Composite Materials

· Airbus uses carbon fiber reinforced polymer (crfp) to build tail units for the A320. These are 5 m long and 6 m high with a total weight of 460 kg. This is some 100 kg less than an aluminum counterpart and is estimated to save 490 tonnes of fuel over 20 years.

· The unit is cured for several hours in an autoclave at a pressure of 10 bar and a temperature of 180 C.

From: Daimler Benz Environmental Report, (1997)