace
are thermoset resin based composites.
• The production of composite parts with
thermosetting matrices involves many steps
of which curing is the most critical.
• During curing composite layup is transformed
from a soft, multi-layered mixture of resin
and fibers to a hard structural component.
 Intro - contd

• During the curing cycle, the resin changes

from a liquid to a rubbery and eventually to
a solid at the gel point.
• Beyond the gel point, there is little resin
movement or flow; typically, the cure is 40
to 60% completed, and the final shape and
thickness of the composite are fixed.
• In the curing process, several requirements
must be met simultaneously

– consolidation and void elimination

– solvent removal/removal of excess resin
 Fabrication Processes for Thermoset
Composites

• Hand Layup
• Spray up
• Vacuum Bag Moulding
• Prepreg Manufacture
• Autoclave Moulding
• SMC
• DMC
• Filament Winding
• Pultrusion
• Liquid Composite Moulding
 Fabrication of Aerospace Structures

• Since we are dealing with flexible materials,

there are many possibilities for making
parts
• For aerospace structures, these methods
can be divided into two
– Using prepregs
– Using liquid resins
– Using Films
• For prepregs most popular are
– Vacuum bag method
– Autoclave method
Prepreg Manufacture
 AUTOCLAVE MOULDING
• The autoclave method has similarities to the
vacuum-bag method but has much more
sophisticated features.
• It is extensively used in the aerospace industry
because of modest tool requirements and the
ease of cure control.
• The autoclave method is usually reserved for the
processing of prepreg materials with high-
performance reinforcements.
 Prepreg Layup

• Prepregs are cut to size and laid up either

individually or in staples on a tool which is
not required to sustain high pressure loads.
• A peel ply and several bleeder plies are
placed on top of the prepregs which absorb
the excess resin during curing
• Separated by a perforated sheet, several
breather plies may be added to provide a
suction path in case of soaking of the
bleeder plies
• The peel ply is a resin-porous, non-adhering
fabric, while the bleeder and breather plies
are usually glass fiber weaves.
 Prepreg Layup & Curing
• The complete layup is covered with an airtight
membrane and sealed against the tool
• The whole assembly is then placed into an
autoclave capable of
– drawing a vacuum under the airtight membrane.
– exerting external pressure on the tool surfaces
– delivering the heat necessary for the curing
process
• All three parameters need to be controlled
accurately.
• Curing process is initiated with the preheating of
the autoclave which initiates the resin flow
• The subsequent evacuation of air from under the
membrane serves three purposes
 Curing

• Curing of the resin is done by elevating the

temperature and introducing pressure inside
the autoclave
• The temperature and pressure intensities
and durations depend on
– type of prepreg material
– dimensions of the part to be produced and
– design requirements
• Cure cycle must be re-established for each
new application
• A typical cure cycle for epoxy resins
extends to ~ 6 hours.
 Post Curing

• Generally Epoxies require a post cure cycle

• Post-cure temperature is slightly greater
than the curing temperature
• Effect of Post Curing
– Completes the curing
– improves stiffness
– Increases the Glass Transition temperature
– Decrease in Toughness
Typical Autoclave Cure Cycle
 Characteristics of the Autoclave method

• Tool material: Steel, aluminum, reinforced

plastics
• Curing temperature: 25 - 300˚ C
• Curing pressure: 1 – 40 bar
Advantages
• Uniform and High quality of parts
• Easy Process Control
Disadvantages
• High initial investment cost
• Need for expert personnel
• Size of Part limited by Autoclave Dimensions
What makes composites attractive
??
 Economic Gains
through
Light Weight Construction

50% 25% 25%

Weight of Structure Payload Fuel

Composite Light Weight Structure

45% 10%
30% 20%
25%
Weight of Structure Payload Fuel
Tensile Strength of Al & CFC
45 %

0%
Tensile Strength & Fatigue Life of Al & CFC
Tensile Strength & Fatigue Life of Al & CFC
Fatigue in the Presence of Damage
Status of Composites
Composite Structures in a Typical Aircraft
Boeing 777
Research in the Application of the VaRTM Technique to the Fabrication
of Primary Aircraft Composite Structures- Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries, Ltd.

