Continuous monitering system for compaction behavior of composite laminates in autoclave curing
US4831881A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 15, 1988 |
| Grant date | May 23, 1989 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 15, 2008 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01B7/18
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The autoclave cure process is the representative composite fabrication technique for high quality composite materials for the aerospace and defense industry application. After lay up and vacuum-bagging in a complicated sequence, the several composite material needed in autoclave curing are cured under controlled temperature and pressure. The autoclave curing, in which the total cure process requires at least 4-6 hours, is a very expensive process. Therefore, the determination of an optimal cure process for composite prepregs is very important for guaranteed quality as well as being important economically. Theoretical models cannot be proved because of the lack of experimental methods. The experimenter must run many batches of autoclave curing trial and error at the different curing temperatures and pressures to obtain a sufficient amount of data which can experimentally determine the optimal cure process. Because this invention can continuously monitor the change of thickness of the composite laminate during curing, this measuring system, which can determine the condition of an optimal cure process, is an excellent device to obtain the degree of curing and variation of thickness of…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.