Fiber Reinforced Aluminum Crack Repair for Aluminum Structures

Touchstone proposes to build on the Phase I effort to incorporate its MetPreg fiber reinforced aluminum material into a concept for bonded-on repairs to cracked aluminum ship hulls and superstructure. The method would not require logistics beyond that which is normally available to ship’s force or entail the use of materials with short shelf life. MetPreg has been shown to arrest cracks in 7xxx series aluminum compact tension specimens when applied to both sides of the specimen. The current effort will seek to develop a better understanding of the crack arrest capability and perform tests on representative test articles. If the testing is successful, a crack repair procedure will be documented and supplied to ship’s force personnel.