Chapter 10

Composite Materials in
Aircraft Structures
10.1 What are composites?
When any two or more substances are used together in a structure it can
generally be termed a composite. In aircraft design the term composite is
used when the main material of construction consists of strands of strong
bres stuck together with an adhesive (resin or matrix).
Composite materials are normally used in the form of layers of thin
cloth or at tapes, although small-diameter bundles of bres, called
rovings, are also sometimes used. These materials are easily formed into
complex curved shapes of almost any size, giving very clean, aerodynam-
ically smooth surfaces. Careful design and selection of materials can result
in structures that are stronger, stiffer and lighter than their metal
counterparts.
During the 1960s, sailing boat manufacturers began to exploit compos-
ites to make smooth-curved hull shapes of low cost and needing little
maintenance. The material used was chopped-strand glass bres with
polyester resin. This gave smooth and cheap hull mouldings but for its
weight was not very strong. Aircraft made from this kind of material would
be too heavy.
Glider manufacturers saw the advantage of the beautiful, smooth sur-
faces possible with composites but needed something a little stronger and
lighter. Glass bres woven into a cloth (and used as long strands of rovings
for wing spars) were combined with stronger epoxy resin to give a better
strength to weight ratio but at a greater cost. This combination of mate-
rials is now used for almost all gliders, as well as many home-built or kit
planes and even some light aircraft such as the Slingsby T-67 Firey and
Grob 115 trainer.
Further improvements in strength to weight ratio were required before
composites could be more widely adopted in the aircraft industry. This
came from the introduction of carbon bre (often called graphite ber in
the USA) which offered increased strength and stiffness and a reduction
in weight (see Fig. 10.1). Improvements in manufacturing techniques have
reduced the amount of resin needed to bond the bres together, yielding
further weight reductions.
For military and commercial aircraft in the 21st century, composites are
mostly used in the form of uni-directional tapes, where the straight bre
strands are all laid side by side and run in the same direction like a ribbon.
These are supplied with a measured quantity of resin already squeezed
around the bres and are called pre-pregs (for pre-impregnated). They
can be laid into moulds by hand or by a programmed, robotic tape-laying
machine. These high-strength pre-preg systems need to be cured in an
autoclave (a large pressure chamber that applies heat and pressure to the
component) and the total cost of the materials, labour and capital equip-
ment can be very high.
Examples of the use of pre-preg materials can be seen in the wings and
forward fuselage of the AV-8B Harrier II and the tailplanes of the Airbus
A-320. Apart from a limited number of Beech Starship aircraft, no all-
composite commercial aircraft has yet gone into production but compos-
ites are used extensively in combat aircraft like the Euroghter Typhoon
and SAAB Grippen, in helicopter structures and rotor blades and in fair-
ings and control surfaces of airliners.
160 Understanding Aircraft Structures
Fig. 10.1 Stress : strain diagram comparing composites with aluminium.
10.2 The strength of composite materials
A piece of composite material, such as a tape, with all of its bres running
along its length will be much stronger when pulled in the direction of the
bres (longitudinal strength) than when pulled to the side (transverse
strength). This is unlike metals, which have virtually the same strength in
all directions. In many structures the loads (stresses) are predominantly
in one direction, so the designer can place most of his bres in that same
direction to maximise strength and minimise weight. Careful selection of
the bre directions in a structure can cause it to twist or warp in a con-
trolled manner and it is this effect that has made possible forward-swept
wings for some experimental aircraft.
The starting point for considering the strength of the various types of
composite material and comparing it to metal can be taken as a single
strand of bre or bundle of bres like a string, wetted out with the appro-
priate amount of resin and cured. In this case all the bres run in the same
direction and share the load equally. Typical design values of tensile stress
(taken from actual aircraft design manuals) are listed below, the alu-
minium alloys are included for comparison:
Glass bre, wet lay-up 310MPa (44950psi)
Carbon bre, wet lay-up 292MPa (42360psi)
Carbon bre, pre-preg 585MPa (85500psi)
Aluminium alloy sheet 2024-T3 414MPa (60000psi)
Aluminium alloy plate 2014-T651 460MPa (66700psi)
(Note: refer to Section 5.5 for an explanation of the different types
of stresses.)
This list does not tell the whole story. The reason composites are often
considered for aircraft design is because of their strength to weight ratio.
