Application of carbon fiber composite materials in light sports aircraft

At present, the development of light sport aircraft is relatively fast abroad, but it is still in its infancy in my country. Therefore, how to reduce the manufacturing cost of light aircraft in the manufacturing process has become a key issue in the current manufacturing of light sports aircraft. According to the experience of manufacturing light sports aircraft in western developed countries, the use of carbon fiber composite materials is one of the effective ways to reduce the construction cost of light sports aircraft. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the application of carbon fiber composite materials in light aircraft structures.

A light aircraft, as the name suggests, is an aircraft that is light in weight and small in size. Light sport aircraft was originally a new type of aircraft introduced by the FAA in 2004 in accordance with the relevant requirements of the Civil Aviation Proposal. This type of aircraft meets the following requirements: ① the maximum take-off weight is 600kg (land take-off and landing type) to 650kg (water take-off and landing type); ② the maximum bisecting airspeed cannot be greater than 222km/h; ③ the stall speed must be lower than 83km/h; ④ It can be single-seat or double-seat; ⑤ It is equipped with non-retractable landing gear; ⑥ The propeller can be fixed pitch or ground adjustable pitch; ⑦ The drive device equipped is generally an engine or a piston engine.

At present, carbon fiber composite materials are widely used in the aviation field because of their unique and excellent performance characteristics, especially in the aircraft manufacturing industry. According to relevant information, the current use of carbon fiber composite materials in helicopters and small aircraft has reached 70% to 80%, but the application in light sports aircraft is less than 5%.

Because carbon fiber reinforced resin matrix composites have outstanding advantages such as light weight, and the material has relatively strict requirements on weight, fatigue properties and stiffness, it is more suitable for use in environments with high temperature and high chemical stability. At present, carbon fiber reinforced resin matrix composite materials have become the main production materials for weapons and equipment.

At present, many structures of the AV-8B modified "Harrier" aircraft of the US military aircraft use this composite material. Among them, the wings and the predecessor of the aircraft are made of large graphite epoxy parts. From the structure of the entire aircraft It can be seen that the use of carbon fiber material almost reaches 26% of the weight of the entire aircraft, which not only reduces the weight of the aircraft, but also improves the effective load ratio of the aircraft.

It is shown that if the structure of the front body of the aircraft is made of carbon fiber composite material, the mass will be reduced by at least about 30% compared with the metal structure. At present, with the deepening of the research on carbon fiber composite materials, the material is gradually used in the structural design of micro-aircraft, and many foreign light sports aircraft and unmanned aircraft have basically realized the composite structure of the structure.

For example: about 25% of the weight of the light sports aircraft components are made of composite materials, of which almost 22% are made of carbon fiber reinforced plastics. Because this material has the properties of reducing weight and being less prone to fatigue or corrosion, it can effectively reduce the fuel consumption and emissions of light sport aircraft. Compared with direct competition models, the fuel economy of light sport aircraft is about 13% lower, effectively reducing the cost of light aircraft construction.

To sum up, my country has made unremitting efforts in the development of carbon fiber composite materials, and after years of unremitting efforts, the achievements and progress have been huge, although the current application of carbon fiber composite materials in light sports aircraft is still in the preliminary stage. At this stage, some manufacturing processes and manufacturing technologies still need to be further improved, but the author believes that as long as we persevere, we will definitely open up a new world for the application of carbon fiber composite materials.