articles, videos, photos: Copyright 2020 Chris Rogers. To further reduce the weight and cost of the material, a core material can be added that separates the fibers into regions of highest stress, increasing the bending stiffness of the part. Cheap, lightweight, or strong. However, the engines for Overture have not been selected. The composite structure is made by Blue Force, while the carbon fiber material is provided by Tencate. Making the vision a reality. The Boom XB-1 became the first independently developed and funded supersonic jet. Project Boom Inc.                          Tulsa, Oklahoma. Note how including the weights changed our ending choice. We use cookies and other technologies (including Google Analytics) to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. The initial model would be the Boom Technology XB-1 "Baby Boom" Supersonic Demonstrator 1/3-size prototype. Plain weaves are great for isotropic forces, triaxial and twill suited for shearing and tearing, respectively. Boom plans to roll out the first completed Overture aircraft in 2025, with entry into service planned for 2029. Training for supersonic speed. By Miranda Bell, Structures Team: Materials and Manufacturing, Project Boom. Figure 3: Costs of each composite with an exception made for HDPE due to being sold in sheets. April 19, 2020. XB-1 will roll out on October 7, 2020 and begin flight tests in 2021. Therefore, we’re looking for composites that satisfy a base calculated tension and compressive force of 700N from previous hand calculations for a wing spanwise stress. Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 is a one-third-scale demonstrator for the Overture, a follow-on 75-seat airliner it aims to introduce into commercial service later this decade. Stephen Holmes visits Hangar 14 to find out how designs from 50 years ago are still influencing supersonic flight today Unidirectional means the fibers are all woven in one direction, while plain, twill, and triaxial dictate varying angles and spacing when woven together. It will be fun so watch them finish the build and move on to testing and flying! Boom Technology, Inc., doing business as Boom Supersonic, is an American startup company designing a Mach 2.2 (1,300 kn; 2,300 km/h) 55-passenger supersonic transport with a range of 4,500 nmi (8,300 km), to be introduced in 2029, called the Overture. MIAMI – BOOM Supersonic considered a variety of factors when designing and painting its XB-1 supersonic jet, from weight to color and material.. by Chris April 18, 2020. Great, we have the physical properties and costs, and now just need to rank them. Boom Supersonic is leveraging advanced technologies – such as CFD, composites and additive manufacturing – to create new era of supersonic commercial flight. While […] © 2020 Project Boom Inc. All rights reserved. Source | Boom Supersonic. Among the epoxies we are considering using, the lowest Tg is 120०C, clearly well above the temperatures expected for both phase 1 and phase 2. According to Boom during rollout on Oct. 7, 2020, the composite-intensive Overture will be the world's fastest airliner and … The data was formatted to show no decimals for readability, along with adding a weighted system to ensure we picked the right material for the job. An example using 1K plain weave carbon fiber and a core of HDPE is loaded in with inputs on the left and the outputs on the right side of the calculator. Please do not copy without permission. You are responsible for your own judgement and outcomes. Given our speeds, we don’t have a high enough temperature to warrant a high weight percentage, and this applies to the rest of the physical properties. Boom Technology has a vision: make commercial supersonic flight available to everyone, at a reasonable cost. What is the Boom Overture? XB-1 is the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet and, according to Boom Supersonic, will demonstrate key technologies for Overture, Boom’s commercial airliner, such as carbon fiber composite construction, computer-optimized high-efficiency aerodynamics and an efficient supersonic propulsion system. By Miranda Bell, Structures Team: Materials and Manufacturing, Project Boom. XB-1 up-close. Check out the Boom XB-1 section of their website. In comparison, cost and weight are the most important criteria for us. Associate Editor, CompositesWorld. Boom Supersonic XB-1 Build. Engines Today, we have vastly improved turbofan engines, which can produce enough thrust for supersonic flight while also being … Posted in Design Journal. The Denver, CO, US-based aerospace industry startup is one of several groups pursuing … It would be capable of trans-Pacific flight, LA-to-Sydney in 6.75 hours, traveling at 2,335 km/h (1,451 mph). Boom’s mission is to make the world dramatically more accessible by making supersonic travel mainstream. Boom Supersonic is building a faster future. Figure 4: Decision matrix with non-weight and weighted choices. Figure 2: Physical properties of various industry standard composites. If you see any mistakes or disagree with anything here I would love to have a chance to learn from you – please let me know! In essence, the