27th Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, 19 - 24 September 2010, Nice, France
Paper ICAS 2010-8.4.2

DESIGN DILEMMA FOR Z-PINNED COMPOSITE STRUCTURES

A. P. Mouritz
RMIT Univ., Australia

Keywords: composites, z-pins, mechanical properties, delaminations

This paper examines key design issues with using z-pinned composites in aerospace structures. The improvement in damage tolerance gained by z-pinning is offset by reductions in structural properties such as stiffness, strength and fatigue performance. This paper critically evaluates the competing design advantages and problems with z-pinning of aerostructures.

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