Material Qualification Methodology for a Helicopter Composite Main Rotor Blade

Work was performed at The Boeing Company, Mesa, Arizona in 1998 and 1999 to qualify pre-impregnated glass reinforced composite materials. These materials were for the design and manufacture of a new main rotor blade for the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. The data generated was intended as a material database to support future material procurement, the blade design, and calculation of material and basic design allowables. The methods used are based on MIL-HDBK-17 working group recommendations, including a reduced-number-of-specimens procedure. Lessons learned were then applied to a subsequent carbon reinforced prepreg qualification using the same resin systems. Test methods and requirements for acceptance of future batches were also developed.