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Apr 11The breaking point.
Via @BoingBoing, an explanation of metal fatigue, which took a chunk out of a Southwest Airlines 737 over the weekend. Read it all, since three more Southwest 737s are showing cracks.
Relatedly, Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner has been criticized for its composite body, which won’t show signs of fatigue.
April 5th, 2011 at 1:17 am
To be insanely nit picky, composite won’t show fatigue because carbon fiber (which i guess is what the 787′s “composite” is made of, wikipedia is not clear on that) does not “fatigue” like aluminum. CF has a fatigue limit: an amount of stress that, if never exceeded, allows essentially endless cycles without any chance of fatigue failure. Aluminum has no fatigue limit whatsoever, so every cycle increases the likelihood of fatigue failure. Not a question of If but When.
The whole carbon fiber debate, at least the parts i’m exposed to, usually hinge around its alleged propensity to fail catastrophically. Then again, most of my expertise in this area is from bicycles, so apples n oranges may apply.
April 5th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
interesting! didn’t know that. thanks.