Researchers led by Stanford University's Stephen Tsai have developed new design and manufacturing approaches for glueless/boltless joining of metallic grid and carbon composite skins.
Stanford researchers have developed a method to form orthogonal overlapping joints at the 4 corners of the starting square. In order to have constant height of each beam, inserts in the beams between the joints will be required.
Stanford researchers led by Stephen Tsai are advancing a new, much simplified design approach for composite laminates – termed "double-double" – that can replace conventional laminates for lighter, tougher, and lower cost airplane structures among other uses.
Stephen Tsai and researchers at Stanford University's Structures and Composite Laboratory have designed a composite grid-stiffened skin structure, which is ultra-lightweight, stiff, strong, and easier and less expensive to manufacture.