The opportunities and challenges of hybrid composite driveshafts and their couplings in the aerospace industry: A review
William Jarrett, Spencer Jeffs, Feras Korkees, M. Rawson
Abstract
This article will analyse and discuss the ongoing research into the bonding of composite and metallic materials and their application in hybrid material driveshafts for the aerospace industry. The introduction of fibre reinforced polymers (FRPs) has been shown to dramatically decrease driveshaft weight, improve vibrational characteristics, and offer increased simplicity. However, the limited replacement of metallics with composites in the aerospace industry owes to the fact that there has been limited research into joining methods, failure modes and susceptibility to corrosion and temperature changes. This article covers a review of composite lay-up and coupling design, interface integrity, and the effect of corrosion and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch on driveshaft performance across a range of operation conditions.