Rapid, Non-Thermally Cured Composite Fabrication

Composite materials, with their high strength to weight ratios, manipulative properties, and corrosion resistance are now widely utilized throughout the military. High performance composites are required for air, sea, and land platforms. One of the drawbacks of these composite systems is the excessive costs and time required for part manufacturing. Prolonged elevated temperature curing is typically required for desirable elevated temperature performance, necessitating the need for expensive autoclaves or ovens. Even when room temperature cured systems are sufficient, excessive time is required before the parts solidify or gel and can be removed from molds and tooling. In addition to the high cost and long fabrication times associated with fielded parts, often these considerations are enough to limit or prevent the use of advanced composite materials on other applications, preventing optimal performance or improved capabilities. On this program, Luna will leverage rapid, non-thermally curing material technologies to enhance advanced material composite systems to reduce cost and increase the rate of fabrication. Specifically, Luna will develop resin components that when incorporated into the baseline resin systems will enable rapid, non-thermally cured composite fabrication, while maintaining the basic structure and properties of the systems.