Abstract
ON October 3, Mr. D. R. Pye, deputy director of technical development at the Air Ministry, formally declared open the laboratories of Aero Research Ltd., Duxford, Cambridgeshire, by setting in motion a press of 1,300 tons capacity. The ceremony was to have been performed by Mr. H. T. Tizard, chairman of the Aeronautical Research Committee, but he was unfortunately prevented at the last moment from doing so by illness. Aero Research Ltd. is a private research organization working in co-operation with Messrs. the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. and with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, chiefly on synthetic resin materials. A number of demonstrations was given of the properties of the materials developed, and it was shown that the apparent brittleness in static fracture is counterbalanced by a high energy absorption which results in a remarkable freedom from ‘notch sensitivity’; at the same time the amorphous structure of the material gives exceptionally good fatigue properties. Controllable pitch airscrew blades were shown, designed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. from material supplied by Messrs. Bakelite Ltd., which had withstood successfully severe tests in addition to sixteen and three quarter hours actual test flying (involving continual changes of pitch) and fifty engine backfires. Other demonstrations were given of X-ray apparatus, photo-elastic apparatus, special testing machines and of the utility of mass balancing in preventing wing nutter.
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New Laboratory for Research in Aeroplane Materials. Nature 138, 610 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138610b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138610b0