The remarkable performance characteristics of DuPont™ Kevlar® helps enable manufacturers to build aircraft, ships and rail cars that are lighter and more durable, resulting in increased fuel efficiency and lower operating and maintenance costs.
Aircraft cabin, flooring and interiors
Aircraft cabin floors, overhead bins and bulkheads built with honeycomb cores of Kevlar® Paper have resulted in a weight savings so pronounced that few, if any, aircraft manufacturers consider using anything else for their new aircrafts. In addition to the lighter weight, Kevlar® paper has very low electrical conductivity and high fire resistance, which contributes to meeting the safety standards the industry demands. The superior thermal and sound insulation of Kevlar® also contribute to passenger comfort.
Landing gear doors
Kevlar® Paper helps designers produce landing gear doors that are strong and light to help deliver more efficient aircraft.
Wing boxes and control surfaces
The light weight, lack of galvanic corrosion and overall strength that Kevlar® Paper helps provide for wing-to-body fairings and control surfaces make it superior to the heavier, weaker and corrosion-susceptible aluminum core that has been used in the past.
Filament-wound pressure bottles
Bottles containing pressurized oxygen (or other gases) on airplanes use molded casings made from Kevlar® filament helps to reduce the overall weight of the aircraft and provide an additional element of flight safety. An ordinary alloy-encased bottle can suffer catastrophic failure, releasing metal fragments into the aircraft at high velocity, whereas a bottle using a Kevlar® casing only risks ductile failure—rupturing, rather than disintegrating—which does not result in fragmentation.
Engine nacelles
The nacelles, which surround jet engines, must contend with thrust, lift and vibration forces. Manufacturers choose to use Kevlar® Paper for honeycomb core structures in engine nacelles because it is far stronger and lighter than earlier designs that used aluminum core.
Engine containment rings
Many jet engine manufacturers add a protective layer of Kevlar® fabric inside the engine cowl to catch errant fan blades or massive broken parts flung outward by the engine's centrifugal force, potentially preventing them from damaging the wing or the cabin.
Aircraft tires
Landing and take-off cycles, friction and rapid changes in temperature pushes aircraft tires to their stress limits. Tires reinforced with Kevlar® brand fiber provide enhanced toughness and thermal stability that help protect against blowout or wheel separation.
Rotor blades
The alloy cores that historically predominated helicopter rotor blade designs are giving way to composites, of which honeycomb core made of Kevlar® Paper is proving to be the material of choice. With lighter, stiffer rotor blades made with Kevlar®, modern helicopters are defining new parameters of efficiency and performance.
Spacecraft
Kevlar® has proven that it is strong enough to survive the extreme forces and temperature fluctuations of space travel. When the Mars Pathfinder landed on the surface of Mars, Kevlar® reinforced the inflatable landing cushions—and the ropes that secured them—allowing Pathfinder to complete its 40 million-mile journey fully intact and ready to explore the planet's surface. Kevlar® is used in communications satellites and also in the space shuttle to help protect against impacts from orbital debris.
Maritime vessels
Bulkheads, fixed walls and other interior structures on U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships use Kevlar® Paper to help save weight and mitigate the inevitable corrosion that comes from exposure to sea spray. It is also used in ferries, hydrofoil designs and recreational boats.
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