Application Spotlight: CO2 Cooling & Aerospace Composites
December 16, 2014There’s no tolerance for anything less than perfection from manufacturers in the aerospace industry. The aerospace industry covers everything from commercial flights, drones, and has become the basis for many military operations. Commercial flights are one of the major forms of travel and improvements are made constantly to enhance the structures.
One particular change has been the use of composites over metals. Composites were introduced because of their lightweight properties, but also provide significant benefits in durability and performance. The main composite used today is carbon fiber. Although carbon fiber has its benefits, there have been some problems with the material drilling process.
A fairly recent development of drilling composite stackups is that more manufacturers are moving away from wet drilling. By adding the coolant into the process it can damage the integrity of the carbon fiber layer weakening and causing it to fail over time. For that reason manufacturers have begun looking for alternative options.