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70 Years of Defence Science at the 'Bend

Since 1972, the Aeronautical Research Laboratory (now DSTO Melbourne) has been the pioneer and world leader in the use of composite bonded repair technology to prolong the life of fighter aircraft.

Composite bonded repair on the F-111

Developed by Dr Alan Baker and his team, the technology is recognised as a world leader. It involves adhesively bonding patches of advanced fibre composite materials to repair damaged aircraft structures and to arrest stress corrosion cracking. The repairs are structurally very efficient, can be applied rapidly and are cost effective.

The technology has many advantages over traditional mechanical repair methods, such as bolting or riveting. Composites are lighter in weight, offer more uniform load transfer, seal interfaces to reduce corrosion and leakage, create minimal damage to the parent structure and facilitate non-destructive inspection. Ongoing evolution of this technology has seen increasingly sophisticated and specialised repairs applied across the ADF fleet. It is a technology that can also be applied to civilian aircraft.

DSTO licensed Australian-owned private company, Helitech Industries Pty Ltd to market and develop the composite bonded repair technology in 1990. Helitech has been highly successful in marketing the technology internationally, and the Minister of Defence received DSTO’s first royalty payment of $250,000 from Helitech in 1994.

In 1995, Helitech, in collaboration with DSTO, developed a composite bonded repair for the US Air Force C-141 Starlifter heavy transport aircraft. Helitech’s wholly owned American subsidiary, Composite Technologies Inc, was awarded a contract for the repair of the US Air Force Starlifter fleet wings. The contract was valued at more than US$10 million.

The composite bonded repair technology has also been adapted by DSTO to repair gun carriages using an electroformed nickel material, which is strong, rigid and highly wear resistant. The electroforming process also allowed very accurate reproduction of the surface to be repaired.

This DSTO technology is now used in commercial airliners as well as other military aircraft belonging to the RAAF, US and the Belgian Air Forces to maintain and extend the life of their aircraft fleets.

Both DSTO and Helitech have benefited through this transfer of technology. Helitech has gained substantial export opportunities and experience in supporting ADF aircraft. At the same time, DSTO has enhanced its technology base through the evaluation of the technology on a wide range of aircraft and in externally funded trials, mainly in the US.

Awards in this area:
1990 — Dr Alan Baker received Minister’s Award for research into bonded composite repair technology and its application to RAAF aircraft.
1990 — DSTO (Aeronautical Research Laboratory) received Engineering Excellence Award, Institution of Engineers Australia for pioneering work into bonded composite repair technology.
1991 — Dr Alan Baker received at TTCP award for his work in the development of advanced fibre composite patches to repair metal cracks in military aircraft.
2009 – Dr Alan Baker received the Lawrence Hargrave Award for his pioneering work in developing a novel technique to repair defective aircraft structures by using adhesively bonded composite patches or reinforcements.

DSTO people invovled:
Dr Alan Baker, Dr Rhys Jones, Max Davis, Richard Chester, Brian Hoskin, Loris Molent, Richard Callinan, Richard Bartholomeusz, Francis Rose.

 

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