Odyssey

[Doug GerrardParticipant]

Have you thought about a layer or two of Kevlar at the ends of the upper airframe?

No, not really. I had the chance to visit the place where Art works and it is really amazing. They have the tools to and material to lay up entire aircraft fuselage in an autoclave and bake at under extreme temperatures and pressure. The specifications they build to make our rocket ventures seem amature. I trust their judgment on what works. Thanks but we’ll stick with the pre-preg carbon and bake it in the oven.

Doug

(I’m on travel now so it will be a while before I can post again)

[Warren B. MusselmanModerator]

I absolutely agree – what I and other amateur composite folks do pales against properly engineered composites. However, were recovery impacts considered in the layup design? I, for one, because I don’t have the engineering expertise necessary to properly design to the actual impacts and loads likely to be encountered tend to overbuild to a fault (why use 2 layers when 8 layers is much more likely to survive?).

It’s a very impressive project Doug and I’m sure you guys will have a great flight. I’m looking forward to seeing the flight and even more to seeing the film you get out of it.

Warren

[Art HoagParticipant]

Yes, the lay-up and ply orientation was specifically designed around recovery impact. I cured out 8 different test panels today as part of determining the actual thickness of the various different lay-up schedules as well as the different load capabilities.

When you design your lay-up for the specific loads it will see then you can cut the amount of material down that you will need to use. Two well placed plies can have the same strength as five or six plies that were not thought out. One of the biggest things that composites have going is load distribution. By acknowledging the stresses and forces that will be acting upon any given object then you can use the glass, carbon or Kevlar to distribute loads and provide strength where it is needed all while keeping material to a minimum.

In this case and this lay-up, a pure carbon fiber lay-up will be a better answer to the loads that the airframe will see then Kevlar would be.

Art

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