Polymer Composites in the Aerospace Industry

1

Introduction

Engineering requirements for aerospace composite materials

C. Soutis     The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

Abstract

The growing use of composite material has arisen from their high specific strength and stiffness, when compared to the more conventional materials, and the ability to tailor their structure to produce more aerodynamically efficient structural configurations. In this introductory chapter, it is argued that fibre reinforced polymers, especially carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP), can and will in the near future contribute more than 50% of the structural mass of an aircraft. Of course, affordability is the key to survival in aerospace, whether civil or military, and therefore effort should be devoted to low ...