Overview & Purpose
Designing the case of a motor is a critical step in the road to a custom propulsion system. A critical step in this process is choosing the correct material.
winder, its reqirements and philospohy of design, design decisions
On the way to develop a spaceshot rocket, there's always the concern of weight. One of the experimental procedures to reduce weight is to use carbon fiber motor cases. Why carbon fiber? It has a higher strength to weight ratio than aluminum. Therefore, a carbon fiber case can provide similar case strength at a lower weight (compared to the aluminum cases we've used in the past).
Winder
After the decision was made to experiment with carbon fiber cases, we understood that we would have to custom-make the cases to fit project needs. We did not have machines to accomplish this task, so we made one. With inspiration from MIT Rocket Team alum Andrew Reilley, we designed a filament winder by modifying Reilley's model.
Development timeline: July 2023-Present
Requirements:
- Successful wet wind test (all electronic and software components functioning)
- even and usable cases for Project Prometheus (Spaceport America Cup 2024)
Philosophy of Design:
Design Decisions:
Filament Materials used:
- what type of C and epoxy using
...
winding process
Considerations
Mass - If you're planning on flying the motor, weight is bad.
Ductility - ductile materials fail safely (they don't produce shrapnel)
(6061 H case after an overpressure)
Curing Process:
Winding process:
Considerations
Documents
Here are some document on resources used to build carbon winder:We took inspiration from MIT Rocket Team alum Andrew Reilley's filament winder: https://reilley.net/winder/