U.S. Needs Bold Gesture in Ship Design Using FRP Composites, or Lose Out on Global Competitiveness

摘要

Composites appear on nearly every current list of advanced technologies that are crucial to the future competitiveness of U.S. industries. Composites represent the greatest single opportunity for the U.S. shipbuilding industry to leapfrog into the future in structures. Yet, European countries have led the world in the use of GFRP composites in combatant ships. The U.S. Navy has employed composites in masts, deckhouses and stanchions as a means to reduce topside weight and signature reduction but lags in the use of composites for load bearing structures.