Aircraft With Wings Coated In Graphene Was Flown At Farnborough

A UAV that incorporates an innovative material called graphene will be exhibited at the Composites Europe conference being held in Dusseldorf, Germany this week.

The aircraft is called Prospero, and it is intended to demonstrate how the material can be used in the aerospace industry. The website phys.org indicates that the coating was developed by a research partnership that includes the University of Manchester and the University of Central Lancashire and several SMEs, including Haydale Composite Solutions. It has the potential to reduce weight and reduce drag while providing protection from lightning strikes and increased thermal protection.

The aircraft was flown at the Farnborough Air Show earlier this year. "The research team is still in the early stages of flight testing with the new remotely piloted aircraft but initial test data is already very encouraging," said Billy Beggs, engineering innovation manager at the University of Central Lancashire. "In terms of impact resistance, the new wing is showing increased levels of impact resistance of up to 60% over a conventionally-skinned carbon fiber wing."

(Image provided by the Graphene Partnership)

FMI: http://graphene-flagship.eu/