Carbon-Fiber Composites in Aerospace

Carbon-fiber composites are found in many new structural applications such as racing cars, fishing poles, tennis rackets, competition skis, and sailboat spars. However, their greatest impact is in the aerospace industry with applications in the space shuttle, advanced passenger airplanes, aircraft brakes, and many others. 

The extensive use of carbon fiber composites in aerospace is illustrated in Fig. 9.1. This figure shows the large number of applications of polymer/carbon-fiber composites in a new passenger plane, the McDonnell-Douglas Aircraft MD-12X. Other new airplanes, such as the Boeing 777 and the Airbus A340, make similar extensive use of these composites. ] The Airbus A340, for instance, incorporates 4000 kg of epoxy-carbon fiber 

The introduction of carbon-fiber composites has been slower in other areas such as the automotive industry where cost is a major factor and weight is not as critical as it is in aerospace applications. 

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