A high strength to weight ratio will result in a lighter aircraft structure. If
we take the tensile strengths listed above and divide them by their respec-
tive material weight (density), we can get a comparison of strength to
weight ratio, starting with aluminium alloy sheet as 100%:
Aluminium alloy sheet 100%
Aluminium alloy plate 111%
Glass bre, wet lay-up 126%
Carbon bre, wet lay-up 182%
Carbon bre, pre-preg 235%
In a simple design case like the anges of an I beam or the spar caps of
a glider wing these strength to weight ratios can actually be achieved but
in many other cases they cannot. The reason is that while the composites
are very strong along the direction of the bres, they are very weak across
them. To make a composite panel equally strong both along its length and
Composite Materials in Aircraft Structures 161
across its width, half of the bres would have to be turned through 90 to
run across the panel. This would result in the composite having only half
of the strength in each direction and, consequently, its strength to weight
ratio would also have halved. The metal panel, of course, always had equal
strength in each direction.
Typical strengths for composite panels with equal numbers of bres
running both along it and across it (0/90 cloth) are listed below and can
be compared with the values above:
Glass bre, wet lay-up 109MPa (15801psi)
Carbon bre, wet lay-up 148MPa (21462psi)
Carbon bre, pre-preg 315MPa (45900psi)
The strength to weight ratios are much lower, compared to the aluminium
sheet:
Glass bre, wet lay-up 44%
Carbon bre, wet lay-up 72%
Carbon bre, pre-preg 126%
In a panel subjected to shear stresses, such as the vertical web of an I
beam, the best strength is achieved when the bres in the composite are
aligned at 45 to the web so that they run diagonally up and down it.
Special 45 double-bias cloths are available to serve this purpose. The
45 cloths are also used in wing skins and other parts of the aircraft struc-
ture to resist torsion loads or twisting (Table 10.1).
It can be seen from the strength to weight comparisons above that the
use of composite materials does not automatically result in large weight
savings in an aircraft design. It is necessary to calculate the exact amount
of material to place in each direction and to use the minimum amount
needed to carry the design loads. It is by this optimisation of the design
that an efcient lightweight structure is achieved and the nature of com-
posites allows it to be more easily achieved than with metals.
10.3 Types of structures
The simplest type of composite construction is a solid laminate skin sup-
ported by ribs and frames, just like a conventional metal or wooden struc-
ture. This is common in military aircraft, where the structure can be
subjected to very large loads and the resulting components become quite
thick. A combat aircraft wing skin made from pre-preg tapes could be
25mm thick. A wing skin this thick has the advantage that it can resist
buckling but it can become quite difcult to get the loads transferred from
the skin into the spar webs. This is because of the poor through-the-thick-
ness strength of the laminates, which might allow the skin to tear away
162 Understanding Aircraft Structures
C
o
m
p
o
s
i
t
e

M
a
t
e
r
i
a
l
s

i
n

A
i
r
c
r
a
f
t

S
t
r
u
c
t
u
r
e
s
1
6
3
Table 10.1 Composite design values
Youngs Shear Tensile/compressive
Modulus, modulus, stress, Shear stress,
Type and orientation GPa (p.s.i.) GPa (p.s.i.) MPa (p.s.i.) MPa (p.s.i.)
