Materiais compósitos na indústria da construção naval militar: a importância do uso do plástico reforçado na construção de navios de guerra

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing demand for high - speed marine vehicles, from b arges to passenger transport/cars to warships, such as patrol boats and corvettes. In these vessels, the structural weight is of great importance; lower weight leads to a higher speed, load and/or fuel economy. Composite materials offer the potential of structu ral weight savings and have been used successfully in the construction of a variety of small and medium - sized ships. This monograph deals with current technologies of fiber reinforced plastics, materials and proces s- es used in the manufacture of high - perfor mance marine structures. Four types of resins are displayed: polyester, epoxy, vinyl ester and phenolic. Following are the three main lamination processes are detailed: hand lay - up, infusion and prepreg. Sandwich structures are introduced as a means to inc rease the stiffness of the composite plates. The presentation also highlights the benefits that composites can provide the naval power, when applied to military ships. A coastal combat scenario provided a n author's proposition to obtain three models of Sca ndin a- vian warship s, built entirely in composites , by the Brazilian Navy. The re s ea r ch also addres s- es s ome aspects of technology transfer and the basic questions of the practic e of compensation arrangements (offset).