Therefore, in order to reduce production costs and weight,

research has been conducted in applying the vacuum assisted
resin transfer molding or "VARTM“ technique to the fabrication
of the primary composite structures of the MJ aircraft. The aim
here is to apply the technique to the fabrication of vertical
stabilizer.
Usage of composites in Military aircraft
India makes it to Global Composites Scene with LCA- Tejas Program
Composites in A 380
A 350XWB Material Breakdown
 DESIGN
PROCESS
&
DEVELOPMENT
ANALYSIS

STRUCTURAL
TESTING MANUFACTURING

NAL’S CORE
STRENGTH IN
NON- COMPOSITES
STRUCTURAL
DESTRUCTIVE
REPAIR
EVALUATION

STRUCTURAL
ADVANCED HEALTH
RESEARCH MONITORING
 Composites – Present Drivers

• Weight reduction
• Improvements in fatigue resistance
• Corrosion prevention
• Other benefits
 Potential fabrication cost advantages for parts with complex
shapes
 Performance advantages (e.g., damage tolerance)
 Issues to be addressed

• Integration of structural design detail with repeatable

manufacturing processes
 Material and process control
• Design details, manufacturing flaws and service damage,
which cause local stress concentration
 Strength, fatigue & damage tolerance
 Dependency on tests
 Scaling issues
• Environmental effects
 Temperature
 Moisture content
• Maintenance inspection and repair
Data needed for Aerospace Design
How do we Manufacture Composites ???

Courtesy DLR, Germany

 Co-curing Vs Co-bonding
Co-curing Co-bonding

All parts in the assembly are cured in Some parts in the assembly are pre-
a single cure cured

Single stage fabrication Multi-stage fabrication

Parts count is less Parts count is more

Interfaces between the parts need no Interfaces of pre-cured parts need

preparation preparation

Trimming is done only at the edges Trimming need to be done on all pre-
cured parts

Manufacturing cost is less Manufacturing cost is more

 Co-curing Vs Co-bonding

Co-curing Co-bonding

Cycle time is less Cycle time is more

Material consumption is less Material consumption is more

Probability of part rejection is higher Probability of part rejection is low

Tools required for manufacturing the Tools required for manufacturing the
part are quite complex part are relatively simple

The interface between the sub- This is not the problem with the co-
structure and the skin is under tensile bonded structure. Compensation for
stress because of spring-in the spring-in phenomenon can be
phenomena done.
Benefits of Integration through Cocuring

• No holes- No stress concentration

• Increased stiffness of structure
• Better aerodynamic surface
• Reduced assembly time
• Weight saving
• No fuel leakage

CSIR-NAL has developed Cocuring technology

within the country for
Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-Tejas) and SARAS
aircraft
 Challenges
Parameters influencing curing distortions
• Resin characteristics ---Modulus and co-
efficient of thermal expansion
• Fiber properties- Modulus and co-
efficient of thermal expansion
• Cure temperature
• Fillet radius & Flange thickness

• Curing Distortions-
tolerances are very
stringent
• Results in complex tool
design
• ‘your part is as good as
your tool’
 Probable Solutions

• Chamfer the flange such that thickness varies

from root to the end of flange.

• Eliminate the corner resin build-up.