0/90 Glass cloth, wet lay-up 13.8 (2.0 10
6
) 1.65 (0.24 10
6
) 109 (15810) 30 (4307)
45 Glass cloth, wet lay-up 4.55 (0.66 10
6
) 7.03 (1.02 10
6
) 36 (5264) 89 (12905)
Undirectional glass tape, wet lay-up, axial 37.6 (5.45 10
6
) 1.65 (0.24 10
6
) 310 (44950) 30 (4307)
Undirectional glass tape, wet lay-up, transverse 3.45 (0.50 10
6
) 1.65 (0.24 10
6
) 14 (2027) 30 (4307)
0/90 Carbon cloth, wet lay-up, tension 41.9 (6.08 10
6
) 4.07 (0.59 10
6
) 148 (21462) 23 (3339)
0/90 Carbon cloth, wet lay-up, compression 41.9 (6.08 10
6
) 4.07 (0.59 10
6
) 119 (17206) 23 (3339)
45 Carbon cloth, wet lay-up 13.9 (2.02 10
6
) 19.5 (2.83 10
6
) 63 (9090)(T) 110 (16018)
U/D Carbon tape, wet lay-up, axial, tension 82.7 (12 10
6
) 4.62 (0.67 10
6
) 292 (42360) 26 (3792)
U/D Carbon tape, wet lay-up, axial, compression 82.7 (12 10
6
) 4.62 (0.67 10
6
) 234 (33960) 26 (3792)
0/90 Carbon tapes, pre-preg, axial, tension 70 (10.2 10
6
) 4.8 (0.70 10
6
) 315 (45900) 27 (3990)
0/90 Carbon tapes, pre-preg, axial, compression 70 (10.2 10
6
) 4.8 (0.70 10
6
) 273 (39780) 27 (3990)
45 Carbon tape, pre-preg 17 (2.47 10
6
) 34 (4.93 10
6
) 77 (11115)(T) 194 (28101)
U/D Carbon tape, pre-preg, axial, tension 130 (19 10
6
) 4.8 (0.70 10
6
) 585 (85500) 27 (3990)
U/D Carbon tape, pre-preg, axial, compression 130 (19 10
6
) 4.8 (0.70 10
6
) 507 (74100) 27 (3990)
from the spars. Many spars, ribs and shear-webs may be needed to spread
the load transfer over a large area of skin. Ten or more wing spars might
be used in a combat aircraft.
In less severely loaded aircraft structures, the skins will become thinner
and the number of ribs, frames and spars reduced. In light aircraft and
gliders a single main-spar and just a few ribs are used. The skin and ribs
can become so light that they are too thin to resist buckling and some
additional form of stiffening is needed. A common solution to this
problem is to build the skins as a sandwich by inserting a lightweight ller
or core layer into the laminate. The skin will now consist of this sandwich
core layer with thin composite face layers glued to either side of it (Fig.
10.2). This construction greatly increases the laminates bending stiffness
and therefore its resistance to buckling, with only a very small increase in
weight. (See Section 2.4 for more information on sandwich construction.)
Another application for sandwich construction is in the oor panels of
airliners, where a large at panel must carry bending loads. Glass-bre
facing skins are normally used over a honeycomb core layer. The glass-
bre facing skins resist the bending loads, rather like the anges of an I
beam and the sandwich core carries the shear force. The thicker the core
layer that is used, the thinner and lighter become the skins and the less
will be the bending deection of the oor under load. The weight of the
core layer will remain the same because the thicker core can be made
from a lighter material to carry the same shear force.
Many home-built light aircraft use a different form of construction,
usually referred to as mouldless composite construction. The basic idea is
that a huge block of polystyrene foam is carved (usually with a hot wire)
into the shape of the wing and glass-bre skins are simply built up over
the outside. The foam is left in place and serves as the shear-carrying ribs
and spar webs. Wing main spars can be built in too. Sometimes the spar
booms and webs are made separately and tted into the foam block before
the skins are applied. Other things must also be built in, such as hinges
and controls for ailerons and aps and wiring conduits for lights and
aerials. Although very simple and requiring no major moulds, the struc-
tures produced are a little heavy and a great number of man hours can be
spent achieving a smooth nish.
10.4 Joining composites
Since composites consist mostly of bres stuck together with epoxy resin,
it is quite straightforward to glue components together with epoxy adhe-
sives. Most glass-bre gliders and light aircraft are almost entirely glued
together, bolts being used only where particularly heavy loads are applied
or at disassembly points. Strong glued joints can only be achieved by the
correct selection of the adhesive and very careful preparation of the sur-
faces to be joined.
164 Understanding Aircraft Structures
C
o
m
p
o
s
i
t
e

M
a
t
e
r
i
a
l
s

i
n

A
i
r
c
r
a
f
t

S
t
r
u
c
t
u
r
e
s
1
6
5
Fig. 10.2 Composite wing spar construction (one of several possible methods).
In larger aircraft structures it is quite common to eliminate many of the
glueing operations by forming several of the components at the same time,
this is called co-curing. For example, a wing skin can be laid uncured into
its mould and then the ribs and spar webs, also uncured, are added, with
tooling to support and position them. The whole lot is then cured together
in an autoclave. This leaves only the closing skin to be attached by other
methods. The tooling needed for co-curing large aircraft parts is extremely
complex and very expensive.
