Using composite material samples, NRL scientists predict aspects of F/A-18 performance
Wednesday, April 15, 2015 - 09:30
in Physics & Chemistry
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has built a robot to pull, bend, and twist samples of the composite materials used to build F/A-18s and other aircraft. Dr. John Michopoulos leads the project. With a machine that can, as he says, "Measure so much more than anybody else," and some very advanced math, he can "create a theory that is consistent with all these experiments that we made, and works for all scales." He predicts how the materials will perform when made into large structures and used over many years.