Plastics in Aircraft Construction

MANY engineers look upon plastics and allied materials as entirely new to the aircraft industry, but such is not the case. Phenol fibre sheet and resin bonded waterproof plywood have been used for years, and acrylic resin sheet has been in use for transparent enclosures for some time past; yet all come under the above category. The primary difference between the past and present uses of these materials is that they are now used in applications where structural loads are involved, while they were previously used only in non‐stressed parts where special characteristics, such as transparency or insulating qualities, were of paramount importance. If these materials are classified according to their major characteristics they fall into three categories; those made with thermosetting resins, those made with thermoplastic resins, and those made with wood veneer. This classification also in a general way divides them according to their principal uses; thermosetting materials being used mostly in the production of relatively small structural parts, the thermoplastics being used mostly for their transparent properties, and the wood veneer materials being used mostly in relatively large structural parts and assemblies.