THE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE OF AN ADVANCED THERMOPLASTIC HORIZONTAL STABILATOR FOR THE AH-64A

The existing metallic horizontal stabilator for the AH-64A was redesigned using graphite-reinforced thermoplastic composites. The main objective of the project was to demonstrate fabrication and assembly techniques that are unique to thermoplastics and their application to a primary structure. Design goals were to decrease the weight by 20% over the metallic baseline and to reduce the major parts count by 50%. A risk reduction article was fabricated and tested during 1990. achieving nearly 20% weight savings and 40% reduction in major parts count. Static testing of this article verified the integrity of the design concepts, manufacturing techniques, and finite element modeling techniques.