Hi all
Foam is an ideal choice to use in the manufacture of small aircraft wings as a lightweight material that made me adopt it in my research studies on my plane that I love.
Just as each choice has many advantages, it also has several disadvantages that must be overcome.
After overcoming the obstacle of cutting the foam according to the required profile and obtaining a smooth surface for it and a wonderful wing front(leadingedge), as this was done using hot wire technology.
The first was the durability of foam that is insufficient to withstand the stress on it during flight, which must be lifted to overcome that stress, and after a long search, I reached the use of glass fibers in foam packaging, using epoxy as a binder and indeed the result was very good after subjecting the foam coated with glass fibers in a simulation of what is exposed to loading during flight.
Despite reaching the great result of raising the durability, there was a great negative of the packaging process, which is the very poor termination of the surface and the front of the wing, which greatly affects the distribution of pressure on the two surfaces of the wing.
Many experiments have been conducted for this, including the use of polyethylene with a thickness of 2 mm on the surface before the process of decompression and removal after it, and other experiments using the also HDBE.
These experiments led to an improvement in the quality of the surface finish and the front of the wing, but they did not reach the required level.
What is the most successful experiment for this and what should I use to get to a good finish of the surface and the LEADINGEDGE?
Pointed out to some friends the possibility of using shrink tube or shrink roll material to cover the surface after wrapping with fiberglass, but I did not find a lord after that because I could not get the characteristics of the shrink tube and the required thickness for it or even what companies are producing it, especially since it has a relatively large diameter of about 50 cm
Foam is an ideal choice to use in the manufacture of small aircraft wings as a lightweight material that made me adopt it in my research studies on my plane that I love.
Just as each choice has many advantages, it also has several disadvantages that must be overcome.
After overcoming the obstacle of cutting the foam according to the required profile and obtaining a smooth surface for it and a wonderful wing front(leadingedge), as this was done using hot wire technology.
The first was the durability of foam that is insufficient to withstand the stress on it during flight, which must be lifted to overcome that stress, and after a long search, I reached the use of glass fibers in foam packaging, using epoxy as a binder and indeed the result was very good after subjecting the foam coated with glass fibers in a simulation of what is exposed to loading during flight.
Despite reaching the great result of raising the durability, there was a great negative of the packaging process, which is the very poor termination of the surface and the front of the wing, which greatly affects the distribution of pressure on the two surfaces of the wing.
Many experiments have been conducted for this, including the use of polyethylene with a thickness of 2 mm on the surface before the process of decompression and removal after it, and other experiments using the also HDBE.
These experiments led to an improvement in the quality of the surface finish and the front of the wing, but they did not reach the required level.
What is the most successful experiment for this and what should I use to get to a good finish of the surface and the LEADINGEDGE?
Pointed out to some friends the possibility of using shrink tube or shrink roll material to cover the surface after wrapping with fiberglass, but I did not find a lord after that because I could not get the characteristics of the shrink tube and the required thickness for it or even what companies are producing it, especially since it has a relatively large diameter of about 50 cm