• Predict the deformations and give these

corrections in the outer profile of the skin, so
that after curing it is in the desired shape.
Composite Parts made for LCA-Tejas by NAL

45% by weight in composites

Manufacturing of Cocured
Structures
Typical Fin
 Co-cured Fin for Tejas (LCA)
Exploded view of Fin assembly
RWR
Co-cured Fin tip
Antennae
fwd
fairing fwd

Sparlets Tip rib

Co-cured
Co-cured nose
fin tip
box
Fin assembly Hinge rear
brackets

Spars Co-cured torsional

box
Mid
ribs Root clips
Fairing angle Root Root rib
Nose clips nose fittings

Fairing angle
Co-cured torsional box Torsional box internal details

Highlights Highlights Comparison of CFC vs Metal

 Integral construction  Reduced assembly time Metal CFC
Weight 45.5 kgs 38.5 kgs
Fasteners reduction leading to productivity No of parts 27 1
 20% weight saving  Smooth aerodynamic No of
2500 Nil
fasteners
 Lower cost surface Assembly
4 weeks Nil
time
INTER SPAR BOX MOULD
INTER SPAR BOX MOULD
ASSEMBLY
 SPAR LAYUP
SPAR LAY UP

SPAR LAY UP
TOOLS

SECTION OF SPAR SECTION OF SPAR LAY UP

SPAR LAY UP TOOLS LAY UP TOOLS 2
1 WITH SPAR LAY UP TOOLS
UD ROWINGS A
SPAR LAY UP FILLED WITH UD
SPAR LAY UP ROWINGS TO MAKE
EVEN SURFACE
SPAR LAY UP A
TOOLS SPAR LAY UP SPAR LAY UP
TOOLS TOOLS

ASSEMBLE THE SPARS ASSEMBLE THE SPARS

AND DO THE DEBULK 3 AND DO THE DEBULK 4
SPAR WITH LAY UP TOOLS
SPAR LAY UP
FILLED WITH UD
ROWINGS TO MAKE
EVEN SURFACE
SPAR LAY UP
SPAR LAY UP TOOLS

SPARS RELEASED 5
SECTION-AA
SPAR LOCATING TOOLS
SPAR LOCATER ASSEMBLY
Prior to cure

Cured part
 Cocured Composite Structures Developed for LCA

Fin Landing Gear Door

Fuselage Top Skin

Centre Fuselage:
Trouser Duct-Top Rudder Torque Shaft for Rudder
Development of a Light Transport Aircraft

14 seater multi-role LTA - SARAS

Q Hybrid (metal + composite) airframe

Q CFC flaps, control surfaces, fairings
Q P&WC PT6A-67A turbo-prop engine
l 1200 SHP
Q 2.65 (5 bladed) constant speed propeller

Q Max. cruise speed : 550 km / h

Q Max. cruise altitude : 9 km
Q Max. R/C, ISA, SL : 700 m / min.
Q Endurance : ~ 5h
Q T.O. distance, ISA, SL : 700 m
Q Landing distance, ISA, SL : 850 m

Design to meet FAR-23 requirements

Composite Parts Made For SARAS Aircraft

HORIZONTAL
STABILIZER
FUSELAGE TOP SKIN

ELEVATOR
FLOOR
BOARD

WING Nacelle
New Processing INBOARD
Technology: FLAP
OUTBOARD
VERITy FLAP
AILERON

35% by weight in composites REAR PRESSURE BULK HEAD FIN

 Horizontal Tail of SARAS: Cocured Bottom Section

Horizontal Tail aft box

Comparative chart

Metal Composites
Weight 32.0 kgs. 24.0 kgs.
No. of parts 75 1
Dimensions: 5.5mx1m. The skin is co-
No. of
fasteners 5200 Nil cured with stringers, ribs and spars.
Assembly 4 weeks Nil
HT Components of SARAS

Cocured Inter Spar Box with Bottom Skin With 2 Spars, 11 Ribs, 7 Stringers

Size: 5.5mx 1m

Cocured Top Skin with Stringers

Metal Composite

Weight 92 Kg 70 Kg (24%)

