CFOAM Durable Composite Tooling with High Performance Cement Coatings

Touchstone Research Laboratory, Ltd. proposes to develop a composite tooling technology based on its CFOAM structural carbon foam as a core material with High Performance Cement (HPC) coatings. This approach will evaluate low CTE HPC coatings that have previously demonstrated a high degree of compatibility with CFOAM in high-temperature environments and will leverage Touchstone"s experience in developing and commercializing CFOAM rapid prototype tools, which can be fabricated in 7 days. The HPC coatings to be evaluated are X-Pando, Aremco 551RN, and Graphibond 669. Touchstone will evaluate the performance of these HPC coatings at 0.125"and 0.25"thicknesses over CFOAM20 and CFOAM30 substrates (20 and 30 lbs per cubic-ft density). Test samples will be thermally cycled at 450degreesF (50 cycles) and evaluated for stress-cracking, hardness, flat-wise tensile strength, and vacuum integrity. All key raw materials to be tested are rated for 1,000degreesF continuous use applications. The potential for these tools to perform 450degreesF post-cures is clearly feasible.