CFRP in Aircraft

Structure: What are

the Future
Possibilities?
Research Methods for Dissertation or
Business Report
STUDENT ID: 13038257
NAME: AHMAD ZUBAIR MOHD RAZALI
MSC MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

5/16/2014

Table of Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) ....................................................................................... 3
Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) in Aircraft Structure ........................................................... 3
The Future of CFRP ........................................................................................................................ 4
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................... 6
References ........................................................................................................................................ 6

Introduction
This report presents a discussion on the use of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) in aircraft
structure.
Aluminium has been the standard material used in aircraft for more than a century and composites
have been used on wings and other passenger aircraft parts for many years without incident.
Boeings latest passenger aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner, uses Japan-developed carbon fibre reinforced
polymer (CFRP) for about half of its structural material including the fuselage and the first mostly
composite large commercial transport airplane to undergo the certification process. This makes it
the worlds first passenger airplane to contain a greater proportion of CFRP than aluminium by
structural weight (Aiko, 2012).
While Boeings 787 Dreamliner uses composites for half of its airframe including the fuselage and
wing, it main competitor Airbus has created A350 XWB using CFRP for major components, which
both of its fuselage and wings were made of carbon fibre (Bowler, 2014)
This report will discuss whether CFRP will really be the ultimate material for the aircraft structure for
the future as most of the engineering applications choose metal as material of choice because
metals are simple, familiar and strong. Although composites are lighter and stronger than most
metals, their increasing use in commercial airplane structures such as the fuselage and wings has
raised safety concerns (Mitchell, 2011).
One of the greater challenges in aviation is efficiently overcoming gravity with weight, the main issue
besides strength and reliability. With composites are material with high strength and low weight, it is
predicted that innovation in aircraft structure using CFRP will be undergoing rapidly from now on.

Figure1. Boeings 787 Dreamliner

Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP)

Carbon fibre reinforced polymer or carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP or often simply carbon
fibre), is a light fibre reinforced polymer composed of carbon fibres which is extremely strong and
stiff. The polymer is most often epoxy, but other polymers, such as polyester, vinyl ester or nylon,
are sometimes used.
CFRP is a composite material of great interest for modern light-weight engineering. Carbon fibre is a
good material selection when strength/weight ratio is a primary concern such as in a race car and
aircraft. One of the advantage of composite material is it has zero compressive or shear strength, so
almost all engineering applications require making composite materials.
The downside is it will be much harder to work with composite material compare to metal in a lot of
ways e.g. composites cant be shaped with the same techniques used for metals. However, CFRP has
been an alternative use for aluminium metal in aircraft structure recently and the use of it has been
extended in coming years.

Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) in Aircraft Structure

Nowadays, there are more numbers of aircrafts in the skies and it is estimated that the percentage
degree of traffic volume in aviation will increase per year.
The reduction of weight of the structure of future aircraft is a central task that will enable a
reduction of fuel consumption and an increase in the pay-load (Herbeck et al. 2003). Herbeck et al.
(2003) stressed that this reduction is becoming more significant as the focal point in aviation
research has switched dominantly to socio-economic aspects.
Considerable technological efforts need to be done to fulfil the requirement for reduction of weight
and cost of structures and for an increase in the safety of future structures (Wilmes et al., 2003).
Different areas of improving the manufacturing of aircraft has been discovered but these only
contribute little to both economic advantages and mass reduction of building the aircraft.
Composite materials are used for many years for different types of components. In addition, the use
of CFRP has a number of advantages compared to similar structures made of metal: a decrease in
maintenance due to fatigue, an increase in comfort, greater crash safety, and improved burnthrough safety (Herbeck et al. 2003).
Composites mean that manufacturers can get a good surface finish on components to optimise their
aerodynamic performance. The challenge is it will cut million parts considerably as it mould all the
parts together at the same time to create a possible single part.

Figure2. Composition of composite in Boeings 787 Dreamliner

The Future of CFRP

With the rapid development of CFRP, many manufacturers of aircraft had started researching of
using CFRP in major components of an aircraft thus making it lighter and performing at the same or
higher level compare to when using aluminium alloys as materials.
The Boeings 787 Dreamliner marked the launch of a new generation of airlines. Around 50% of the
aluminium formerly used in aircraft construction has been replaced by CFRP composites, which are
lighter but at least equally stable.
Recently, many researches are still on-going throughout the world on the use of CFRP with regards
to build aircraft structures mostly using composites particularly CFRP. In the UK, European aircraft
manufacturer Airbus has been working with Britain's National Composites Centre into research and
modelling of new industrial designs and materials (Bowler, 2014). One development of this research
has been the trailing edges of the wing of Airbuss latest plane, the A350.
There are a number of advantages to a composite structure. Not only does it reduce assembly costs
and open up potential savings, it also makes the aircraft lighter which increases range and/or
payload. In addition, there is less of a problem with fatigue as there are no metallic parts. With
fewer components, manufacturing time also will shorten, saving money.
However, their increasing use in commercial airplane structures such as the fuselage and wings has
raised safety concerns.

