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Source: Dailytech

Aerospace engineers from Bristol University have developed a new method to complement routine visual inspections of commercial aircraft made from composite materials such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The researchers have devised a way to fill the hollow parts of composite aircraft with a self hardening resin. When the airframe is damaged the resin would bleed out of the hollow spaces into the crack and seal the damaged area with enough strength to maintain flight and safely land. The engineers also say that future aircraft could have the resin moving continuously through a circulatory system built-in to the airframe.