Generation of materials makes a generation of aircraft
In 1903, the world's first aircraft, the "Flyer One," made by the Wright brothers, took the first step in the conquest of air and space. At that time, the aircraft body was mainly made of wood and cloth; in the 1920s, high strength Steel and aluminum alloys gradually replaced wood, and steel wings were added to the aircraft; in the 1950s, titanium alloys with better heat resistance began to enter the stage of history; in the 1980s, high-performance aluminum alloys were characterized by their light weight and high strength Gradually gain people's favor and become the main structural material of aircraft bodies; in the 21st century, composite materials began to replace some traditional materials with many features such as lower density, higher strength, and strong designability. Large passenger aircraft A350 and B787 The amount of high-performance composite materials used has reached more than 50% of the aircraft structure. Where will aviation materials go in the future? Airbus, Europe's largest aircraft manufacturer, turned its attention to nanomaterials.
On August 31, the Airbus (Beijing) Engineering Technology Center and the Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology and Nanobionics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology) held a cooperation signing ceremony in Suzhou, and officially established a joint laboratory for aviation nanomaterials. The main cooperation The content includes high-conductivity and high-toughness technologies for aviation nanocomposites, and the development of online high-precision monitoring technologies. "This is the first cooperation between Airbus China and the Chinese research team in the field of aviation nanocomposites." Cheng Long, general manager of the Airbus (Beijing) Engineering Technology Center, told the Science and Technology Daily reporter.
Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology has been focusing on the research and development of nanomaterials for a long time. It has carried out the research and development and engineering of high-performance carbon nanofibers and films earlier in the world. Its product performance and production capacity are currently at the international advanced level. This is highly consistent with Airbus China's development plans for advanced aviation materials, and has laid a solid technical foundation for the cooperation between the two parties.
"At present, the most widely used composite materials on aircraft are carbon fiber composite materials. Compared with traditional metal materials, carbon fiber composite materials have low density, high strength, and strong designability. However, carbon fiber composite materials still have many shortcomings, such as poor toughness. , Poor electrical conductivity, high cost, and difficulties in online health monitoring have limited the use of composite materials in the aviation industry on a larger scale. "Lu Weibang, a researcher at the Suzhou Nano Institute, said that after years of hard work, the research team of the Suzhou Institute uses a variety of preparation technologies. The successful production of carbon nanotube films has become one of the few international scientific research institutions capable of manufacturing continuous carbon nanotube films.
One of the methods for preparing carbon fiber composite materials is to laminate the carbon fiber and resin layer by layer under pressure and high temperature curing to form, and the interlayer performance is poor. Lu Weibang said: "We hope that through the composite of carbon nanomaterials and traditional carbon fiber materials, the interlayer performance of carbon fiber composite materials will be enhanced to solve the above problems."
In fact, in addition to applications in the aviation industry, carbon nanotube film products have appeared in our daily lives. The reporter saw an assault jacket in the exhibition hall of Suzhou Nano Institute. According to Lu Weibang, the carbon nanotube film was stitched on the back of this jacket, effectively utilizing the high-efficiency electric heating characteristics of the carbon nanotube film. This film, which is only about 20cm in length, can be continuously heated for 5-6 hours after being connected to the charging treasure, thereby greatly improving the cold-proof ability of the jacket.
Lu Weibang said that the Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology will continue to focus on low-cost preparation of nano-aerospace materials, anti-icing / de-icing, electromagnetic shielding and other technologies. To serve the people and improve the quality of social life.