Aerospace Sandwich Panels with Open-Structured Veil
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Aerospace structural panels face a challenge in achieving further weight reduction without compromising structural integrity, as removing adhesives from sandwich panels to reduce weight leads to decreased peel strength and potential failure of face sheets from the core.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating an open-structured sheet, or veil, between the face sheets and the core material, which allows resin to penetrate and form strong bonds, reducing or eliminating the need for adhesive while enhancing peel strength, and using self-adhesive prepregs with high resin content and specific fiber materials to maintain structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If adhesive is removed to reduce weight, then weight is reduced, but peel strength decreases and structural integrity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
An open-structured sheet is introduced as an intermediary layer between the face sheet and core material. This veil provides a large surface area for resin penetration and bonding, enabling strong adhesion without requiring traditional adhesive materials, thus resolving the contradiction between weight reduction and peel strength maintenance
Solution Approach 2:
The open-structured sheet with its porous structure allows resin to penetrate deeply and form extensive bonds with both the face sheet and core material. This porosity enables the system to achieve high peel strength without adhesive, as the resin flows through the veil's openings and creates a distributed bonding network
2Weight of moving object
If adhesive quantity is reduced to save weight, then weight is reduced, but bonding reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The open-structured sheet acts as a mediator that distributes the bonding function across a large area. Even with minimal adhesive present, the veil's extensive surface area ensures reliable bonding by providing numerous attachment points for the resin, preventing bonding failure
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the surface area parameter of the bonding interface by introducing the veil. This increased surface area compensates for reduced adhesive quantity, maintaining bonding reliability through distributed stress and extensive resin penetration throughout the veil structure
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution achieves significant improvements in peel strength, allowing for weight reduction or no net weight increase while maintaining or exceeding structural integrity, as demonstrated by climbing drum peel test forces exceeding 300 N/75 mm, even with minimal or no adhesive usage.
Implementation Method 1
an open-structured sheet, or veil, between the face sheets and the core material, which allows resin to penetrate and form strong bonds
Data Source
AI summary
A structural panel comprising an internal core material having first and second opposing faces, first and second face sheets bonded to the first and second opposing faces respectively, wherein the panel comprises an open-structured sheet, interposed between a first face of the core material and its respective face sheet and the panel comprises less than 200 gsm adhesive.