Sandwich cores for the future

Decreasing weight while increasing strength is always critical, from airliners to future space missions to Mars. Research in sandwich cores today may lead to radical improvements in the future.

The search for lighter weight, stronger materials to construct airplanes and spacecraft remains as important as ever. But it takes a long time for new materials in aerospace structures to make their way into production designs. Capital is one reason; it is harder to take risks when it costs so much to develop new composites. Another is the long approval process from regulatory agencies due to safety constraints.

“Aerospace is an interesting case because there is a lot that you can do with composites that is being done in [just] a few cases today,” explained Anthony Vicari, Lead Analyst for Advanced Materials for Lux Research, in an interview with Aerospace & Defense Technology.