| Abstract |
A 10- by 25-foot expandable, fiber-reinforced plastic, cylindrical aerospace vehicle was designed and developed under this study. The basic elements of the structure consisted of an expandable cylinder, which was a composite of a number of materials, and two rigid, fiber-reinforced bulkheads which also served as packaging canisters prior to deployment. The cylinder composite consisted of an elastomeric-coated, fabric bladder for internal pressure retention, a flexible foam buffering layer, a fluted core, fiberglass-reinforced plastic sandwich element, and an outer covering similar to the internal bladder layer. This program included adhesive studies, with special emphasis on the fabrication of materials, a study to define the rigidization parameters of the plastic resin system, micrometeoroid impact studies, fabrication and structural design studies of the fiber-reinforced plastic composite, and one-sixth size experimental model studies. Four one-sixth size models of the structure and a 10- by 25-foot structure were fabricated, resin-impregnated, packaged, and deployed, in a space vacuum simulation chamber. This study demonstrated that large structures of this nature can be fabricated, packaged, and rigidized. (Author) |
