Boy Scouts of America Composites Merit Badge - Composites Products Examples by Market

Aircraft/Aerospace/Defense: Products used in commercial, military, general aviation, and space components - airframe components, fuselage, control surfaces, cabin interiors and accessories, flooring, pressure bulkheads, radome, tanks, keel beams, low-observable technology structures and aircraft, helicopter rotor blades, seating, doors and panels, cargo luggage containers, nacelle housings, rocket motor casings/housings, unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, sport aircraft.

Business, Industrial, and Consumer Equipment: Products used in office equipment - include components used in telephones, answering machines, and calculators. Products used in household or commercial appliances – kitchen components, ranges, refrigerators, freezers, microwave ovens and small household appliances, food trays. Household products include seating, indoor/outdoor furniture and workstations, luggage frames, microwave cookware.

Construction: Products used in industrial/commercial applications include gratings, ladders, railings, catwalks, structural shapes (I-beams, channels, angles), highway delineators, signs, building panels, portable buildings, architectural cladding and fascia, awnings, benches, steeples. Products for general residential construction - swimming pools, window sills, window systems, entry doors, gutters and down spouts, and mobile homes (for year round living), bathroom and kitchen components and fixtures (bathtubs, shower stalls, pans, sinks, counter tops, lavatories, spas, whirlpools, hot tubs, toilets, bathroom accessories), gazebos, garden pools, lighting fixtures.

Corrosion-Resistant Products & Equipment: Products include containment vessels, underground gasoline storage tanks and chemical storage tanks (above ground and underground), pressure vessels, pipe and fittings, stack liners, ducts and hoods, pumps, fans, containers, cooling towers, water/wastewater treatment components, miscellaneous process equipment used in the chemical processing, pulp/paper, oil/gas and computer industries, and cured in place pipe for pipe repair.

Electrical / Electronic: Products include circuit boards, switching gear, utility power poles and cross arms, power transmission components, substation equipment, antennas (radio, microwave, radar), radomes, satellite dishes, electrical equipment housings and enclosures, rods, tubes, and molded parts for electrical equipment construction.

Infrastructure: This emerging market has made composites a material of choice in building and transportation structures such as bridge decks, pedestrian bridges, girders, reinforcing bars and grids for concrete, strengthening and seismic upgrade systems for concrete and masonry structures, dowel bars for concrete pavements, marine fender piling, and many more applications.

Homeland Security: Ballistic armor systems for vehicles and buildings, shipping container blast containment, infrastructure hardening of walls and structural elements, blast doors and panels.

Marine: Composites dominate the construction of boats, ranging from personal watercraft (jet skis) to 100’+ mega-yachts. Specifically, 90% of the boats 85 ft. and less are composites. This includes trailerable pleasure boats, inboard cabin cruisers and sport fishing boats, sailboats, and workboats. Military applications include: Mine Sweepers, small specialtiy purpose naval boats such as Destroyer and Frigate class ships for electronic warfare and stealth purposes, coastal and river patrol boats, and large warship components. Commercial applications include: passenger ferries, party boats, and workboats. Marine accessory applications include: component parts such as motor covers, sail battens, moorings, marina docks and floats.

Medical: Products include dental/medical equipment components, prosthetics, wheel chairs, and crutches.

Military: Products include field equipment, such as helmets and ballistic vests, vehicle armor for tanks and personnel carriers, weapon systems – rifle stocks, man portable missile systems, battlefield structures, safer munitions casing, and combat communications equipment, sonar domes in submarines.

Oil & Gas: Composites is used extensively in applications such as offshore oil exploration and production. Examples include risers, grating, pipes, petrochemical processing and refining, pipeline, pipes, fittings, onshore oil production with sucker rods.

Recreational Equipment: Products such as fishing rods, skis – snow and water, ski poles, golf clubs, golf carts, tennis rackets, snowmobiles, bowling balls, mobile campers, canoes/kayaks, paddles, archery equipment, hockey sticks, baseball bats, lacrosse sticks, snowshoe frames, pool cues, sailboards, skate boards, surfboards, tent poles and frames, racing bicycle frames and wheels.

Transportation: Composites are used in numerous applications for automotive/light trucks, heavy trucks, public transportation, shipping and industrial containers, and recreational vehicles. Examples include exterior panels, hood, doors, tonneau, hatch, decklid, fenders, tailgate, cargo box, load floor, floor boards, under body panels, dash, “under the hood” applications such as valve covers, belt and timing chain covers, engine covers, bumper beams, grille opening reinforcements, head lamp carriers, roof window frames, spoilers, interior panels, trucks and truck trailers, bus bodies, trains, subways, farm equipment, motorcycles, scooters, and high performance sports car monocoque bodies.

Utility – Energy: Applications include power generation with wind turbine blades, power transmission and distribution with poles and towers, cross arms, and insulators, telecommunications with underground vaults, cell tower/pole enhancements and upgrades.

Specialty: Products range from musical instruments, movie sets, theme park structures, amusement rides, sculptures and art forms.