U.S. Army Develops Composite Repairs

In the future, Army aircraft may be made of all composite materials, and the Prototype Integration Facility (PIF) Advanced Composites Laboratory is ready.

 

Part of the Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center's (AMRDEC) Engineering Directorate, the PIF's Advanced Composites Lab has successfully designed and made repairs on damaged composite aircraft components for several years now.

 

According to a recent U.S. Army report, advancing composites technology is one of AMRDEC's core competencies that enable the current and future force.

 

The PIF Advanced Composites Lab is one of several teams at the AMRDEC working with composites, from research and development to implementation and rapid prototyping,

 

Composite materials are a combination of materials that, when combined, produce a new material with characteristics different from the individual components. Examples of composite materials are fiberglass, Kevlar, and carbon fiber. Composite materials may be preferred for many reasons, including increased strength, reduced weight, and reduced production and sustainment cost.

 

"We have gotten as strong and as light as we can get with metals, and we're at the end of what metals can economically do," says Kimberly Cockrell, PIF Advanced Composites Lab lead. "The only way to get stronger and lighter and more capable for the fight is to go to composites."

 

PIF leadership recognized a need for advanced composites repair and began developing a composites capability within the PIF mission to provide rapid response solutions to the war fighter. The program includes repair design and engineering substantiation to show that repaired components are returned to original strength.

 

Personnel in the PIF Advanced Composites Lab designed and developed repairs for damaged composite stabilators on the UH-60M Blackhawk and the AH-64E Apache. Prior to their repair method, the only way to repair an aircraft with a damaged stabilator was to pull off the broken stabilator and replace it with a new one.

 

Cockrell says the "pull and replace" approach was costing the Army up to six figures per stabilator replacement.

 

While the first repair procedures were designed for Blackhawk stabilators, the repair method applies to any solid laminate or sandwich core composite structure, so the procedures and training can be leveraged to other Army aircraft.

 

Cockrell is proud of the lab's achievements. Its repair procedures are the first approved repair for primary composite structure on Army aircraft.

 

With integral support from the AMRDEC's Aviation Engineering Directorate, the procedures for the composite stabilator repairs have been written and are undergoing approval for release by the AMCOM Logistics Center.

 

An important aspect of developing repair methods is working with the repair personnel who will make the repairs. Members of the PIF Advanced Composites Lab have been training soldiers on the new stabilator repair procedures prior to deployment so that they can request approval to use them, on a case by case basis, through the Aviation Engineering Directorate.

 

The lab has also trained the instructors at the 128th Aviation Brigade as well as the AMCOM logistics assistance representatives.

 

In addition to training, the PIF Advanced Composites Lab, in partnership with the Aviation Engineering Directorate, played a lead role in developing the Army Technical Manual 1-1500-204-23-11 "Advanced Composite Material General Maintenance and Practices," as well as in defining the tooling and material load for the new AVIM composites shop set.

 

The lab is currently working repairs for blades too, as well as just-in-time tooling for parts with complex curves or topography.

 

"Our goal is to transition the stabilator repair business to other sources of supply, because we know that as soon as we get these repairs fully fielded, there will be new structures and composites issues for us to work," Cockrell says. "The Apache composite tailboom, new composite cabin frames, new composite cabin floors, and new composite blades are all coming down the pike.

 

"In five to 10 years, it's all composite. So whether it's fiberglass or carbon fiber or Kevlar or a hybrid, it's going all composite quickly. And it's important for the Army to be ready."