CF cowling for single engine aircraft

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CF cowling for single engine aircraft

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Gabacho	G Gabacho posted 7 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
G Group: Forum Members Posts: 5, Visits: 12	Greetings, I am getting ready to place an order with you for the tools and supplies to build a mold of my upper aircraft engine cowling and would like some advice as to what CF cloth type, weight, number of ply's, filler, etc would likely give me give me a very light and strong part. This is a single wall cowling, there are no stiffening channels or reinforcements. The original is made from fiberglass and is approximate 3/16 of an inch thick. Ideally I would like to end up with something significantly lighter and as strong or stronger than the original part. Can you suggest an appropriate CF cloth, thickness, weight, number of ply's and possibly a filler to sandwich between the CF ? If more information is needed for you to make a recommendation, let me know what you require. Regards, Ed
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Gabacho	G Gabacho posted 7 Years Ago HOT Post Details
G Group: Forum Members Posts: 5, Visits: 12	+x Gabacho - 10/23/2018 3:28:30 AM +x Hanaldo - 10/23/2018 3:20:42 AM You can estimate thickness per layer based on the weight of the material. So say for a 200g woven fabric, you will get roughly 0.25mm thickness for each layer. For a 450g woven fabric, you'll add roughly 0.5mm thickness with each layer. 650g woven, little bit over 0.7mm with each layer. Etc. Etc. So to replace a 4.5mm fibreglass panel with a cored carbon laminate, I would be going for a 0.75mm thick skin on either side of a 3mm core. so you could either do 3 layers of a 200g carbon on either side of your 3mm core, or you could do 1 layer of 200g and 1 layer of 450g on either side of your 3mm core. You could also make the panel slightly lighter and make it 4mm or even 3.5mm thick, and still have a stronger panel than the original fiberglass one. For your core, personally I would go a lighter weight infusion core material like 3D PET core. Soric works well too, but is a bit heavier. If your cowling has quite complex curvature, the Soric might be easier to conform without bridging. Fibre orientation you likely dont need to worry too much about, much of your stiffness is coming from the geometry of your cowling. So you can laminate your panel with the fibre orientation that feels natural and uses the least material, which is typically along the 0 and 90 axis. Thank you! That is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. Ed Yes, Vacuum infusing.
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