It is quite possible to use mechanical fasteners, such as bolts and rivets,
to join composite components together or to attach them to metal com-
ponents. Specially designed rivets and high-strength fasteners are avail-
able for use in composites. Using rivets designed for metal may damage
the composite. Ordinary bolts may be used and often some local rein-
forcing feature may be added, such as a sleeve bushing in a hole or a glued-
on metal face plate. Galvanic corrosion of the bolts or rivets must be
prevented when carbon bre is present (see Section 8.1). The main pre-
caution is to prevent the ingress of water by applying jointing compounds
or adhesive and wet assembling the joint. Specially coated or plated fas-
teners are available and it is common to use titanium rather than steel
bolts.
Drilling holes in the composite for fasteners will greatly reduce its
strength. To get around this it is necessary to reinforce it. Where a tting
is bolted to the composite structure it is often adequate to just glue metal
facing plates either side of the composite and then bolt through the whole
lot. Another way is to build up the thickness of the composite around the
joint by adding more layers and placing them with the bres lying in the
direction that gives the best joint strength.
Bolting things to a foam or honeycomb sandwich structure requires
something to stop the lightweight core being crushed when the bolts are
tightened. A reinforcing block of dense foam, plastic or even wood can be
imbedded in the core during manufacture. Alternatively, the cells of a hon-
eycomb could be lled with a strong adhesive ller paste. Metal inserts
can be bought or made, then glued into large holes cut into one side of
the sandwich.
The face skins of a sandwich panel are usually very thin and need to be
reinforced to carry the bearing loads around a bolt. The metal inserts often
used have large diameter heads or anges that spread the load over a
larger area of skin. Large-diameter washers or metal face plates can be
glued on to serve the same purpose. The idea is to spread the load over
the face skin, rather than take it all on the thin edge of the hole.
A large number of specialist items are available for making attachments
to composite. Adhesively bonded screw studs, anchor nuts and cable tie
bases can be used to deal with many attachment problems without having
to drill holes in the composite.
166 Understanding Aircraft Structures
10.5 Fibres
10.5.1 Glass bre
There are two main types of glass bre: E-glass, which is the most common
type, and S-glass, which is available mainly in the USA. Both types are
similar but S-glass is slightly stronger. Woven glass cloths and tapes are
available in a wide variety of styles and thicknesses. Because the bare glass
bres are very delicate, they are coated with a substance called size to
protect them during manufacture and weaving. There are several differ-
ent types of size and epoxy resin does not stick properly to all of them. A
glass cloth with a nish that is suitable for use with the chosen resin system
must be used. Silane is the most popular for use with epoxy resin but there
are others and some universal nishes; a check should be made with the
technical department of the supplier before using them.
10.5.2 DuPonts Kevlar aramid bre
Aramid bres look like thin yellow string and are very soft to the touch.
DuPonts Kevlar is the best known but there is also Twaron by Akzo.
It is very strong in tension and very light. Stiffness is much better than
glass bre but not as good as carbon. A good range of cloths is available
from many different suppliers. It is very easy to wet-out with resin and
bonds well with epoxy to give a tough, lightweight composite.
Aramids are excellent for making stiff, lightweight shell structures but
there are a few drawbacks: the material is weak in compression and is
therefore not very good for carrying bending loads or for use in com-
pression struts; it does not cut very easily, so special drills, saws and shears
are needed for both the dry cloth and nished composite; the bres tend
to go uffy around cut edges and holes and sanding down the surface can
be a disaster. The material is also prone to soaking up moisture through
exposed bre ends (called wicking), which can damage the structure and
therefore the components must be well sealed with paint.
One big advantage of Kevlar is that laminates made from it are very
resistant to impact damage. Kevlar is sometimes used in hybrid com-
posites, mixed with carbon to get the strength and stiffness of carbon com-
bined with the toughness and lightness of Kevlar.
10.5.3 Carbon bre (or graphite bre)
Carbon bres are very strong, stiff and light. There are two main varieties,
called high-modulus and high-strength, caused by variation of the man-
ufacturing technique. Data on the performance of specic types of bre
is normally readily available from the manufacturers and suppliers.
The actual strength of carbon bre is not much greater than that of glass
bre but it is lighter and three times as stiff (i.e. its Youngs Modulus is
much greater, see Section 5.5.3). Unfortunately, it is also much more
Composite Materials in Aircraft Structures 167
expensive than glass bre. It is available in a wide range of woven cloths,
stitched fabrics and uni-directional tapes (narrow tapes with all the bres
running parallel in the same direction), both as a dry cloth or as a pre-
preg with epoxy. Carbon bre is easy to work into complex curved shapes,
wets-out well as a wet lay-up and forms a strong bond to epoxy resin. It
can be cut and drilled quite easily, although special drills may be needed
with pre-pregs to prevent damage around the holes.