No. of parts 243 11

No. of Fasteners 10,500 2900

HT Tip Cocured with Stringers
 Tooling Concepts

Basic outer CFC Mould Internal Flexible tools

Skin stringer Integration Skin stringer spar Integration

Final bag for curing

 Development of Composite Fin for SARAS
Tip
Cap

HT
cutout
Co-cured
Nose I.S Box
Box
Bottom
Fairing

FIN ASSEMBLY

Spars

Mid Rib
I.S
Skin COMPARATIVE CHART
(LH)
I.S FOR CO-CURED IS BOX
Skin
(RH)
CO-CURED INTER SPAR BOX Compos Weight
(INTERNAL DETAILS) Metal
Description ite
Design
Skin lay-up Internal Bag Spar lay-up Design Reduction
WEIGHT 65 kg 51 kg 22%

NO. OF
130 01 ———
PARTS
CO-CURED Spar Caul Plate NO. OF
Mould
INTER SPAR BOX Radius Caul Plate
UNIFORM PRESSURE
FASTENE 1100 NIL ———
APPLICATION ON THE PART RS
 Master Model For Mould
Rh & LH Mould Assembly

Cured Component

Skin Bonded With Spars &

Mid Ribs
Final Bagging for Curing
 Co-cured CFC Pressure Bulkhead

Ring

Dome
shape
d rear
wall
Diameter = 1.8 m
Depth = 175 mm

Metal Composite
17
Weight in Kg 34
( 50 % saving)
No. of Fasteners 700 0
Nacelle parts for SARAS

Mouldability of Composites
Exploited through
Innovative Tooling
Technology
 Cost!!!

• All the above were fabricated using Prepregs and

Autoclave Moulding Technology

Challenge: How to cut costs???

One solution- Liquid Moulding Technology

 Cost breakup for typical aircraft structures

Material cost = 25% and total processing cost is 75%

Challenge – How to reduce these costs?

 LCM and its Variants

 RTM (Resin transfer moulding)

 RIM ( Resin injection moulding)
 VARTM ( vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding)
• SCRIMP ( Seeman composite resin infusion moulding
process)
• DCVRTM (Double chamber vacuum resin transfer
moulding)
• FASTRAC ( Fast remotely activated channels)
 RFI ( Resin Film Infusion)
 SRIM ( Structural reaction injection moulding)

VERITy ( Vacuum enhanced resin infusion technology)

Developed by NAL
 New Fabrication Technology:
Vacuum Enhanced Resin Infusion
Technology (VERITy)
 Why VERITy?
• Aircraft composite structures predominantly prepreg
technology
 Prepregs are expensive
 Outlife restricts size and complexity of component
 Infrastructure such as clean room, cold chest etc required

• Can we make high quality composites at a reduced cost?

 VERITy aims to achieve this (At least 20% Cost Reduction)
 No shelf life items

• SARAS Wing development using VERITy

 VERITy Process
Reinforcement Resin impregnates
Resin infusion fibers under vacuum
Mould

Resin Vacuum pump

Consolidation Under 1 Bar
External Pressure and Vacuum Cured part

Vacuum pump
Development of Integrated Wing Structures at
NAL using VERITy Process

SARAS Wing: Substructure Details

Flow Sensor Development
 Fibre Optic Flow Sensor

180 mm
Resin Flow

Process Sensor – 1 Sensor – 2 Sensor – 3

100 mm

After a a a
Embedment
Before b b b
S-1 S-2 S-3 Infusion
Resin
crossed c b b
Sensor – 1
Resin
Instrument
crossed
Sensor - 2 c c b
Resin
crossed c c c
Sensor - 3
 ResinVIEW Software Development
• LabVIEW & MATLAB based modular code development for real time resin flow.
• Enables sequential infusion based on NetSense feedback.
• Resin arrival time information important for future infusion strategy and
modeling.
• Low cost reusable sensor & modular open system architecture system.

