Flying high with plastics

The use of plastics in the aerospace industry is popular because of the many advantages it offers. In some areas, plastics had become the essential enablers. In tandem with the rise of the aerospace industry, the demand for plastics also increases.

MarketResearch.com, a leading source for market data, trends, and analysis, says that the Asia Pacific aerospace and defense market had total revenue of $247.1 billion in 2011.  This represented a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2 percent between 2007 and 2011.

The performance of the market is forecast to accelerate, with an anticipated CAGR of 9.7 percent for the five-year period from 2011 to 2016. The growth is expected to drive the market to a value of $393.5 billion by the end of 2016.

Many uses of plastics

Founded in 1937, SPI is the plastics industry trade association representing the third largest manufacturing industry in the United States.  Having been a witness to 76 years of technological innovation, SPI is in a well-placed position to comment on the development of plastics in the aerospace industry.  Indeed, SPI says that plastics has conquered aerospace.

From aircraft and missiles to satellites and space shuttles, plastic components and products and plastic materials have been essential enablers of the most significant developments in civilian air travel, military air power and space exploration.

As an example, SPI says that the iconic image of astronauts standing on the surface of the moon, looking back at earth through transparent visors built into strong helmets, both moulded of plastic, highlights the advances of the use of plastics.

In the present scenario,  Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner is nicknamed the plastic airliner. The plane’s fuselage is made of a new generation of reinforced composite plastic panels, marking a new era in commercial aircraft production. The heavier the airplane, the more fuel it needs to travel a given distance. The weight-to-fuel impact for jetliners is extreme. A one-pound weight reduction will mean tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars in lifetime fuel savings, and plastic composites in the Boeing 787 reduced the total plane weight by about 20 percent, or thousands of pounds.

Also, SPI says that plastic materials can be flexible enough to withstand helicopter vibration but rigid enough to ensure safety. They can be transparent for easy observation, shatter resistant, and even offer ballistic protection. Their inherent ability to be simultaneously lightweight and strong was compelling in the 1970s, when the oil crisis compelled aerospace companies to create more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Plastic composites are especially prevalent  in  today’s  sophisticated helicopter designs. Toughness, flexibility, and crashworthiness, combined with cost savings, have motivated large-scale use of plastics both structurally and mechanically. Helicopters vibrate a great deal, and they often carry heavy payloads of equipment and personnel. Plastics can compensate the vibrational stresses and at the same time, stiff enough to secure a heavy payload.

Therefore, plastics excel because of an optimum combination of strength, design flexibility, ease of manufacturing, and lightweight.  Plastics also save fuel and money because their smooth contours improve aerodynamics. And plastics can be less expensive to manufacture, more resistant to wear, need less upkeep, and are easier to repair than other heavier materials.

Going the extra mile

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) Innovative Plastics is going the extra mile in investing and coming up with innovative solutions for the aerospace industry. First off, it offers toNi?o/a