Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Introduction
The consequences of the drastic economical and technical requirements for
future supersonic civil transport [1] on the materials selection for the dierent
parts of the aircraft structure have been detailed and discussed elsewhere [2].
As a result, Aerospatiale, BAe and DASA decided to increase their eort on
materials studies and to launch specic research programmes on aluminium
alloys and carbon bre reinforced polymers (CFRPs). Major research
programmes were initiated on aluminium alloys in 1992 [3] and on organic
matrix composites in 1994 [4].
Aluminium alloys
The work programme of recent research was divided into two main tasks,
corresponding to the study of the two factors assumed to inuence directly
the creep resistance and the thermal stability of metals:
.
.
0 (Al2 Cu)
S 0 (Al2 CuMg)
0 (Al5 Cu2 Mg8 Si7 )
0 (Mg2 Si)
0 (Al3 Li)
T1 (Al2 CuLi)
Al-Li-Cu-Mg
5
STRESS: 250 MPa
TEMPERATURE: 175C
A1
C1
D6
CM003
50
100
150
200
TIME (HOURS)
Figure 3.1. Creep curves at 1758C/250 MPa.
250
Kc (MPa/m2 )
Kc0 (MPa/m2 )
A1 T6 (mod. 2650)
C1 T6 (mod. 6056)
D6 T6 (Al-Cu-Mg-Ag)
2024 T3
125
160
158
130
90
110
110
90
creep test conditions (including 1508C/250 MPa) compared with CM003, and
fracture toughness values from R-curves were equal to or better than the
damage tolerant 2024 T3 reference. Industrial sheets and plates from the
two most promising compositions, a modied version of 2650 Al-2%CuMg alloy and an optimized version of 6056 alloy, entered an exhaustive
evaluation programme in 1997, and the results conrm the improvement in
creep behaviour over CM003, although the benet is reduced compared
with the laboratory tests.
In parallel with the development of improved alloys, Aerospatiale has
also started studies on the interactions between creep and fatigue on notched
coupon specimens and on specimens representative of technological details
such as pocket recess or assemblies. These studies are based on the development of two parallel methods:
a modelling approach combining thermo-elasto-plastic nite elements and
physical/metallurgical prediction of creep damage
. an experimental approach with the development of specic test equipment
capable of reproducing close to real exposures on technological specimens.
.
The results obtained show a slight detrimental eect of 5000 and 10 000 hours
of creep exposure at 1308C on the fatigue behaviour of notched specimens in
2650 alloy.
Table 3.3. Candidate polymer matrices for carbon bre reinforced polymers.
State of knowledge
Second generation epoxy
Cyanate based systems
Thermo-plastic
Bismaleimides
Well-known process
Expected service temperature: 1208C
Process similar to epoxy system
New products on the market
Expected service temperature: 1508C
Potential hot forming process
Expected service temperature: 1808C
Processing generally with post-curing
Expected service temperature: 1808C
Low damage tolerance compared with 2nd generation epoxy
the inuence of long-term thermal ageing on carbon bre reinforced polymer physical and mechanical properties
. the long-term behaviour of carbon bre reinforced polymers under
complex thermo-mechanical loading.
.
Figure 3.2. Filled hole compression after 2000 hours of isothermal ageing.
hours, the thermal cycling eect, the position of the impact (before or after
thermal ageing), and the temperature of ageing, 1208C or 1808C. These
results indicate that the position of the impact before or after the thermal
ageing is an important parameter. If the maximum temperature is 1208C,
Figure 3.4. Filled hole compression at 1808C after isothermal ageing at 1808C.
Figure 3.5. Compression after impact test performed after thermal ageing on bismaleimide
composite.
(a)
(b)
with Tmax 1808C and Tmin 508C, we do observe microcracks inside the
composite material, as shown in gure 3.6(b).
Additionally to the study of the eect of thermal ageing, Aerospatiale
developed specic creep test procedures on 4584S specimens to test the
creep behaviour of various composite materials. Figure 3.7 presents the
creep behaviour of the dierent candidate composites for supersonic aircraft.
Aerospatiale is also beginning a research programme to assess the long
term behaviour of carbon bre reinforced polymers under complex thermomechanical loading. The typical ight spectrum for the future supersonic civil
transport in the hypothesis of Mach 2.05 is presented in gure 3.8. This ight
spectrum induces strong creepfatiguethermal cycling interactions. In order
to test the degrading eects of coldhot thermal cycling and low frequency
fatigue cycling compared with classical creep testing, on the residual properties of the composites after exposure, three specic accelerated thermomechanical cycling conditions were dened, as shown in gure 3.9. Each
cycling type corresponds to 10 000 hours at 1208C. Compared with typical
ight conditions, the maximum temperature has been increased by 208C
and the maximum stress has been doubled for test acceleration.
A specic testing apparatus has been developed to perform the three
cycling spectra (gure 3.9). These cycling spectra have been applied to
three composite systems with the same bre: one bismaleimide, one cyanate
and one epoxy. First results are available on the cyanate matrix composite.
Table 3.4 presents residual properties after cycling exposure on quasiisotropic open hole tension (OHT) and lled hole compression (FHC)
specimens. These results tend to show that coldhot thermal cycling determines the composite compression properties. The duration of exposure is
limited compared with what has to be justied (at least 60 000 hours). This
means that long-term tests have to be carried out and special care has to
be paid to the development of reliable models, able to predict long-term
behaviour from short-term accelerated tests.
Temp
(C)
120
Stress
Time
10000 hrs
0,3 S0
Time
Type 1
Temp
(C)
120
Cold-Hot thermal
cycle
x 2500
0,5 h
4 hrs
0,5 h
Temp
(C)
120
Time
- 55
Stress
Stress
0,3 S0
0,3 S0
Time
x 2500
4 hrs
Time
Time
Type 2
Type 3
Figure 3.9. Creep facilities with thermal cycling chamber (558C 2008C).
Table 3.4. Eect of cycling on the residual properties of cyanate matrix composites.
Loss of stress
(% of initial stress)
Type 1 (creep)
Type 2 (thermal cycle)
Type 3 (fatigue)
FHC
OHT
3.9
10.4
5.7
2
2.9
1.9
Summary
The pre-design studies conducted at Aerospatiale, BAe and DASA indicate
that, because of the drastic economical and technical requirements dened
for future supersonic civil transport aircraft, an important share of the structure of this aircraft will have to be made out of polymeric matrix composites
and advanced lightweight aluminium alloys.
For the aluminium alloys, studies were oriented in two directions:
.
.
Concerning the rst topic, recent research has resulted in the development of
new low density alloys, derived from 2650 and 6056 families, with much
better creep resistance than the 2618A Concorde alloy, combined with a fracture toughness better than the reference 2024 T3 subsonic alloy. For the
carbon bre reinforced polymers, the test procedure for evaluating the
damaging of these materials in real cycling conditions has been established,
and pilot test equipment has been designed and built. Key points that will
need to be studied in more detail have been identied, such as the inuence
of thermal ageing on the damage tolerance properties of the composite
materials and the creepfatiguethermal ageing interactions.
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]