Fiber Reinforced Aluminum Crack Repair for Aluminum Structures

Touchstone proposes 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 ships 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 determine if the same effects can be achieved when bonding to one side of a 5xxx series aluminum, such as would be used for marine applications. If the testing is successful, a crack repair concept based on MetPreg will be developed for further investigation in Phase II.