Why are'nt there any carbon fibre fuselages ?

[Rcmaster199 at aol.com]

True to an extent Doug. However, carbon's strength is extremely high so  
brittleness usually isn't much of an issue. Another item of interest is that  
carbon in thin section is surprising flexible. 
 
I tried laying up carbon wheel pants with some 1K cloth I had laying  around, 
to save weight, and was disappointed in the finished part. It was around  8 
grams but just too flimsy. Doubling up the layer produced the desired effect  
but weight nearly doubled at 15 grams. Decided to return to glass and  carbon 
composite. There are many more grades of glass available than carbon  cloth, so 
a combination of thetwo materials produces the desired result at  reduced 
weight
 
BTW- if anyone ever has the chance to tour the Boeing St Louis  manufacturing 
site, take it. The Hornets built there are practically all  composite. The 
wing skin molded assemblies use carbon extensively. Fuselage  also. Truly kool 
beans
 
MattK
 
 
 


I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm  wrong but isn't CF alone somewhat 
brittle when in a layup without some other  material to provide flexibility? 

-Doug 



 
____________________________________
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org  [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org] On 
Behalf Of Hitesh  Gajjar
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 7:42 AM
To:  discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: RE: Why are'nt there any carbon fibre  fuselages ?

Ok, I get it, cost and strength vs stiffness and the balancing act  between 
the two. Thanks guys. 




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