Single Vacuum Bag Process for Rapid, On-Site Repair of Composites

Organic-matrix composites are increasingly replacing traditional metallic materials in aerospace platforms due to their high strength to weight ratios, manipulative properties, and corrosion resistance. However, repair methods for these materials are considerably more complicated. Typically, a laminate repair patch must be manually fabricated on-site from dry fabric and resin and then bonded to the damaged structure. Prior to the bonding or co-curing, a Double Vacuum Debulk (DVD) process is performed on the lay-up, requiring a separate piece of support equipment. The procedure requires dedicated equipment and is complex, time consuming, costly, and size limited. A more efficient and effective on-aircraft process is required.Luna has developed an advanced single vacuum bag process utilizing a novel breathable, resin barrier which can be utilized to fabricate high quality aerospace laminates while eliminating the DVD process tooling and size restrictions. To ensure rapid technology insertion, Luna is utilizing this innovative process with currently used commercial off the shelf (COTS) composite resin and fiber systems so material requalification will not be necessary. Luna’s BRB and single vacuum bag process eliminates special tooling, simplifies set-up, removes size restrictions, and can reduce process time by more than 50%.