One problem with carbon bre is that it is a high-resistance electrical
conductor, which might explode when struck by lightning. Aeroplanes and
yacht masts made of carbon bre must be tted with lightning conductors
unless the cross-sections of the components are so big that they can absorb
a lightning strike without overheating. For aircraft this usually means
building copper conductors into the wing around carbon spars or adding
a conductive layer, such as aluminium mesh, over the outside of the whole
aircraft.
The use of bres in aircraft structures is illustrated in Fig. 10.3. Figure
10.4 shows an aircraft with an entirely composite main structure.
168 Understanding Aircraft Structures
Fig. 10.3 Application of composite materials to the A340.
10.6 Resins
10.6.1 Polyester resin
Polyester resin is widely used in commercial, industrial and marine appli-
cations. It is not normally used in aircraft because epoxies offer better
strength and durability. The resin is easy to work with, being supplied as
a clear liquid resin to which a few drops of liquid catalyst (hardener) are
added and stirred-in just before use. It is sometimes used for low-cost
tooling and moulds when accuracy and durability are not vital.
10.6.2 Epoxy resin
Epoxy is the resin system used in most aircraft structural applications.
There is a wide range of different formulations available to suit different
Composite Materials in Aircraft Structures 169
Fig. 10.4 CMC Leopard 002 an aircraft with an all composite main structure.
purposes; the manufacturers or suppliers technical departments will give
advice on the most suitable system for any specic application. The main
differences are between the different temperatures used to cure the resin,
the working temperature it is expected to see in service and the manu-
facturing method used to make the composite components.
The greatest strength is achieved with a resin system that is cured at
high temperature, typically 175C under pressure in an autoclave. To get
the lightest weight components for aerospace use, all excess resin must be
eliminated. This is normally done by running the bre tapes or cloth
through a bath of mixed epoxy resin and then between rollers that force
resin into the cloth and squeeze away the excess. This is done by the mate-
rial suppliers and the resulting material is called a pre-preg. To stop the
resin from hardening in the pre-preg cloth before it can be cut and laid-
up in the mould it is kept at cold temperatures, this is typically -10C.
Even when stored in a freezer, the epoxy will eventually go off, so these
materials have a limited shelf life of 6 or 12 months.
The high-temperature curing epoxy systems are expensive to use
because not only is an autoclave needed but the mould tools must be
strong enough to withstand the repeated heating and cooling cycles of
component production; this means that they must be made from expen-
sive materials. Epoxy resin systems are being continuously developed to
improve strength and reduce the cost and difculty of component manu-
facture. Low-temperature curing pre-preg systems are now available that
give excellent strength when cured at temperatures of 75100C and that
need only the pressure of a portable vacuum bag system, rather than the
higher pressures of an autoclave.
For light aircraft and gliders the epoxy resin is bought in a two-part pack
and mixed just before use, where it is brushed, rolled and squeezed into
the dry cloths laid in the mould. Unlike polyester resin, it is very impor-
tant to get exactly the right quantity of resin and hardener into the
mixture. This is done by using accurate scales to weigh it out or by using
a metering pump that delivers the correct ratio. Different resin systems
require different mixing ratios and this is explained on the data sheet sup-
plied with the resin. The component is left in the mould to cure at room
temperature for 24 hours but it can take up to 14 days before it has
reached its full strength. To speed up the curing and to make the compo-
nent more resistant to high temperatures, it can be cooked in an oven
(post-cured) at 4580C for several hours.
10.6.3 Vinyl ester resin
Some kit planes use vinyl ester resin systems which can be considered to
fall between polyester resin and wet lay-up epoxy resin in terms of both
strength and cost. These resin systems are mixed and handled in a very
similar way to polyester and result in good chemical resistance and mod-
erate strength. In most aircraft applications, the greater strength of epoxy
is considered to outweigh the cost saving of vinyl ester.
170 Understanding Aircraft Structures
10.6.4 Phenolic resin
Interior wall panels and cabin furnishings are made using phenolic resin
systems. This is because phenolic is the only resin system that is adequately
re resistant and can meet the smoke and toxic fume emission require-
ments when burnt. It is not strong enough to be used for the structure of
the aircraft and is generally more difcult to process than epoxy.
