Black wing technology
The T-50 wing is a typical composite design. Inside - aluminum honeycombs, above and below - about a hundred layers of carbon fiber. After laying out, this “sandwich” will go for 8 hours to an autoclave, where it will turn into a high-strength, and most importantly, light aviation detail. This is how the unique PAK FA - T-50 Advanced Aviation Complex of Frontline Aviation - is born.
As a true tailor, these women cut and layer carbon-fiber cloths layer by layer. This is how the unique “black wing” of the PAK FA, the T-50 Tactical Aviation Complex of Frontal Aviation, is born.
“Despite the seeming simplicity of the technology, in order to begin the calculation process, special equipment is needed. This equipment is made of composite materials, and a number of requirements are imposed on it. These are also high-tech products,” says Igor Shkarupa, scientific secretary of the production and production enterprise.
Wing T-50 - a typical compositional design. Inside - aluminum honeycombs, above and below - about a hundred layers of carbon fiber. After the calculation, this “sandwich” will go to the 8 watch in an autoclave, where it will turn into a high-strength, and most importantly, lightweight aviation component.
“Almost the entire fuselage and panels of this fighter — this was done at our enterprise. First we had 18 products, then we became 22, and the Voronezh aircraft building plant also receives the tail part of this fighter from the near future,” says Technology "Vladimir Vikulin.
For the fifth generation fighter at the Obninsk Scientific-Production Enterprise "Technology", which is part of the Chemcomposite concern of the Russian Technologies Corporation, developed a special carbon fiber material. The main technological know-how in the so-called prepregs - semi-finished materials. Their characteristics are directly dependent on how uniformly the carbon fiber is fused and the resin part.
"These technologies in the world are very closed. For example, 2-3 countries in the world own the technology for obtaining good carbon fiber. And it is impossible to buy it. Either you have to develop it yourself, or you will buy a finished product, an airplane there, etc., but you cannot do this anymore, ”says Valery Litvinov, General Director of OAO Moscow Machine-Building Experimental Plant - Composite Technologies.
In Obninsk, work with composite materials began in the 70s of the last century, when developing the unique space system Energia-Buran. Now the company has mastered the mass production of large-sized head fairings for Proton, Rokot and Angara launch vehicles from composites.
“They are not inferior in strength to metals, they have advantages in terms of durability and they are several times lighter than metals, and this is very important for space purposes, because launching a kilogram of weight into space is very expensive,” says Vladimir Vikulin.
Civil aviation without composites can not do. In the new Russian mainline aircraft MC-21 there will be more than 30 percent.
In airplanes from familiar materials, passengers at altitude sometimes feel uncomfortable due to lack of oxygen and pressure drops. Manufacturers promise that such compressed composites will not have such negative sensations.
“If the next generation of aircraft is made of these materials, then the person will fly, being in a state of being at Earth level all the time. This is a completely different quality of flight,” explains Valery Litvinov.
In December last year, the Moscow region bound the "freezing rain". Trees, roads, roofs of houses, cars were covered with a thick layer of ice. Unloading trees began to fall, breaking the wires of power lines. More than two weeks, about 400 of thousands of inhabitants of the Moscow region were left without electricity. The catastrophic consequences could have been avoided if the wires passed above the forest level, and the power transmission towers were made of composites.
“We are developing such a project in such a way that, for example, on one wagon or truck with a trailer it was possible to bring and assemble this 50-meter support, and without any lifting means,” says Valery Litvinov.
About a year ago, the Engineering Research and Production Center was created on the basis of the Moscow Machine-Building Experimental Plant - Compositional Technologies for such topical projects. The enterprises of the Chemcomposite concern are ready to move from projects to mass production. Life shows the future for these materials.
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