As Mitchell (2012) observed:

In August 2011, FAA and EASA certified the Boeing 787, which is expected to enter
commercial service in the fall of 2011. U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) which is
an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress, often called the
"congressional watchdog," was asked to review FAA's and EASA's certification processes and
FAA's oversight of the composite airplanes once they enter service.
The GAO identified four key safety-related concerns with the repair and maintenance of composites
in commercial airplanes (Mitchell, 2012).
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Limited information on the behaviour of airplane composite structures.

Technical issues related to the unique properties of composite materials.
Standardization of repair materials and techniques.
Training and awareness.

Carbon fibre, unlike metal, does not visibly show cracks and fatigue, which has prompted concerns
about the safety risks of widespread use of the material the rival Airbus A350 was later announced
to be using composite panels on a frame, a more traditional approach, which its contractors
regarded as less risky (Hall, 2012).
In addition, the porous property of composite materials, which may cause delamination as collected
moisture expands with altitude, is a potential issue. In laminated materials, repeated cyclic stresses,
impact, and so on can cause layers to separate, forming a mica-like structure of separate layers, with
significant loss of mechanical toughness.

Figure3. Where does the CFRP future lies in aircraft structure?

Conclusion
With the goal for the next generation of aircraft in comparison to todays structures is to reduce the
weight of the fuselage, the advancement of the switch from aluminium alloys to carbon fibre
reinforced polymer (CFRP) is expected to increase in building the aircraft structures.
Although composites are lighter and stronger than most metals, it also has many types failure
mechanism which is modes of failure such as debonding between the reinforcement and the matrix
material, matrix cracking, failure of the reinforcement and delamination in the case of layered
composites.
It is too early to predict the future of the use of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) in aircraft
structure as it was only introduced as the major parts of commercial aircraft for a few years.
However, with the competitive environment of aircraft industries it becomes absolutely necessary to
improve the efficiency, performance of the aircrafts to reduce the development and operating costs
considerably, in order to capitalize the market.
An important contribution to improve these can be achieved by reducing the weight through
considerable usage of composite materials particularly CFRP in primary aircraft structures.

References
Atwater, M. (2013) Boeing, carbon Fiber and Engineering the Future of Aviation ENGINEERING.COM, 12
December [Online]. Available at:
http://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/6810/Boeing-Carbon-Fiber-andEngineering-the-Future-of-Aviation.aspx (Accessed: 15 May 2014)
Wilmes, H. et al. (2008).New design concepts for a CFRP fuselage [Online]. Available at:
http://www.dlr.de/fa/Portaldata/17/Resources/dokumente/institut/srw_08.pdf (Accessed: 15 May 2014)
Hall, S. (2012) Boeing Shares Drop After Boeing Reported omposite Structural Issue In The 787, AvStop.Com,
7 February [Online]. Available at:
http://avstop.com/news_february_2012/boeing_shares_drop_after_boeing_reported_composite_structural_i
issues_787.htm (Accessed: 15 May 2014).
Bowler, T. (2014) carbon fibre planes: Lighter and stronger by design, BBC NEWS BUSINESS, 28 January
[Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-25833264 (Accessed: 15 May 2014).
Herbeck, L. et al. (2003).Technology and design development for a cfrp fuselage [Online]. Available at:
http://www.dlr.de/fa/en/Portaldata/17/Resources/dokumente/institut/2003/2003_03.pdf (Accessed: 15 May
2014)
Netcomposites BAE Systemsproduce One-piece Carbon Fibre Fuselage for FUBACOMP Project
http://www.netcomposites.com/news/bae-systems-produce-one-piece-carbon-fibre-fuselage-for-fubacompproject/3154 (no date) (Accessed: 15 May 2014)
Aiko, H. (2012) Composite Materials: Building the Next Generation of Passenger Aircraft Nippon.com,
[Online]. Available at: http://www.nippon.com/en-5531 (Accessed: 15 May 2014)