ASTA pots landing gear doors with Ciba Specialty Chemicals syntactics

Citation

(1998), "ASTA pots landing gear doors with Ciba Specialty Chemicals syntactics", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 70 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.1998.12770cad.009

ASTA pots landing gear doors with Ciba Specialty Chemicals syntactics

ASTA pots landing gear doors with Ciba Specialty Chemicals syntactics

Keywords Aircraft, Ciba, Landing gear

One of Australia's leading aerospace contractors, ASTA Components of Port Melbourne, excels in the production of composite aircraft components using advanced production methods and materials. Among the customers ASTA has served during its 50-year history are Aerospatiale, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Sikorsky and Rohr. Typical composite components built by ASTA include main and centre landing gear doors for Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft as well as rudders and flaps for Boeing 757s, 777s and 747s.

In the fabrication of landing gear doors for Aerospatiale, ASTA has evaluated numerous potting materials to find a product that would resist cracking in high-stress door areas where inserts for hinges and steps are installed. Ciba Specialty Chemicals Epocast^® 1614 ATF, a medium density frozen syntactic, has been specified for this application to provide ASTA with the exact performance characteristics it requires.

Epocast 1614 ATF exactly meets the performance characteristics demanded by ASTA in the manufacture of landing doors

ASTA reports that the Epocast materials work well on landing gear doors due to their minimal void content, ability to withstand numerous thermal cycles without cracking, and high compression strength. In addition, productivity is greatly enhanced when using the frozen syntactics because they are supplied ready-to-use and require no mixing.

To pot sections of the 8ft × 6ft × 6in graphite/honeycomb-core doors, ASTA begins by machining cavities where inserts will be installed. Epocast 1614 ATF syntactic is then dispensed into the precut holes in the centre of the door.

Details from Ciba Speciality Chemicals (UK) Ltd. Tel: +44 (0)1223 832121; Fax: +44 (0)1223 493322.