XB-1’s paint job is more than just maquillage. Our supersonic airliner will make the world dramatically more accessible—-at today's business-class fares. Posted in Design Journal. There’s a lot of interesting one-off assembly fixturing too. Next, let’s move on to the costs! Unlike other projects to develop a new supersonic aircraft, only Boom Aerospace is focusing on large passenger numbers and not private jets. A Quest to Choose the Best Composite for a Supersonic Aircraft. This site contains information that reflects the opinions of individual authors – mostly me, Chris. The direction of the weave also dictates the optimal forces each weave can take. Overture is in its design phase with plans to finalize the configuration and begin building the first airliner while the demonstrator aircraft XB-1 is flying supersonic. Autoclaved Aerated Concrete for High Temperature Tooling? We have made it to the end. Boom Supersonic (Denver, Colo., U.S.) has announced that it has partnered with JPA Design (London, U.K.), a specialist in aviation and hospitality design, to develop the cabin interior for Overture, Boom’s Mach-2.2 supersonic commercial airliner. The company acknowledges XB-1 as the end product of years of … Leaders of Boom’s Flight Test team share a tour of the avionics lab and talk the rigors of first flight preparations. The year started well for Boom Supersonic, a Colorado-based firm that has been building its Overture supersonic airliner since 2014. So, just how do we figure out the best material for our aircraft? As part of the Project Boom’s Structures team, specifically the Materials and Manufacturing subteam, it is our responsibility to figure out the proper criteria for a supersonic aircraft to be successful at hitting supersonic speeds, safely and non-destructively. Technically it is a Mach 2.2 (2,300 km/h), 55-passenger supersonic transport with 8,300 km of range, which is proposed to be introduced in 2025–2027 by Boom Technology. Boom Supersonic XB-1 Specs. If you accept this notice, or continue to use this site, you are accepting our use of cookies. The decision can’t be taken lightly; one wrong move and you’re the reason why 60% of the budget went into materials, or you’re the reason why the team has to make a new aircraft every year. Applied Composites + Boom Supersonic. 4 min read. The Concorde, the first supersonic aircraft offering passenger service, transported people from the eastern seaboard of the U.S. to Paris and London in half the time of standard commercial airlines. A way to estimate the temperatures that can be reached is to look at the stagnation temperature of the air, which in simple terms converts the kinetic energy of the air into equivalent heat (supported by the reversibility principle of motion). The outer coat offers a number of safety advantages, including physical damage protection, UV rays, and epoxy breakdown, and a visual tool for leak detection. You don’t get to see inside the construction of a composites-intensive supersonic jet very often! XB-1 is a milestone on the way to Overture, Boom’s supersonic commercial jet. Hence the material choice also limits the maximum speed an aircraft can operate at. Given we’re a developing team, the fiberglass option would allow us to create our prototype aircraft and test flight capabilities before moving on to the more expensive, but lightweight option of the 12K triaxial weave carbon fiber. Blake Scholl, Founder and CEO, "estimates that flights on Overture will be available in 2030." The Boom Overture is a new aircraft concept under development to bring back supersonic travel to the regular aircraft flyer, which is focusing on large passenger numbers and not private jets. A relatively high Young’s modulus would ensure the composite remains stiff, resisting bending and stretching. The majority of XB1’s fuselage structure, as well as some brackets, is manufactured from lightweight carbon fiber composites that offer strength and a low CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion). We are in on the concept and initial build of XB-1. The table below shows the values obtained from a simple calculator. Hours spent researching the best material, and you’re stuck on the options that either hurt your wallet to even look at the numbers, or turn your aircraft into a flying brick with the mass of an elephant. Overture is in its design phase with plans to finalize the configuration and begin building the first airliner while XB-1 is flying supersonic. LinkedIn co-founder and early Boom investor, Reid Hoffman, and former CTO of Lockheed Martin and Boom advisor, Dr. Ray O. Johnson highlight the importance of XB-1 for the future of travel. To design and build XB-1, Boom recruited a team of experts from around the industry, forged relationships with key suppliers, and built a strong safety culture. We have enough information to pick our correct choice! First things first, what do we need to look for in an aircraft? This historic commercial airliner is designed and committed to industry-leading standards of speed, safety, and sustainability. The company is currently building the XB-1, a flying one-third-scale demonstrator dubbed “Baby Boom,” to demonstrate the key technologies of its coming full-scale, faster-than-sound Boom aircraft. Applied Composites is proud to be a key enabler for the next generation of innovative aircraft. To not bog down the reader with multiple calculations, I included a simple calculator here! Carbon Fiber Composites. Boom Supersonic is building a demonstrator aircraft for their planned supersonic passenger jet – and they’re posting lots of interesting information, video and pictures of the process. Lots of metrology equipment and ultrasonic testing too – but plenty of wood jigs and modular ovens made of foam. Written by Project Boom Editor on October 8, 2020. When will supersonic flights start? Boom Supersonic is redefining commercial flight by bringing supersonic flight back to the skies with Overture. The Boom Overture is a new aircraft concept under development to bring back supersonic travel to the regular aircraft flyer. Metals lose their strength at higher temperatures as diffusion starts to occur and dislocations are able to move more freely. I make no promises about its usefulness! Boom is trying to bring back supersonic commercial air travel, which we otherwise haven’t seen other major aircraft manufacturers try. Boom Supersonic - 12876 E Adam Aircraft Cir,, Englewood, CO 80112 - Rated 4.9 based on 19 Reviews "Boom = Innovation. From there, each fiber has an associated weave. Our decision is no longer plagued by 20 different choices, but now we’re stuck with 2 close scores and that’s not a bad thing. The XB-1, also known as the Baby Boom, is the sub-scale technology demonstrator for Boom’s supersonic airliner Overture. Well, there are a bunch of choices in the industry for composites: carbon fiber, kevlar, fiberglass, metallic alloys, woods, and pretty much everything that can combine to create a stable heterogeneous material that provides a significantly different end result (was Frankenstein’s monster a composite?). 12K = 12000 filaments per tow. From what I can see it looks like a slightly fussier version of the race-boat building world that I am familiar with – lots of manual laminating, fitting, prepping and bonding! Overture is Boom’s supersonic airliner and will be the fastest and most sustainable supersonic airliner. You’re stuck. N/A due to the lack of information pulled from technical sheets, and an assumption is made that the tensile strength is equivalent. Thanks to … Boom Supersonic is building a demonstrator aircraft for their planned supersonic passenger jet – and they’re posting lots of interesting information, video and pictures of the process. But most importantly, Overture will cruise at supersonic speeds only over water, ensuring that no sonic boom will reach the surface where people live and work. Boom Supersonic (Denver, Colo., U.S.) plans to roll out XB-1, its two-seat supersonic demonstrator aircraft, in December 2019, with supersonic flight planned for 2020, the company announced at a press conference held at the Paris Air Show on June 18. New Video: Hot Mold, Cold Resin: Vacuum Infusion Flow Test, Basic Numbers and Calculations for Composites, Introduction to Cored Composite Structures, Composites Details: Edges, Holes and Joints, How to Choose a Vacuum Pump for Composites, Vacuum Stuff: Hoses, Fittings and Accessories, Carbide and Diamond Cutters for Composite Machining, Fixturing with 5 Minute Epoxy and “Cradles”, Long-fiber Composites 3D Printing in 2019, Festool Power Tools: For When the Dust is Super Gross, Dinghy Bunk Plugs with Sprayable Tooling Paste, An Inside Look at the Build of Boom’s Supersonic Demonstrator. The materials and technology are coming together in a way that’s innovating the industry. To do this, we need to rank the fibers on a Decision, or Pugh, matrix. Boom will roll out the first completed Overture aircraft in 2025, with entry into service planned for 2029. We take our criteria, normalize the data, add a weighting system based on importance, and rank the fibers on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best and 1 being the worst, then multiply the 1 to 5 number by the weight to create the ending values. Composites use epoxies which have a glass transition temperature (Tg) beyond which a severe degradation in strength is observed. Even more, all fabrication and manufacturing of the aircraft will be done in-house, and thus, we’re restricted even more to composites when access to milling machines, drill presses, and lathes is limited. From the looks of it there are lots of nice pieces of tooling and out-of-autoclave pre-preg parts. We can’t decide to choose the luxury options and not have a way to pay for them. Collins Aerospace Systems (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S.) a unit of Raytheon Technologies (RTX), has signed a collaboration agreement with Boom Supersonic (Denver, Colo., U.S.), to advance nacelle technology on Boom's forthcoming flagship supersonic airliner, Overture. XB-1 is the demonstrator airplane for Overture and a critical step toward mainstream supersonic travel. Unidirectional weaves would be best for uniaxial forces, or forces along the same axis. The airplane skin component features a copper