THERMOPLASTIC APPLICATIONS IN HELICOPTER COMPONENTS

This paper addresses the concept of using advanced thermoplastics in helicopter applications, presenting an overview of current thermoplastic applications being investigated at Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. The primary objectives of these programs are to reduce weight, reduce cost, and decrease manufacturing cycle time, while improving maintainability and reliability. Thermoplastic applications are broken into three classifications: (1) fiber-reinforced thermoplastic airframe composite structures; (2) injection-molded thermoplastic components; and (3) composite fasteners for joining composite and metal structure. Development of these various programs is described, including material and processing information and test procedures. The continuous-fiber-reinforced structures and the injection-molded components are currently going through final testing prior to flight test on aircraft. The composite fasteners have already been successfully flown in secondary structural components.