Future Airplane Wings Will be Able to "Self-Heal" Small Cracks

Lizzy Finnegan

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Future Airplane Wings Will be Able to "Self-Heal" Small Cracks



Self-healing airplane wings could be introduced in the next five to ten years, according to University of Bristol researchers.


In 2008, the University of Bristol began working on a project [http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2008/212017945445.html] to apply the concept of bleeding and scabbing to airplanes, with the intention of helping airplane wings "self-heal" small cracks.

"Because engineers are worried about cracks forming in composites, they currently build many aircraft parts much stronger, and therefore heavier, than may be necessary, so they can withstand a 40% loss in strength during use. This means more fuel is needed to get them off the ground and flying to their destinations, which is far from ideal, in terms of aviation's impact on the environment," Dr. Emile Greenhalgh said at the beginning of the project.

When you get a small cut on you skin, your blood flows, clots, and scabs, often leading to total skin recovery depending on the type of cut. The same concept was being applied to airplane wings, and according to a BBC report [http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33047859], we could see self healing airplane wings in the next five to ten years.

Inside the test wings are microspheres filled with a liquid carbon agent that releases and hardens when the microspheres burst. The agent seeps into the cracks before coming into contact with a catalyst, triggering a rapid chemical reaction which causes it to harden. The catalyst itself will present in the redesigned wings.

While the agent would not be able to repair large holes, even the smallest of cracks can lead to serious issues.

"We're talking about tiny cracks - not a 1m-wide (3ft) hole," claims chemistry professor Duncan Wass, who is working on the research project. "But micro-cracks can lead to catastrophic failures."

"We are talking about aeroplane wings here - the most demanding application because of the safety aspect," Wass told BBC. "You have to over-engineer. We would literally break it, allow it to heal, break it again. In some cases we were getting 100% recovery."

The project received a £1.2 million grant from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory [http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/default.htm].

According to planecrashinfo.com, the odds of being in a fatal plane crash on a major world airline is doubling from the previous year [http://www.planecrashinfo.com/cause.htm].

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CrystalShadow

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Apr 11, 2009
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This is very interesting technology...
Though I have to admit, the idea of a wing that can... Bleed, is a scary one. (or rather, vaguely creepy somehow) XD
 

fix-the-spade

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That's cool, but I can't help but think it will be used as an excuse to reduce maintenance hours, which always goes swimmingly.

What I really want to see is an airliner size aircraft that can survive a failure in a significant structural point without peeling. The Lockerbie bomb caused a 20in hole in the arcraft, which is nothing relative to the scale of a 747, but it was enough to make the front of the aircraft separate from the wings.

CrystalShadow said:
Though I have to admit, the idea of a wing that can... Bleed, is a scary one. XD
The SR-71 bleeds, but then it was capable of ludicrous speed.
 

Wiggum Esquilax

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Some modern aircraft, such as the Airbus a380, have wings designed to flex. Their pliability improves both passenger comfort and wing service life. I would think that liquid carbon microspheres and wing pliability would be mutually exclusive, since any such motion would rupture all of the spheres at once. Could be interesting to see which technology wins out.

Could not even end up being a function of safety. Even if the spheres prove the superior from a fuel economy standpoint, wing flex requires negligible maintenance. Microspheres would need regular replacement, and their temporary patches might have to be regularly scrubbed and redone by hand.

I know that fuel is the main cost of running an airline, but it's hardly as though maintenance is cheap, either.
 

CrystalShadow

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Apr 11, 2009
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fix-the-spade said:
That's cool, but I can't help but think it will be used as an excuse to reduce maintenance hours, which always goes swimmingly.

What I really want to see is an airliner size aircraft that can survive a failure in a significant structural point without peeling. The Lockerbie bomb caused a 20in hole in the arcraft, which is nothing relative to the scale of a 747, but it was enough to make the front of the aircraft separate from the wings.

CrystalShadow said:
Though I have to admit, the idea of a wing that can... Bleed, is a scary one. XD
The SR-71 bleeds, but then it was capable of ludicrous speed.
Ahaha. that's less... Bleeding, and more, the fuel leaking out because the aircraft can't be sealed properly and still cope with thermal expansion...