00:00:00 00:54:15 01:31:38

 SARAS Outboard Wing: Integrated Wing Concepts
Cocured Coinfused Wing Bottom Skin with Substructure

Cocured
Ribs and
Stringers

@ 300 parts
Cocured in
one shot Cocured
Rib with
Gussets

Cocured
Spar with
Gussets
 Vacuum Enhanced Resin Infusion Technology (VERITy)
Comparison Composite Metal

Weight 500 Kg 625 Kg

Fasteners Qty. 15000 45000

Product Development
Components
SARAS Composite Wing
TRL: 6-8
2008-
Now
Technology Demonstration
Sub Components

TRL: 5-7

SARAS Wing Test Box 2006-

2008
Technology Development
Generic Features

TRL: 3-6

2006-
Skin Stringer Panel & Spar
2007
Splice
Basic Technology
Research & Feasibility
2mm 20mm
TRL: 1-4

Laminate Qualified by C-scan 2004-

2007
Process Technology Product
Developed Developed Developed
Vision 2020

NAL is already
There!!

Mitsubishi vision: large one

piece test box
 However…

• NAL has done the R&D

• These novel ‘high level cocuring R&D technologies’ need

to be brought to production standards in terms of
 Automation in layup
 Automation in Assembly
 Faster NDE
 Meeting Production Rate
Other Advances
Forming
 Forming
 C-sectional parts like CFC Spars and Ribs are being extensively used in
realizing huge aircraft structures like wing, fin etc.
 In most of the cases Successive lamination technique is being used to
fabricate such CFC parts
 Successive lamination approach is labor intensive, time consuming, limited
scope for automation and increased possibilities for inclusions during layup
due to human errors.
 Need to develop an alternate fabrication approach to explore scope for
enhancing the improvements in the above mentioned factors.

92
 Flat Prepreg Forming

Prepreg Stack during

heating inside the oven

Flat Prepreg stack formed by the 93

application of vacuum
 Study Parameters
1. Flange angle: The residual stresses that develop in fibre-reinforced
laminates during autoclave processing while the laminate is confined to
the process tool often lead to dimensional changes such as spring-in of
angles and warpage of flat sections.

2. Finishing effect on flange angle

3. Part thickness
4. Time study
94
Time Study

95
 Studies at NAL
1.Spring-in
• Spring-in angle is lesser in case of parts fabricated using forming approach
• For lower thickness(2S configuration), difference in spring-in angle is higher
• And spring-in angle differences between the two approaches reduces with
the increased thickness and the difference is least for 5S configuration
2. Thickness

3. Time study
• Fabrication time in case of forming approach is considerably less as
compared to successive lamination technique and is simple to fabricate 96
B 787 Fuselage
Laser projection for layup and assembly
Future Trends
 Development of 3D Interface Fittings
Fittings: Fatigue Critical, 3D State of Stress

Efforts to increase the 3D properties

 Use of 3D Preforms:
How to Characterize?
How to Generate Design Allowables?

 Use of Toughened Resin Systems

Typical 3D Preforms
 Motivation
•Basic Building Block of Fitting: T Joints
•Weakness: Loads in Out of Plane Direction

A Typical Fitting
Development of a main landing gear attachment fitting using
composite material and resin transfer moulding
Tufting
 Tufting

Tufting is an experimental technology to locally reinforce

continuous fibre-reinforced along the Z-direction
• Structural reinforcement
 Vertical reinforcement to improve interlaminar shear resistance
 Delamination resistance
 Reduces cracking or propagation of cracks
• Joining
 of Several layers of sub preforms
• Local reinforcement
 Tufting of local patches/structures
• Tension free surface
 Tufts only remain in position because of frictional force
• Only one side access is required
• Insertion of single needle with single yarn
 Tufting technology at the world level

Applications:
Airbus A380 Pressure
Bulk head
 Boeing 787 Landing gear
Braces
Tufting Preliminary studies at
CSIR-NAL

 Three fold increase in

fracture toughness

 Two fold increase in T-

Pull out strength
 Tufting
• Development of co-cured structures is one of the
thrust area for designers
 Absence of fibre in third direction
 Out of plane loads
 Damage/delamintion due to impact
• High damage resistance, pull off load can only propel
the usage of co-cured structures to the next level

• Manual tufting is time taken and doesn't give

repeatability, this requires automation of tufting
technology
Composites - No Limits to Imagination!

Nano Composites