Environmental Influences on Testing Composite Propeller Blades

The effect of an operating environment upon composite propeller blades has been studied by exposing both composite panels and propeller blades to a variety of environmental effects. This paper reviews these tests and shows that the propeller blade is adequately protected against lightning strike, impact damage, erosion and atmospheric exposure. Dynamic and static mechanical properties were determined on test pieces cut from a composite propeller blade which had been in service for over ten years on a passenger carrying hovercraft. These tests revealed that little change had occurred to the composite material in that period of time.