That's... More like having a leaky bladder than... Bleeding. (ugh. What an image though. XD)
 

Dalek Caan

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Feb 12, 2011
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"In some cases we were getting 100% recovery."

And the other cases?

The Technology sounds great but I doubt it will do anything to sway my fears of flying. Also if a plane bleeds, it can die.
 

Albino Boo

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Wiggum Esquilax said:
Some modern aircraft, such as the Airbus a380, have wings designed to flex. Their pliability improves both passenger comfort and wing service life. I would think that liquid carbon microspheres and wing pliability would be mutually exclusive, since any such motion would rupture all of the spheres at once. Could be interesting to see which technology wins out.

Could not even end up being a function of safety. Even if the spheres prove the superior from a fuel economy standpoint, wing flex requires negligible maintenance. Microspheres would need regular replacement, and their temporary patches might have to be regularly scrubbed and redone by hand.

I know that fuel is the main cost of running an airline, but it's hardly as though maintenance is cheap, either.
There is reason why the research was done at the university of Bristol, all the wings on Airbus aircraft were designed about 8 miles away from the university.
 

Tortilla the Hun

Decidedly on the Fence
May 7, 2011
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Dalek Caan said:
"In some cases we were getting 100% recovery."

And the other cases?
200%! Whole planes were being produced from the carbon spheres, putting manufacturers almost entirely out of business.
 

LordLundar

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fix-the-spade said:
That's cool, but I can't help but think it will be used as an excuse to reduce maintenance hours, which always goes swimmingly.
Alternatively it can mean a longer period between overhauls and decommissions which eat up a lot of man hours on some very overstressed maintenance crews who can see some pretty severe repercussions for missing a smaller than hairline crack. That is a more likely situation considering just how tightly monitored aircraft maintenance is.

Wiggum Esquilax said:
Some modern aircraft, such as the Airbus a380, have wings designed to flex. Their pliability improves both passenger comfort and wing service life. I would think that liquid carbon microspheres and wing pliability would be mutually exclusive, since any such motion would rupture all of the spheres at once. Could be interesting to see which technology wins out.

Could not even end up being a function of safety. Even if the spheres prove the superior from a fuel economy standpoint, wing flex requires negligible maintenance. Microspheres would need regular replacement, and their temporary patches might have to be regularly scrubbed and redone by hand.

I know that fuel is the main cost of running an airline, but it's hardly as though maintenance is cheap, either.
The tech is actually been in development for years and I've seen how it functions. The microspheres are suspended and can move and flex alongside with the material. It's only when the material actually breaks that the spheres are broken as well. And as I said before, these are for smaller than hairline cracks that are essentially microwelded. It's not designed to scrap maintenance of the plane altogether but make easily missed issues less likely to be catastrophic.
 

CrystalShadow

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Apr 11, 2009
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fix-the-spade said:
CrystalShadow said:
That's... More like having a leaky bladder than... Bleeding. (ugh. What an image though. XD)
Well, the aircraft is retired after all.
Hahaha. Oh. Oh dear. I laughed just a bit too much at that... XD
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
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Lizzy Finnegan said:
which is far from ideal, in terms of aviation's impact on the environment," Dr. Emile Greenhalgh said at the beginning of the project.
Aviations inpact to the envirment is minimal. We release hundreds of times more greenhouse gases with cars or with industrial plants. Using planes to travel long distances is actually safer and better for enviroment than using a car. Its more expensive though.
 

Smooth Operator

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The idea has been around for a while but it is nice to see things put to use somewhere.
Although I have to say the way they sell it is such bullshit, they want to reduce the strength/weight of the wings by making them weaker and then adding more weight with pockets of glue, in hopes that the glue will keep the plane together should anything happen...
How about you add the fucking glue pockets to strong wings instead and not fucking gamble with peoples lives.

That is the kind of dipshit inventor that ties critical systems and wifi to the same computer... how could anything go wrong there.