mesh lining for lightning protection. But in 2003, after 27 years of trans-Atlantic flights, the aircraft was shuttered because of steep operating costs, inefficient fuel consumption and environmental concerns. Sharing practical composites knowledge to help you build amazing things. Boom Supersonic is making the world dramatically more accessible, starting with XB-1, a supersonic demonstrator that will prove key technologies for safe, efficient and sustainable supersonic travel. Boom says that supersonic passenger flight can be achieved with existing technology, building on recent developments such as composite fuselage … You can only pick two, so make your decision wisely. XB-1’s supersonic paint job is more than cosmetic. Boom is building a supersonic airliner capable of carrying 55 premium passengers at Mach 2.2 (2,335 km/hour or 1,451 miles/hour), more than twice as fast as current passenger airplanes at the same cost as today’s business class fares. As the aircraft flies, due to compressibility effects (at high speeds) and skin friction, the temperature of the skin rises. Then results are in! Based on our chart, the fiberglass wins then is followed by the 12K triaxial carbon fiber. This is why the speed of the Concorde was limited to Mach 2. Some of this stuff can be dangerous and the warning “don’t try this at home” applies. The composites also expand and contract much less than metal under supersonic conditions, allowing Overture to fly at higher speeds. Explore Composites! Sonic boom represents an additional noise source that we, as a supersonic manufacturer, have to address — and thanks to modern aerospace composites, we have more freedom in shaping the aircraft optimally for sonic-boom reduction. Given we’re running (well, flying) at high speeds, there are varying loading conditions acting on all regions of the aircraft; such as shear, compressive, and tensile forces. To shorten this list, let’s go with the aerospace industry’s choices of carbon fiber reinforced composites and fiberglass composites. A high strength-to-weight ratio is critical to obtaining a lightweight aircraft without foregoing strength. In addition, a core, depending on the material and the structure type (honeycomb, foam, or wood), will provide greater resistance to compression and crush. Boom Supersonic is building a faster future. You’re stuck. A lightweight aircraft will require less energy to get up to the required altitude. “Boom has come a long way. Each fiber has a tow size (the number followed by a K),  which represents the number of individual carbon filaments in the tow – i.e. Weight. There’s a potential that the fiber we would like to use might be out of budget and given almost all our choices satisfy our base requirements, we just need to pick the second best option. Written by Project Boom Editor on October 8, 2020. And since we’re a “simple” RC aircraft (with a complex goal), composites lead the way for the primary material of choice. Boom Supersonic, the aerospace company building the world’s fastest airliner, today unveils its supersonic demonstrator, XB-1, history’s first independently developed supersonic jet. What is the Boom Overture? Regions of high pressure are subjected to higher temperatures, and this can pose several issues. Now that we have our criteria, let’s limit the composites we need. Boom's mission is to make the world dramatically more accessible by making supersonic travel mainstream. A higher tow size would have the individual threads closer together, while a lower tow size has increased spacing. Like any fledgling start-up, we must consider if the composites we’re choosing are even viable with the budget we’re working on. Our supersonic airliner will make the world dramatically more accessible—-at today's business-class fares. (CNN) — Over 50 years after Concorde first took to the skies, a brand new supersonic jet is preparing for lift off. They expand at a rate more closely matching that of titanium, which is also a key material in XB-1. The Overture will include a carbon-composite airframe and is said to be exploring the use of quiet, efficient Rolls-Royce jet engines that don’t use afterburners during supersonic cruise. Be safe! Considerations have been made for the addition of a core, and for the next article, will be talked about in length. I would love to see this happen, I just question whether a market still exists for a supersonic aircraft. In addition to supplementing both options with a core, we’ve officially un-stuck ourselves from our many choices. XB-1 is powered by three General Electric J85-15 engines, adapted by Boom for Mach-2.2 operation. You don’t get to see inside the construction of a composites-intensive supersonic jet very often! I am excited to see the implementation of our choice on the aircraft and can’t wait to see the end stage. Easy peasy… well, we hope so at least. However, before we do that, we need to calculate the weight each of these composites add. XB-1 is slated to fly for the first time in 2021 and will … 4: Decision matrix with non-weight and weighted choices ( including Google Analytics ) to that. 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