[Calthorp]

What weight & type of glass fiber, do they use for the aluminium/glass panels on the new airbus?
I am interested in using it in boat construction & want to make some test panels.

[Gizmot]

.

[Mstcnc]

Don´t know which type of woven it has but its epoxy prepreg about 300g/m2
You need autoclave oven for curing and mould which can handle 180 C curing temperature (+ pressure) for most resins used.

[307startup]

Google for composite sandwich panels or composite/honeycomb panels. Several companies manufacture these. One quality source of aviation-certified panels is Teklam out of Oregon (I believe this is their location). Their website is www.teklam.com

These panels are used as bulkheads and flooring systems on several aircraft, not just the AirBus.

These are not wet layup, resin transfer mold, vacuum impregnated or autoclave cured as per "normal" or traditional composites. These use aluminum or nomex honeycomb cores versus polypropylene or foam cores. They are pre-preg sheets that are hot-press bonded to honeycomb cores. They are manufactured on a heated platen 100-ton & higher press. In the most simplistic of terms the machines are like giant sandwich presses you make grilled Panini with.

For an example of existing products that also use these panels for construction, visit the Mosler website www.moslerautomotive.com The Mosler MT900 supercar has a monocoque chassis made from these panels ie in a folded box structure. When this car was crash-tested for US certification, the testing organization said that it was by far the stiffest and most torsionally-rigid vehicle they had ever tested. A completed "tub" of routed, folded & epoxied composite sandwich panel comes in under 90lbs...that's an entire chassis, minus the tube subframes.

Composite/Honeycomb Structural Sandwich Panels are incredible materials...

[Mstcnc]

In Airbus parts made this material is not made with honeycomb.
It has unique aluminium/glassfibre/aluminium/glassfibre structure.
Aim is not make more stiff fuselage as it would if made of sanwich parts.
Aim is have more fail safe structure where damage to one layer of material can not continue to the other material.
Glassfibre is used as it can be used with aluminium ( from thermal and chemical aspects).
Garbonfibre can not used this way with aluminiun whit out proper insulation to avoid corrosion and would still cause problems as al and garbon have too big difference in thermal expansion.