Advanced Composite Materials and Structures - On-Demand

Advanced composites are critical, and in many instances enabling, materials for a large and increasing number of aerospace and commercial applications. Historically considered primarily structural and thermal protection materials, they also have great potential in virtually all subsystems, including propulsion, mechanisms, electronics, power, and thermal management. Physical properties are increasingly important.  For example, composites with low densities, low CTEs and thermal conductivities higher than copper are now in production. Materials of interest include not only polymer matrix composites (PMCs), currently the most widely used class of structural materials, and carbon-carbon composites (CCCs), which are well established for thermal protection, but also ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), metal matrix composites (MMCs) and other types of carbon matrix composites (CAMCs). In this 90 minute presentation we consider key aspects of the four classes of composites, including properties, key manufacturing methods, design considerations, analysis overview, lessons learned and applications. We also consider future directions, including nanocomposites.