As the result of a new study funded by ESA's General Studies Progamme, engineers believe they have made a step towards self-healing composite structures. In spacecraft, extremes of temperature can cause small cracks open in the superstructure, as can impacts by micrometeroids. Over the lifetime of a mission the cracks build up, weakening the spacecraft until a catastrophic failure becomes inevitable. To replace te the human process of self healing small cracks researchers replaced a few percent of the fibres running through a resionus composite materials, similar to that used to make spacecraft components, with hollow fibres just 30 micrometers in diameter containing adhesive materials. To make the mateiral self-repairable, the hollow fibres have to be made of an easily breakable substance - galss. When damage occurs, the fibres must break easily otherwise they cannot release the liquids to fill the cracks and perform the repair. The promise of self-healing spacecraft opens up the possibility of longer duration missions.
Cuts in space. Hollow fibres have been designed to act like air and blood in composite structures
Future Materials - fm ; 2 ; 24
2006
1 Seite, 2 Bilder
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Englisch
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