The Development of Advanced Aerospace Composite Using Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Moving to digital manufacturing based on additive manufacturing (3D printing) is a key focus of modern aerospace technologies. The unique physical properties of graphene and its composites, combined with the capability of additive manufacturing, promise to open up a plethora of new opportunities and challenges. There are some parts in aerospace structures made by 3D printing such as rocket engine nozzles (Lockheed Martin), parts of F35 fighter engine (Northrop Grumman), and a fuel tank (RedEye and Lockheed Martin). Boeing Company uses numerically controlled machines to produce more than 200 parts for ten different aircraft. This work investigated the mechanical properties of graphene/nylon-6 composite material. Different mass fractions of composite molded parts were selected to test the properties. As of the time of this report, 0 wt%, 0.1 wt% and 1 wt% graphene/nylon composite drawing parts have been made. After analyzing the test data, the tensile strength, young modulus, shear strength, and fracture toughness curves have been obtained. According to the existing data, the strength of raw materials has obviously improved when the composition is 0.1 wt%, but the strength has decreased when the composition is too high.