Boeing 7E7 Structure Will Be Made of Composite Materials

Boeing News Release ^ | June 12, 2003 | Lori Gunter - Boeing

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

EVERETT, June 12, 2003 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has decided that the 7E7 will be the first commercial jet ever to have a majority of the primary structure -- including the wing and fuselage -- made of advanced composite materials.

Following months of intensive study and analysis, the company has selected a graphite combined with a toughened epoxy resin as the main composite. The wings will also include TiGr composites -- a combination of titanium and graphite. Titanium is a strong metal known for its light weight and durability. Graphite is a stable form of carbon.

Over the past year and a half, a team made up of more than a dozen aerospace companies looked at advanced composites and new aluminum alloys as possible materials for the 7E7.

"Composites offer us a variety of advantages including better durability, reduced maintenance requirements and increased potential for future developments," said Mike Bair, senior vice president of the 7E7 program for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "We believe this choice will help position Boeing to take advantage of the most modern materials technologies as we enter the second century of flight."

Bair said generally accepted assumptions that composites would weigh significantly less and cost significantly more than aluminum were found not to be universally true.

"The aluminum companies did a great job of offering new alloys that were about as light as the composite materials," Bair said. "And the composite companies made a lot of progress on cost."

Bair noted that the work done by the aluminum companies will be of ongoing benefit to Boeing, as they can possibly be used for smaller structural pieces on the 7E7 and existing airplane models.

"Improved materials are one way we can continue to improve our current products," Bair said. "We are really pleased with the cooperation we've seen from the aluminum companies and the excellent results produced."

Boeing will be using structural health monitoring technologies on the 7E7 -- providing operators with real time, continuous data collection concerning the health of the airframe. The company is conducting developmental work on embedding sensors in the 7E7 structure to detect impacts and monitor structural integrity.

The combination of improved materials properties and the structural health monitoring system will create earlier understanding of any structural repair requirements, allowing operators to better schedule and manage their maintenance activities.

Boeing is in the process of selecting candidate suppliers for composite raw materials.

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Contact: Lori Gunter 1-425-294-1722

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[exit82]

Dear Boeing: Please make sure the tail doesn't break off when you turn the rudder. Thank you.

[Travis McGee]

Dear Boeing: Please make sure the tail doesn't break off when you turn the rudder. Thank you.

CLASSIC!!!!!

[null and void]

Dear Boeing: Please make sure the tail doesn't break off when you turn the rudder. Thank you.

Happens all the time. Right, swervie?

[TalBlack]

Shoot, according to Airbus over inputting a rudder command will pretty much result in the trail shearing. Kinda hard to believe if you ask me.

[teletech]

If the 7E7 is glued together using composite material, I won't put myself or my family on a 7E7! BAD MOVE BOEING!

[aimhigh]

Does anyone know of a good website with airplane schematics? I'd like to carve some models, but I need some good dimensions.

[donmeaker]

On the B-2 we used composites and had great yield, and tremendous life. You don't have the crack growth problems that drive inspection and maintenance costs on aluminum structures. Best yet, the predicted life was compared to the test life, and there was agreement within 1%. By comparison aluminum fatigue has a lot of scatter, typically 400 percent.

Crack growth is a big problem in aluminum. Put a fastener in wrong you get a scratch, which acts as a crack initiation point. Again, the composites don't have crack growth problems, not at all.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

I wonder if the FAA will certify it? A few years ago they said they would never cert a composite for commercial use.

[Brian Allen]

<< I wonder if the FAA will certificate it? A few years ago it said it would never cert a composite for commercial use. >>

Like NASA, the FAA is comprised of a shower of otherwise deservedly unemployed trailing edges, static wicks and wake turbulences in a nose-cone, pitot-head and leading-edge industry.

Who cares what the FAA said?

In the end -- as ever -- it will do what it is told.

[And years later will understand what went on]

[BenLurkin]

[Larry Lucido]

Dear Passenger,

The rudder will be welded shut, and the center fuel tank will be located outside the aircraft, towed along by a 200' hose.

Boeing

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the photo!

[dljordan]

composites are much better than rivets and aluminum in my opinion. I hate to tell you but they been gluing parts of airliners together for years. The Mosquito bomber was glued together. I used T88 epoxy to glue my wing ribs together and they are tough. If anything breaks it won't be the glue joint. I've seen video of a carbon-fiber wing being load tested with sandbags and it took a line of ten sandbags stacked five deep to make it collapse.

[dljordan]

You hit the FAA right on the head. They ARE goobers of the first order especially the medical guys. Nasty, arrogant, rude and useless.

[ContentiousObjector]

The probability of the 7E7 ever being built is just about zero, there are to many powerful elements in Boeing (read: f--king idiots) who are against the project and favor a scaled down version of the 777

[Rockpile]

Wow! Didn't know that the Chinese had gotten that good at assembling advanced plastics.