Abstract:
The ability to construct a composite, semimonocoque, damage-resistant, cargo floor for a rotary wing application using an IM7 graphite/polyetheretherketone (PEEK) composite with in-situ tape-placement fabrication technology has been demonstrated. Through an evolutionary process, a damage-tolerant thermoplastic composite cargo floor was designed according to realistic requirements, and subelement representative structures were developed to verify the design viability and approach. The fabricated and tested structural composite floor subelements demonstrated the feasibility of the technology, illustrated the ability to customize the design to meet unique cargo floor properties (e.g., cargo-loading features), and validated the maturity of the approach and fabrication technology for rotary-wing applications.