10.7 Working safely with composites
While it is obvious that working with composites can be sticky, messy and
dusty, there are some real health hazards that mean precautions must be
taken to protect the user. Resin systems by law must be supplied with
safety information either on the container or in a data sheet and this is
worth reading.
Polyester resins are quite benign when mixed, except for the styrene
fumes, so working in a well ventilated place or even outdoors is the main
precaution against headaches and nausea. The hardener used with poly-
ester is another story. It is often a strong peroxide called MEKP, which
can burn the skin and cause severe permanent eye damage if spilled or
splashed. Overalls and latex gloves should be worn to keep it off bare skin
and goggles prevent it being rubbed or splashed into the eyes.
With epoxy resins, the problem most often encountered is a skin reac-
tion. This can accumulate with exposure so that the skin becomes sensi-
tised after a period of trouble-free working. Some resin systems are much
worse than others but they all have the potential to cause problems. Keep
skin covered when working with epoxy. Use disposable latex gloves and
preferably a barrier cream as well, try never to touch wet resin with bare
hands.
Epoxies also give off harmful chemical fumes, again some worse than
others. A good-quality respiratory lter mask will be required and goggles
too, to keep the substance out of the eyes. The workshop needs to be well
ventilated, preferably with fume extraction fans. Working outdoors is not
normally an option because airworthiness requirements demand a con-
trolled environment and in any case the cure time may be more than 12
hours and good temperature and humidity cannot be guaranteed
overnight.
The problems do not stop when the resin has cured. Cutting and sanding
the nished components brings its own problems. A respiratory mask and
goggles are required to keep the irritating dust out of the eyes and lungs.
A barrier cream or gloves should be used too, to stop tiny bres burying
themselves in the skin. Dust extractors in the workshop are needed, along
with good ventilation. Care should be taken not to spread too much dust
around the building, so dusty clothes should be removed on leaving the
work area.
All these precautions mean that undertaking composites manufacture
on a commercial basis requires some signicant expenditure on workshop
Composite Materials in Aircraft Structures 171
equipment and preparation and on disposable protective clothing for the
workers. Heating, air-conditioning and a de-humidier will also be needed
to meet the requirements for a controlled environment. A calibrated
thermo-hygrograph is also necessary to record the data for quality.
10.8 Review of the key points
In aerospace terms composite usually means long strands of strong bres
in a matrix of epoxy resin. Glider manufacturers were the rst to embrace
the technology, followed by military aircraft and light aircraft builders.
Today large commercial aircraft have signicant elements of primary
structure made in composite materials.
Composites are strong in the direction of the bres but comparatively
weak across them. The strength of composite materials is of a similar order
to that of good aluminium alloys but their real advantage is in their high
strength to weight ratio. The strength to weight ratio of carbon bre pre-
pregs is over double that of good aluminium alloys. However, in practice,
this advantage is only fully realised in relatively few applications, i.e. when
the loading is mainly in a single direction, such as in wing-spar booms (or
caps). The need to have strength in all directions can result in the strength
to weight ratio for a nished composite component being similar to, or
worse than, that for an aluminium part.
Where composites really score is in the ability to place material in
exactly the place where it is needed and nowhere else. This is the key to
minimising structural weight using composites and is more easily achieved
than with conventional materials.
Designing in composite bring its own set of considerations. On larger
aircraft, simply copying an aluminium alloy structure can result in very
thick lay-ups with the attendant problem of through-thickness load trans-
fer. Conversely, on lighter aircraft, items such as wing skins can end up
being very thin and thus require stabilising against buckling. This is often
achieved by creating a sandwich structure.
Classically, composite parts are joined by being glued together.
However, by using co-curing (where several parts are cured at the same
time, as an assembly) the number of joints can be signicantly reduced.
Mechanical fasteners (bolts, rivets, etc.) can be used but the resultant
stress concentration usually means that local reinforcement is necessary.
Load transfer between composite parts is best achieved by way of large-
area shear connections.
The variation in cost, strength, stiffness, workability, etc., of materials
such as glass, aramid and carbon bres is so great that a mix of several
different bres is often used in the same structure. Of the various resins
available, however, only epoxy is really used for aircraft as its strength and
dimensional stability characteristics outweigh the lower cost of other
resins.
172 Understanding Aircraft Structures