Composite Materials in the Helicopter Industry

The use of composites in aviation has revolutionalised the industry as a whole in terms of cost, performance and reliability. Composites in manufacturing have been around for decades and even pre World War Two however before world events took shape, the helicopter was in development and began to mature around that time with legendary pioneers such as Larry Bell and Igor Sikorsky. The many examples used in the rotorcraft industry include development of the BERP (British Experimental Rotor Program) for composite blades to assist performance and lift, the use of lightweight engine cowlings that result in the ease of maintenance. The advance of manufacturing techniques have seen the use of Computer Aided Design (CAD) , Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) with tooling and jigs brings cost effective and on time production for now and the future. This book will begin with explaining the types of composites used in the helicopter industry followed by a section on their properties and the processing and manufacturing techniques used. The book then concludes with a section on specific applications of composites in helicopter parts and then presents various case studies within the area.