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Hugo,
While steel is very strong, it is not at all stiff relative to it's weight.
Wood is actually 7 times stiffer than fiberglass, and 5x stiffer than kevlar,
with very high cycling rates. By applying kevlar to the outer surface any
impacts would be spread out over a larger surface. If carbon fiber were used on
the inner surface of a wooden hull, it would serve to strengthen the structure
even more because the carbon is stiffer than wood. In the end, I think it
depends on the thickness of the structure and of course the composites used.
I'll have to run some destructive tests to see if any of this is really
feasible.
Risk
In a message dated 1/19/2005 7:56:45 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
hmarrero@hboi.edu writes:
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