Advanced polymer composite propeller blades

Piston Engines and Propellers

“…Today nearly all the large propellers for aircrafts have carbon fiber blades (Lockheed Hercules C-130 J). These are light weight, have high specific strength, stiffness and excellent fatigue resistance, and its resistance to erosion are three times that of aluminum alloys [8]. …”

“…4.39, 4.41, and 4.42) are found in reference [14]. However, recent propellers may have other number of blades (5)(6)(7)(8). Performance parameters like thrust coefficient can be obtained from the following equation [18]: Figure 4.44 provides the locus of maximum efficiency for different speed power coefficient.…”