Data Relay: Composite Materials

Thank you to Ben Crews for researching and presenting this topic.

Humans have been using composites for thousands of years! (mar-bal.com)

Proof that wood is a composite (youtube.com)

Spray-on insulation is a composite. (PDF: ulalaunch.com)

Markings on parts like “>PP-GF15<” indicate a “glass filler,” thus making them a composite. (PDF: bombardier.com)

Practical Engineering on Youtube is doing a great series on concrete. (youtube.com)

Study on hybrid composites (journals.sagepub.com)

Composites can form efficient monocoque structures. (wikipedia.org)

Real Engineering’s video on Carbon Fiber (youtube.com)

Space Ship 2 is entirely Carbon Fiber (cnn.com) (popsci.com)

The Space Shuttle Orbiter had some sandwich panels with aluminum honeycomb core and carbon-fiber facesheets. (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) Composites reduced the thrust structure weight by 21% (PDF: (nasa.gov)

787 Dreamliner used 50% (by weight) compsits. (boeing.com)

Orion CCM, Falcon 9 Payload fairing, Dragon heat shield are all composites (space.stackexchange.com)

Thin and thick laminates must be analyzed differently (wikipedia.org).

Machining sandwich board cores can result in complex structures, proposed for use in atmospheric reentry (PDF: pdfs.semanticscholar.org)

Ceramic Matrix Composites were used in the Shuttle TPS (wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov)

Carbon/carbon can provide lighter and much stronger alternatives to smaller metallic machinings. (fibermaterialsinc.com)

CMCs are currently being researched to replace components in engine compartments and high-temp environments. (aerodefensetech.com)

Metallic Matrix Composites (MMC) (wikipedia.org)