Development of Innovative Composite Control Surface

摘要

In the last 2 decades, the use of composite materials in aero-structures has increased dramaticallyrnwhile continuous and massive effort has been made to reduce composite structures` costs.rnElbit systems – Cyclone (“Cyclone”) developed an innovative “one shot” composite control surfacerndemonstrator that utilizes the advantages of composite materials and their associated processesrnin order to reduce assembly steps, production time and number of parts in the assembly.rnCyclone`s demonstrator is manufactured by RTM (“Resin Transfer Molding”) technology usingrnstandard aerospace grade fabrics which are pre-formed on metallic mandrels. The demonstratorrnembodies innovative composite fittings that are adhered and geometrically locked to the innerrnframe spars with no fasteners1. The combination of an innovative technology, integratedrncomposite structure, and damage tolerant design lowers the cost by as much as 60% and improvesrnthe performance of this demonstrator compared to similar nowadays control surfaces.