Blade protection kits keep helicopters in the air

Helicopter blades are a particularly challenging application for protective film technology. As the blades spin, centripetal force is constantly trying to throw off anything that is stuck to them. For the aircraft to fly well, the blades must be perfectly balanced, both in terms of their mass distribution and the aerodynamic properties. Conditions along the leading edge of the blade vary dramatically. Finally, modern composite blades like those on the Lynx have a complex shape that makes the application of simple pieces of straight tape difficult.

Andy Marks, Adhesives Technical Support Specialist at 3M explains. "To cope with the centripetal forces, we used a high strength acrylic adhesive with an extremely high resistance to shear. That way we could make sure the film didn"t start to shift in service. We took moulds from the blade surface and made a tool exactly the same shape. Then we thermoformed the tape on the tool so that the "boots" fit the blade shape perfectly." All the helicopter engineer has to do is strip off the backing and apply them in the right place.