TRUSS: Titanium Reinforced Ultra Strong Structures

近年来，公众对环境的关注稳步增加，并已成为世界各国政府的主要关注点。多年来，联合王国通过国际条约以及国家方案和立法，认识到有必要对温室气体排放采取行动。新型冠状病毒并没有削弱人们对更绿色、更清洁未来的渴望，人们越来越希望确保对新型冠状病毒疫情复苏的投资应尽可能集中在未来更清洁的技术上，特别是英国可以在全球竞争或占据世界领先地位的技术。民用飞机已经在开发更清洁、更低排放的轻型飞机，更高效的燃气轮机，更好的飞行规则和改进的空气动力学。然而，传统的管翼飞机设计所能实现的效率提高是有限的。因此，工程师们重新考虑混合翼飞机，这是更空气动力学，因此有效。由于管状机身在结构上非常有效，因此融合翼飞机需要新的设计和结构。最有效的融合翼结构依赖于由轻质材料作为蒙皮的相互连接的细管组成的桁架结构。这些管状结构需要非常大的质量效率，易于组装以制造非常大的结构，并且能够长的使用寿命，因为一旦飞机投入使用，检查，修理和更换将是非常具有挑战性的。与轻质碳纤维复合材料（CFRP）相比，传统金属仍然相对较重，然而，这可能是昂贵的生产，并且当连接在大型结构中时，由于需要热粘合接头和开放式组件固化，可能存在挑战。节点需要是金属的，具有足够的界面面积，以便在CFRP支柱之间进行铺设转移。这些结构的抗压强度与抗拉强度相比相对较差，从而导致采用更笨重的支柱或桁架设计，以最大限度地减少压缩载荷。TISICS开发了一种创新的解决方案，可满足非常轻的空间系统需求。陶瓷纤维增强铝或钛超过了航空航天金属的拉伸和压缩强度和刚度以及CFRP的压缩强度。当与整体扩散结合接头节点结合时，支柱提供比CFRP更大的质量效率。整体式金属节点可以焊接到相邻的支柱上，从而通过机器人焊接在飞机装配环境中实现大型机翼和机身结构，这为未来的混合翼飞机提供了一种高完整性、长使用寿命、低质量的桁架结构解决方案。英国是欧洲唯一的该技术商业生产国。该项目将开发建造多支柱单元格并将支柱连接成更大结构的方法。演示这一点将能够更快地集成到混合翼开发项目中。

The public concern for the environment has increased steadily over recent years and has become a major concern to governments world-wide. The UK has recognised the need to act on greenhouse gas emissions for many years though international treaties as well as national programmes and legislation. COVID-19 has not diminished the desire for a greener and cleaner future, with increased desire to ensure that the investment in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic should wherever possible focus on cleaner technologies for the future and especially technology where the UK can compete globally or take a world leading position.Civil aircraft are already being developed to be cleaner and lower emissions through lighter aircraft, more efficient gas turbines, better flight rules and improved aerodynamics. However there is a limit to the efficiency improvements that can be achieved with the conventional tube and wing aircraft design. Therefore engineers re looking at blended wing aircraft which are more aerodynamic and therefore efficient. Blended wing aircraft will require new designs and structures as the tubular fuselage is structurally very efficient.The most efficient blended wing structures rely on a truss structure made up interconnecting thin tubes with a light weight materials as skin. These tubular structures need to be very mass efficient, easily assembled to make very large structures and capable of long service life as inspection, repair and replacements will be very challenging once the aircraft is in service.Conventional metals are still relatively heavy compared to light carbon-fibre composites (CFRP), however this can be expensive to produce and can present challenges when joining in large structures due ot the need for adhesively bonded joints and open-assembly curing. The nodes need to be metallic with sufficient interface area for laid transfer between CFRP struts. These can offer relatively poor compression strength versuses tensile, leading to bulkier struts or truss designs to minimise compression loading.TISICS has developed an innovative solution for very light space system needs. Ceramic fibre reinforced aluminium or titanium exceed the tensile and compression strength and stiffness of aerospace metals and the compression strength of CFRP. When combined with integral diffusion bonded joint nodes, the struts provide greater mass efficient than CFRP. The integral metal nodes can be welded to adjacent struts to enable large wing and fuselage structures in an aircraft assembly environment through robotic welding.This provides a high integrity, long service life, low mass, truss structure solution for future blended wing aircraft. The UK is the only commercial producer of this technology in Europe.This project will develop methods to build multi-strut cells and to join struts into larger structures. Demonstrating this will enable faster integration into blended-wing development projects.