Advanced carbon fiber composite out-of-autoclave laminate manufacture via nanostructured out-of-oven conductive curing

Lee, Jeonyoon; Ni, Xinchen; Daso, Frederick; Xiao, Xianghui; King, D. C.; Gómez, José Sánchez; Varela, Tamara Blanco; Kessler, Seymour; Wardle, Brian L.

doi:10.1016/j.compscitech.2018.02.031

Cited by 68 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…A hot‐plate was utilized instead of a heating vessel (e.g., oven) for composite curing without an applied pressure (i.e., vacuum‐only curing), in order to avoid spatial gradients in cure due to uncertainty of convective‐to‐conductive interactions between the convective medium and cure materials . In the case of OoO curing, vacuum was applied via a vacuum bag without an applied pressure as the OoO curing is originally designed . Void analysis and short beam shear (SBS) tests were performed so that the mechanical and physical properties of composites cured by each manufacturing condition were compared.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the cure cycle, the same curing condition in the technical data sheet was followed without the applied pressure of 0.7 MPa. For OoO curing, the cure setup in the previous study was used (see Figure for the vacuum bagging setup with two‐sided heaters) . Also, thermal insulating blocks (25 mm thick ZIRCAR Ceramics Inc. MICROSIL Microporous Insulation) were installed to reduce heat loss to the environment.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, thermal insulating blocks (25 mm thick ZIRCAR Ceramics Inc. MICROSIL Microporous Insulation) were installed to reduce heat loss to the environment. During a cure cycle, only one heater was utilized as a heating element since the one‐sided heater is enough to cure a ≈2 mm thick 16‐ply laminate . A DC power supply was connected to the two copper tape electrodes of the heater to control the input voltage to follow the specific cure cycle.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alternatively, we found that the capillary pressure from a nanoporous network film replaces the need for applied pressure (from the autoclave) to manufacture void‐free layered polymeric architectures (see Figure b,c). The process comprises the integration of 1) the nanoporous network (i.e., vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) in the current work) into the interlaminar regions of the laminates, and 2) a vacuum‐bag‐only conductive composite curing process, out‐of‐oven (OoO) curing (see Section S2 in the Supporting Information for an overview of the process). The OoO process uses a CNT film as a heating element in contact with the laminate surface such that curing is via conduction rather than convection, eliminating the need for a heating vessel .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Earlier works have shown that OoO curing enables highly efficient manufacturing of composites from OoA prepregs while preserving thermophysical and mechanical properties (e.g., degree of cure, glass transition temperature, short‐beam strength, tensile strength, etc.) observed in the conventional oven curing method . Autoclave prepregs cured by OoO have not been explored previously because the OoO curing is based on a vacuum‐bag‐only cure cycle.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Void‐Free Layered Polymeric Architectures via Capillary‐Action of Nanoporous Films

Lee

Wardle

2020

Adv Materials Inter

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Here, a nanomaterial with morphology‐controlled nanoscale capillaries is utilized to overcome manufacturing challenges in layered polymeric architectures. It is demonstrated that the capillary pressure from a nanoporous film replaces the need for applied pressure to manufacture void‐free layered polymeric architectures. Manufacturing of aerospace‐grade advanced carbon fiber composites is performed for the first time without utilizing pressure from an autoclave. Combined with a conductive curing approach, this work allows advanced composites to be manufactured without costly oven or pressure vessel infrastructure. The nanomaterial‐enabled capillary pressure is quantified as 50% greater than typical pressures used in such processing, and is anticipated to overcome the limitations imposed by the requirement of high applied pressure in many other applications such as adhesive joining of various bulk materials including metals, press forming, and closed‐mold infusion processing of layered composites and polymers.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Void‐Free Layered Polymeric Architectures via Capillary‐Action of Nanoporous Films

Lee

Wardle

2020

Adv Materials Inter

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Metal Replacement in Aeronautics Applications Using Two‐Dimensional Multifunctional Composites

Valorosi,

Scidà,

Chiodini

et al. 2024

Adv Eng Mater

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Carbon‐based composites have replaced metals in many structural components of modern airplanes; however, functional applications still require metal conductors and devices. Here, the production and integration in small‐scale airplane parts of electric devices based on metal‐free layered composites of graphene, boron nitride, and polymers are described. Thanks to their two‐dimensional structure, these materials feature excellent tunable thermoelectrical properties and high flexibility. We describe the production and performance of heaters and ice sensors installed on scaled NACA‐0012 airfoils to avoid ice formation, to remove ice or to detect the ice on the outer skin of the airfoil. We demonstrate that we can tune the electrical conductivity of the composite heating element from 105 to 103 S m−1 that is preserved even after 1000 bending cycles. The heaters successfully achieve anti‐icing and deicing in representative icing conditions and can sustain high‐power densities as required for electrothermal ice‐protection systems in aviation. The composite material can be readapted into a sensor able to detect ice formation in real time in an icing wind tunnel. Moreover, the possibility to use the heaters developed as heating molds to cure composite materials by out‐of‐oven curing, with a significant energy saving potential, is demonstrated.

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Cure cycle optimization of infrared cured composites using Taguchi method

Alpay

Uygur

Kilinçel

et al. 2023

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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Knowing that cure cycle has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of the composite materials, determining the effects of cure cycle parameters – such as heating rate, maximum temperature, and dwell time, has gain importance. This study addresses the optimum cure cycle of an infrared cured carbon fiber pre‐preg material. An infrared oven equipped with 1 kW halogen infrared heating unit and vacuum system was used. Different cure cycles determined by means of Taguchi experiment design approach and a cure cycle was found maximizing the tensile strength of the material. Results showed that infrared curing is a strong alternative to the autoclave despite its shortcomings regarding the product geometry. The optimized cure cycle showed 23% increase in the tensile strength comparing the tested cure cycle which is resulted with the minimum tensile strength. Besides, comparing the specimens cured with the optimum cure cycle, the infrared cured specimens showed slightly higher tensile strength than the autoclave cured counterparts. According to Taguchi optimization, optimum values for maximum tensile strength were found as 10°C/min, 130°C for heating rate and 60 min for plateau time. According to the analysis of variance, the most effective parameter affecting the tensile strength was the heating rate.

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Advanced carbon fiber composite out-of-autoclave laminate manufacture via nanostructured out-of-oven conductive curing

Cited by 68 publications

References 20 publications

Void‐Free Layered Polymeric Architectures via Capillary‐Action of Nanoporous Films

Void‐Free Layered Polymeric Architectures via Capillary‐Action of Nanoporous Films

Metal Replacement in Aeronautics Applications Using Two‐Dimensional Multifunctional Composites

Cure cycle optimization of infrared cured composites using Taguchi method

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