New technologies for monitoring the damage of composite structures in aviation

Man has been concerned throughout its evolutionary history surrounding the use of materials in order to facilitate and improve activities. From making hunting weapons, agricultural tools to the development of complex machines, man has taken and processed the materials around. The current concern is to create its own materials. A composite material is composed of at least two constituents with different mechanical properties through the combination of which results in a material with elastic properties and strength superior to constituents. Composite materials, anisotropic by nature, has a number of advantages over conventional isotropic the materials, such as fatigue strength, corrosion resistance and specific stiffness (relative to weight) of benefit. The most important aspect of composite materials is that can be shaped, for a known applications condition, so as to provide maximum rigidity in the direction of highest solicitation. The upward trend in the use of composite materials in the aviation industry not only requires a thorough knowledge of the behavior of these materials, of their way of breaking. Questions like when, how and why composites fails need an answer as well-founded by theories and experimental determinations. New materials involve new techniques in their exploitation, often with high costs. How composite materials have been taken to reduce costs in the long term, it requires the development of these technologies to their efficiency form the economic and operational point of view.