Composite Structures
Composite aircraft [10]
This part of the review shall mainly provide the research findings needed to answer the potential problem of composite structures. The summary should include enough information to: perform a comparison between aluminium structures and composite structures, determine if composites should be a major factor in the design of new extinguishing systems, and potentially provide enough information for a numerical or computational analysis of the potential fire risk (though this may be too ambitious). There are several points which need to be investigated in this part of the review:
- What composites are being considered for use?
- When will composites come into use, is it before or after the ban on halon?
- Where in an aircraft will composites be used and how common will there use be, will they be used on all types of aircraft?
- What are the properties of these composites, what's the ignition temperature and the heat of combustion, are they prone to catching fire?
- How will these composites react to fire, do they melt, do they undergo pyrolysis, or do they themselves catch fire?
- Will they provide restrictions on extinguishing systems i.e. will they react badly to certain types of chemicals used for extinguishing fires?
- How do composites compare to aluminium for each of these questions?