PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Fired engineer calls 787's plastic fuselage unsafe
Old 27th Sep 2007, 02:39
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Intruder
 
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Intruder; personally I don't and I suggest that the entire comparison is a pointless red herring. Please read my earlier and, I believe, pertinent question at Srl 51. How easy/possible is it to detect the effects of seemingly minor damage in composite fabrications?
My experience in composites is limited to building and repairing small boats. Even in that very limited domain, though, I am aware that there is such a significant difference in the behavior of different composites (e.g., glass/polyester, glass/epoxy, Kevlar/epoxy, wood/resin...) that one cannot generalize about their responses to various types of stress and damage. I suspect that even within the context of the single 787 airplane, there will be several different composite layups, each with their individual inspection/repair criteria. I'll leave it to an expert in the specific composites to tell us what some of those criteria may be.

IIRC, the issue with motorcycle helmets has more to do with the foam liner than the composite shell. While the shell may still do what it is supposed to do, the foam liner may be permanently compressed in some places after a significant impact. Since that liner gives the bulk of the actual protection, its failure (or actually, its planned response to the impact) may make it significantly less able to provide the specified protection in a subsequent impact.
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