why don't they make planes out of the same ceramic material used in spacecraft?

Question

It has been determined that the indestructable black box material is too heavy to create aircraft out of. So instead of using black box material why not instead use the same ceramic material that is used to create spacecraft? This material is much lighter than black box material, although like black box material it appears virtually indestructable. Building planes out of this material would most certainly make them much stronger and safer. Does anyone agree?

Answer 1

Well, the ceramic tiles used to make the space shuttle's skin are actually for heat resistance, not to resist impact damage. When you hit the atmosphere at 18,000 miles per hour, it generates some serious heat. However, as was demonstrated by the Columia disaster, the tiles do nothing, or very little, to prevent impact damage.

Answer 2

Hi Erica! An airplane needs to be covered by something very thin and light, but also strong. Imagine a paper-airplane, then imagine that same airplane being made out of thick cardboard. While the cardboard is stronger than the thin paper, it won't fly nearly as well. So, to come up with better aircraft materials, thin, light and strong are the best attributes to consider. Ceramics may be strong, but they aren't all that light, and if you make them thin then they are brittle. So, ceramics aren't a good material for aircraft. When talking about real aircraft, aluminum is a good choice because it has those three attributes. More expensive, but better in most cases, is titanium, because it's even lighter than aluminum. But it's so expensive, you rarely see it used except in military aircraft.

Answer 3

The ceramic material on the space shuttle is hardly indestructible! After every mission a number of them have to be replaced. The tiles themselves are actually very fragile and can easily be crushed by hand.

Most importantly, it's sole purpose is to insulate the shuttle from the heat of re-entry into the atmosphere, not to provide structural strength to the shuttle.

Adding those ceramic tiles to an ordinary aircraft would serve no purpose and would significantly increase the weight of the aircraft. And an aircraft built of that material would disintegrate on its first takeoff.

Answer 4

the area holiday makes use of ceramic and carbon-carbon composite tiles to stand up to the warmth. maximum spacecraft in historic previous have used ablative aspects instead. An ablative is a few thing which, while heated, vaporizes to form a shielding gasoline layer. The gasoline incorporates away the warmth, protecting the spacecraft. The ablative fabric is lost, and subsequently isn't reusable. Ablatives have been used on Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Soyuz, etc. One occasion of an ablative fabric is phenolic.

Answer 5

The ceramic material in spacecraft is not structural but it is part of the thermal protection system used to dampen the rate of heat transfer to the real structure. Also, the kinetic energies involved in an airplane crash are so high that almost nothing would protect the occupants from fatal injuries. No ceramic, metal, would lessen the blunt force trauma that usually kills people in a crash.

Answer 6

1. Dis ceramic was made so that the shuttle could withstand the terrific heat on re-entry to the atmosphere. Airplanes never fly out of the atmos cos they cannot do it, so there is no need of the ceramics.
2. Way too expensive.
3. Planes would lose their beauty with all those tiles.

I do not agree.

Answer 7

The ceramic material is good for resisting heat. Not for armor from hitting the ground. Regaurdless of whether the plane bashes into the ground with or without indestructible material, The impact is going to kill you whether the plane is intact or not. If it was made from the ceramic material, it would resist reentry into the atmosphere pretty well. :)

Answer 8

no
as the last shuttle burned up on re entry, ceramic may be strong, but it's not indestructible, every material known to may has it's failure point, the ceramic in question is used for heat shielding, the underlying craft below is still made of aircraft aluminum.
cost would be a huge issue for craft to be made out of ceramics. right now the movement is going towards carbon fiber composites.

Answer 9

I would say that the Ceramic plates are used for re-entry into the earth's atmosphere and are specifically made to take the 5000 degree of heat upon it. Where as the Commercial Jet just cruises along at nearly 600 miles per hour ... not 17,000 miles per hour so there isn't a need for it.

Answer 10

The ceramics they use are only stronger with uniform force put upon them. Otherwise they can be very brittle. This property doesn't make it useful for other aircraft that are in much more frequent use. Also maintence on this ceramic is much higher than convential contruction,