GlareŽ
A key development is GlareŽ, a glassfibre-reinforced aluminium laminate being applied in aerospace primary structures. The new layered material is just as flexible as aluminium, but at the same time stronger (it has a lower susceptibility to metal fatigue than aluminium). The glass fibres provide a significant improvement in resistance to fatigue and the formation of fractures, which allows lighter structures to be built.
Glare uses bonded aluminium layers which are only 0,3 millimetres thick. The resulting weight saving is extremely valuable in aircraft building, where every kilogram reduction in the weight of material translates into a saving in costly fuel consumption.
| Glare has proved that it can successfully pass every load, temperature and impact test. The glass fibres between the aluminium layers stop any fractures in the material as soon as they start. In a comparison of fatigue resistance in which aluminium and Glare panels were subject to numerous load cycles, the quality of the composite material declined only very slowly. In an impact test, Glare also showed an outstanding performance in comparison with other materials. On top of that, Stork Fokker technicians expect that Glare components will need to be inspected less frequently, which means further cost savings for the operator. |
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Key players in the development of Glare were the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands National Aerospace Laboratory and Stork Fokker. For the first time in twenty years a completely new material has been applied in the building of aircraft. Glare is at the start of a completely new family of applications.