Progress Report on Activities in Support of Composite Repair Engineering Development Program Tasks AF, AH and AI

摘要

Research has been undertaken to support the Royal Australian Air Force's commitments to the F/A-18 Composite Repair Engineering Development Program (CREDP). This report details work that has examined the effectiveness of surface treatments for adhesive bonding to aluminium, titanium and stainless steel (Tasks AF and AH) and the benefit of resin injection repairs to damaged composite laminates to restore fatigue strength (Task Al). The studies showed that bonding to high modulus metals using current and new generation surface treatment processes does not appear to be as effective as on alumimium alloys. Resin injection repairs to damaged composite laminates shows some measurable improvements over unrepaired laminates when tested in compression-compression fatigue.