Glass-Plastic Future Fighter of 1952

[hesham]

Hi,

This Glass-Plastic future hypothetical fighter designed by Thomas E. Piper who was
the director of materials and process engineering for Northrop.

http://archive.aviationweek.com/image/spread/19520929/20/2

 

[Steve Pace]

Hi,

This Glass-Plastic future hypothetical fighter designed by Thomas E. Piper who was
the director of materials and process engineering for Northrop.

http://archive.aviationweek.com/image/spread/19520929/20/2

Pre-, pre-, pre-carbon fiber. Cool! -SP

 

[Orionblamblam]

Presumably this is just an obsolete way of referring to fiberglass. Components fr boats and cars and airplanes were made circa 1940, though the resins used were apparently not very good at that stage. By 1952 I imagine the chemistry of proper epoxies for fiberglass had improved enough for aircraft manufacturers to consider using the stuff. By the 1960's they had moved past glass to boron fibers, and then to carbon fiber.

 

[shedofdread]

Just to be a 'composites pedant' for a moment - 'Fiberglass' was [I believe] a trademark. 'Glass fibre' being the more usual (and correctly spelt ) description. Though of course, that doesn't reference what the matrix used was.

I can't find a reference at the moment but wasn't there a glass fibre wing made for the Spitfire?

 

[Orionblamblam]

Just to be a 'composites pedant' for a moment - 'Fiberglass' was [I believe] a trademark.

If so, it has long since passed into common usage.

'Glass fibre' being the more usual (and correctly spelt ) description.

Can't say as I *ever* see fiberglass referred to as "glass fiber" (which would be a technically accurate description) in modern sources, much less "glass fibre," which would be bizarrely spelled. Now, that said, I've heard tell of such spellings from some distant land of myth, populated by elves and pixies and chavs and pikeys and other such creatures of pure imagination that live in such fanciful domiciles and "fairy rings" and "council houses."

In any event, it's "fi-burr," not "fi-bree," so "fibre" is right out.

 

[Graham1973]

Presumably this is just an obsolete way of referring to fiberglass. Components fr boats and cars and airplanes were made circa 1940, though the resins used were apparently not very good at that stage. By 1952 I imagine the chemistry of proper epoxies for fiberglass had improved enough for aircraft manufacturers to consider using the stuff. By the 1960's they had moved past glass to boron fibers, and then to carbon fiber.

The 'old' term I remember for fiberglass was Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP).

 

[riggerrob]

E-glass (aka Window glass) was used in 1950s-vintage sailplanes built on West Germany.
Circa 1969, Windecker's Eagle was the first powered, composite (Fibaloy) certified by the FAA. Since then "composites" have shifted from E-glass to S-glass to Kevlar to Spectra (Dyneema) to carbon fibre, etc.

 

[hesham]

E-glass (aka Window glass) was used in 1950s-vintage sailplanes built on West Germany.
Circa 1969, Windecker's Eagle was the first powered, composite (Fibaloy) certified by the FAA. Since then "composites" have shifted from E-glass to S-glass to Kevlar to Spectra (Dyneema) to carbon fibre, etc.

Thank you for the Info Riggerrob.

 

[Apophenia]

'Fiberglas' is a registered trademark of Owens Corning Fiberglas Corporation (OCF), formed in 1935 and established as a separate firm in October 1938. Fiberglass (and fibreglass) are just unofficial variations on that trademarked name.

Glass fibre (or glass fiber) refers to the reinforcing strands that are chopped or turned into cloth or mats. Glass Reinforced Plastic (or Glass-fibre Reinforced Plastics) refers to the finished, resin-set material.

And there's a host of terms akin to GRP -- Fibre Reinforced Plastics (FRP), Reinforced Thermoset Plastic (RTP), Reinforced Thermosetting Resin Plastic (RTRP), Glasfaserverstärkter Kunststoff (GFK) for those West German gliders Plastique Renforcé de fibres de Verre (PRV), and so on ...