FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SELECTION OF TOOLING AND FABRICATION METHODS IN BUILDING A COMPOSITE FUSELAGE

Under Army contract DAAK51-80-C-0001 with the Applied Technology Laboratory, U. S. Amy Research and Technology Laboratory (AVRAD-COM), Sikorsky Aircraft is developing a composite rear fuselage, aft transition section, for the BLACK HAWK helicopter (UH-60A.) To fabricate the advanced composite structure, large steel shell type laminating molds are being developed. A common computer data base is used to accurately convert the Engineering Design Data to Manufacturing Tooling information by means of Sikorsky's Computer Aided Interactive Design System (CAIDS.) Utilizing this data, candidate tooling concepts and fabrication methods were initially evaluated on half scale risk reduction tools. Studies determined that the problems encountered due to the thermal expansion characteristics of large metallic tools and the methods and techniques used to manufacture compound contour tools could be overcome. Tooling is presently being constructed with layup and cure of actual fuselage sections of advanced composite materials to follow. These sections will subsequently be assembled into the aft transition section and be installed on a BLACK HAWK aircraft to meet program objectives.