Composite History

The push for aerospace dominance that began in the 1950's and really picked up speed in the 1960's was a new impetus for composite development. Richard Young of the W. M. Kellogg Company began using filament winding for making small rocket motors. This technology was purchased by Hercules and was the basis for the large-scale rocket motor business which was at the heart of the space race. By 1962 the need for highly accurate filament winding machines 7 became apparent to Larry Ashton, an engineer at Hercules, who founded Engineering Technology to produce these machines. (Engineering Technology was started from an initial stake of money

the founders obtained from selling their blood to a blood bank. That’s giving it all for the company!)

In 1961 a patent was issued to A. Shindo for experimentally producing the first carbon (graphite) fiber but Courtalds Limited of the United Kingdom was the first to produce commercially viable carbon fibers several years later. With these fibers, part stiffness to weight was improved and even more applications in aerospace were introduced. Perhaps the crowning jewel of this period (1978) was the development of the first fully filament wound aircraft fuselage, the Beech Starship, by Ashton. The plane was successfully flown, but was not commercialized using the filament wound technology. Many people still believe that the filament winding technology is the best method to produce small aircraft fuselages.

Leading up to the present

New fibers were also introduced with boron filaments becoming available in 1965 and

aramid fibers (Kevlar®) offered commercially by DuPont in 1971. Fibers made from ultra high molecular weight polyethylene were made in the early 1970's. These advanced performance fibers, along with fiberglass and carbon fibers, have led to tremendous developments in aerospace, armor (structural and personal), sports equipment, medical devices, and many other high performance applications. The development of new and...