A method of manufactoring pipes from polymer composite materials for aircraft structures

Abstract

The frame power structures are widely applied when designing aircraft, in which composite rod elements are used to reduce the mass and size characteristics. To solve the problem of manufacturing rod elements from polymer composite materials, we developed a technology for the manufacture of carbon fiber pipes using an existing machine for winding carbon fiber, which provides the necessary strength and rigidity mainly in the longitudinal direction.When calculating the rod elements, all the loads that will affect the structure as well as the coefficient of thermal expansion should be taken into account. To achieve the required physical, mechanical, and thermophysical characteristics, the optimal scheme of reinforcement is the scheme with a quasi-longitudinal direction of the fibers. We developed the method of manufacturing based on the technology allowing us to obtain a reinforcement scheme with fiber orientation in the quasi-longitudinal direction with a reinforcement angle of about 1° by a combined method of layer-by-layer winding of carbon fiber. As a result of technological testing, we obtained samples of carbon fiber rod elements, which were used to confirm the calculated characteristics. To confirm the physico-mechanical and thermophysical characteristics, we determined the assessment of limit of strength and modulus of elasticity in bending, the limit of strength and modulus of elasticity in torsion, the limit of strength and modulus of elasticity in compression, and the coefficient of thermal expansion. The obtained characteristics of the dependences of the elasticity modulus of the pipe prototype material at the fibers’ orientation angle correlate with theoretical calculations. The presented method has the patent UA 128613 U.